3 anecdotes from the lives of great mathematicians

academics High School history math

It’s a shame that so many people can go through college as math majors and minors without ever learning the history of mathematics. Who were Euler and Gauss? Newton and Leibnitz? Euclid? We all know their theorems and mathematical contributions, but rarely do most of us think of the people —with their messy lives, quirks, and stories— behind these brilliant minds. Understanding these lives can provide context to learning math at a whole new level.

Even as an advanced math tutor in Boston and a student at MIT, I am guilty of this myself. But since it’s the time for making New Year's resolutions, I’ll make one of mine to learn more about the people behind the incredible mathematical discoveries. Today, I’ll share three of my favorite mathematical anecdotes:

Gauss as a child: putting us all to shame

This story is one that I’ve been told countless times by many a math professor, and it remains my favorite. Gauss was quite the precocious child, and was correcting his father’s calculations before most of us knew how to read. At the age of 7, his teacher was looking for a way to keep the class occupied for some time and so told them to sum all the numbers from 1 to 100. This strategy may have worked in almost any classroom in all of history, but unfortunately for this teacher, she had a math prodigy on her hands. Gauss quickly came up with the solution: 5,050. How? He realized that he could pair all the numbers: 1 with 100, 2 with 99, 3 with 98, … , 50 with 51. This made 50 pairs of numbers summing to 101, or 5,050. I guess you could say for him mathematics was really just child’s play!

Newton vs. Leibnitz: a lesson in karma?

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned battle of the egos, and the battle over who discovered calculus was quite fierce. It happened at the turn of the 18th century between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibnitz. While formally, Leibnitz was the first to publish his theory of infinitesimal calculus, in retrospect, Newton and his supporters claimed that Leibnitz had plagiarized Newton’s ideas from an earlier manuscript. As with most things in life, those with greater political power usually get their way. So in 1711, at the peak of the battle, the Royal Society came to a conclusion and accused Leibnitz of plagiarism. (Newton was the president of the Royal Society, so this was not very surprising.) However, there is a bit of justice to the story for Team Leibnitz, because nowadays, Leibnitz’s cleaner notation is what is most universally used.

Ada Lovelace: the first computer programmer

As with most historical topics, females are sorely underrepresented in math. However, the few female figures we know about are quite the impressive bunch. Ada Lovelace, born Ada Byron, was the only legitimate daughter of the poet Lord Byron. Shortly after Ada was born, his wife kicked him out, sick of his infidelity and erratic behavior. Lady Byron, determined that her daughter not follow in her father’s overly emotional ways, enforced education—particularly mathematics. Ada was able to use math a creative outlet, and even designed her own flying machine! As an adult, she corresponded with fellow English mathematician Charles Babbage, who was trying to develop early types of computers. In those letters, Ada described what is considered to the first computer program. So for all those budding female computer scientists, know that a woman did it first! 

For those who love mathematics (such as myself, and other math tutors at MIT), learning about these individuals’ lives can make you feel more connected to the mathematical community. For those who find mathematics dry and intangible, their stories are great way to bring the subject to life. Mathematicians’ stories are interwoven and complex. Mathematics was not discovered in a vacuum, so it’s quite a shame that we often learn it without context, inside a vacuum!

Comments

topicTopics
academics study skills MCAT medical school admissions SAT expository writing college admissions English MD/PhD admissions strategy writing LSAT GMAT GRE physics chemistry math biology graduate admissions academic advice ACT interview prep law school admissions test anxiety language learning premed MBA admissions career advice personal statements homework help AP exams creative writing MD study schedules test prep computer science Common Application summer activities history mathematics philosophy organic chemistry secondary applications economics supplements research 1L PSAT admissions coaching grammar law psychology statistics & probability legal studies ESL CARS SSAT covid-19 dental admissions logic games reading comprehension engineering USMLE calculus PhD admissions Spanish mentorship parents Latin biochemistry case coaching verbal reasoning DAT English literature STEM excel medical school political science skills AMCAS French Linguistics MBA coursework Tutoring Approaches academic integrity chinese letters of recommendation Anki DO Social Advocacy admissions advice algebra art history artificial intelligence astrophysics business cell biology classics diversity statement gap year genetics geometry kinematics linear algebra mechanical engineering mental health presentations quantitative reasoning study abroad technical interviews time management work and activities 2L DMD IB exams ISEE MD/PhD programs Sentence Correction adjusting to college algorithms amino acids analysis essay athletics business skills careers cold emails data science dental school finance first generation student functions graphing information sessions international students internships logic networking poetry resume revising science social sciences software engineering tech industry trigonometry writer's block 3L AAMC Academic Interest EMT FlexMed Fourier Series Greek Health Professional Shortage Area Italian Lagrange multipliers London MD vs PhD MMI Montessori National Health Service Corps Pythagorean Theorem Python Shakespeare Step 2 TMDSAS Taylor Series Truss Analysis Zoom acids and bases active learning architecture argumentative writing art art and design schools art portfolios bacteriology bibliographies biomedicine brain teaser campus visits cantonese capacitors capital markets central limit theorem centrifugal force chemical engineering chess chromatography class participation climate change clinical experience community service constitutional law consulting cover letters curriculum dementia demonstrated interest dimensional analysis distance learning econometrics electric engineering electricity and magnetism escape velocity evolution executive function freewriting genomics harmonics health policy history of medicine history of science hybrid vehicles hydrophobic effect ideal gas law immunology induction infinite institutional actions integrated reasoning intermolecular forces intern investing investment banking lab reports linear maps mandarin chinese matrices mba medical physics meiosis microeconomics mitosis mnemonics music music theory nervous system neurology neuroscience object-oriented programming office hours operating systems