Math 101 Intermediate Algebra
|  | | | Rene Descartes "Cogito Ergo Sum" |
Meeting Times--M W 3:50-5:05
Location-- Maria Sanford room 119
Rene Descartes was one of the dominant thinkers of the first half of the 17th century. His most famous writing "Discours de la methode pour bien conduire sa raison et chercher la verite dans les sciences" contains an appendix "La geometrie" in which the foundations of basic algebra are presented. It contains the first notion of a coordinate system in which the notions of algebra and geometry are merged. It led to the creation of Calculus within a generation.
Pierre de Fermat was equally important in the creation of this advance although he did not publish his work. Descartes used algebra to solve problems in geometry while Fermat saw that the equations being used were objects of interest worthy of study in their own right. Fermat was able to find tangent lines to curves but is best known for his many contributions to number theory. Although Fermat only published one paper (and that under a pseudonym) he communicated widely with the leading mathematicians of his era. He is considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians in history. See the M 119 class page for an image of Fermat.
|
|
