.
The science of pure mathematics ... may claim to be the most
original creation of the human spirit.
Alfred North Whitehead, (1861 - 1947) Science and the Modern World.
I am a mathematics instructor in the
Department of Mathematics, Computing, and Information Sciences
at
Jacksonville State University
.
Math page at JSU.
I recieved my masters degree at Texas Tech
in
Mathematics.
I was working in real algebraic geometry with Dr. Korchagin.
My masters thesis title was:
"On the classification of seventh degree
M-curves
(IE version)
having the maximum number of points of intersection of the odd branch with a line".
This requires you to have Design Science's
MathPlayer
installed with IE 5.5, or later,
or that you use Netscape, Mozilla or Amaya.
It is written in MathML.
Go to my Home page at Texas Tech:
http://www.math.ttu.edu/~dsmith/
My thesis can be found there.
I received my undergraduate degree from Jacksonville State University in Mathematics and Electronic Technology.
My Pipes Page.
My Links Page.
Other home pages:
Bell South Home Page
JSU Home Page
Texas Tech Home Page
Bob recieved his BS from Auburn and has several interesting things on his web page.
Such as HP 48GX programs and a link to his computer.
Visit Bob at http://pages.prodigy.com/BobMcPherson/.
Stuff page.
Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said;
"one can't believe impossible things."
"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen.
"When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day.
Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.
In the mathematics I can report no deficience,
except that it be that men do not sufficiently understand the excellent use of the pure mathematics,
in that they do remedy and cure many defects in the wit and faculties intellectual.
For if the wit be too dull, they sharpen it;
if too wandering, they fix it;
if too inherent in the sense, they abstract it.
So that as tennis is a game of no use in itself,
but of great use in respect it maketh a quick eye and a body ready to put itself into all postures;
so in the mathematics,
that use which is collateral and intervenient is no less worthy than that which is principal and intended.
Roger Bacon, John Fauvel and Jeremy Gray (eds.) A History of Mathematics:
A Reader, Sheridan House, 1987.
Science without religion is lame;
religion without science is blind.
Albert Einstein, (1879-1955) Reader's Digest, Nov. 1973.
Biographical history, as taught in our public schools,
is still largely a history of boneheads:
ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals
-- the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents.
The men who radically altered history, the great scientists and mathematicians,
are seldom mentioned, if at all.
Martin Gardner, In G. Simmons Calculus Gems, New York: McGraw Hill, 1992.
An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject,
and how to avoid them.
Werner Heisenberg, (1901-1976) Physics and Beyond. 1971.
Galileo was no idiot.
Only an idiot could believe that science requires martyrdom -
that may be necessary in religion,
but in time a scientific result will establish itself.
David Hilbert, (1862-1943) In H. Eves Mathematical Circles Squared, Boston:Prindle, Weber and Schmidt, 1971.
What we know is not much. What we do not know is immense.
(Allegedly his last words.)
Pierre-Simon de Laplace, (1749 - 1827) DeMorgan's Budget of Paradoxes.
In mathematics you don't understand things.
You just get used to them.
Johann von Neumann, (1903 - 1957) In G. Zukav The Dancing Wu Li Masters.
The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with facts for which Archimedes would have sacrificed his life.
Ernest Renan, Souvenirs d'enfance et de jeunesse.
A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and
whose denominator is what he thinks of himself.
The larger the denominator the smaller the fraction.
Count Lev Nikolgevich Tolstoy, (1828-1920)
In H. Eves Return to Mathematical Circles, Boston: Prindle, Weber and Schmidt, 1989.
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history,
naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children
a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.
John Adams, (1735 - 1826) Letter to Abigail Adams, May 12, 1780.
danesmith@prodigy.net
Updated: