Maria Gaetana Agnesi - Mathematician
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Topic: Maria Gaetana Agnesi - Mathematician
Posted By: morticia
Subject: Maria Gaetana Agnesi - Mathematician
Date Posted: 13-Jun-2007 at 15:06
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Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in Milan on May 16th, 1718 to a wealthy family and was the oldest of 21 siblings. Her father was a professor of mathematics and provided her with a profound education (which was not afforded to many women back then). By the age of nine, Maria Agnesi was proficient in Latin, French, Greek, and Hebrew and was, therefore, recognized as a child prodigy. By the time she was in her teens, Maria, although shy in nature, was participating in abstract philosophical and mathematical discussions with distinguished intellectuals who would often meet with her father at their home. However, when her mother died, Maria took over the management of the household and the care of her 20 younger siblings and retired from public life. She never married. She subsequently published “Propositiones Philosophicae”, a collection of complex essays on natural science and philosophy. These essays were based on the discussions she had with the intellectuals gathered at her father’s house. Her most important work, however, was “Analytical Institutions” which dealt with differential and integral calculus, analysis of finite quantities, elementary problems of maxima, minima, tangents and inflection points to be used as a textbook for her brothers. However, when it was published, it became one of the most complete works on finite and infinitesimal analysis ever written. The book was later translated and used as a textbook. She is best known for the curve called the “Witch of Agnesi”, wherein she wrote the curve in the form (y=a*sqrt(a*x-x*x)/x) because she considered the y-axis to be the horizontal axis and the x-axis to be the vertical axis. Today’s reference frames use y vertical and x horizontal, so the curve’s modern form is given by the Cartesian equation yx2=a2(a-y) or y = a3/(x2 + a2). It’s a versed sine curve, studied originally by Fermat. “It was called a versiera,(derived from Latin vertere) meaning “to turn”, but it was also an abbreviation for the Italian word avversiera meaning “the wife of the devil” [Osen, 45]. When Maria’s text was translated into English, the word “versiera” was confused with “witch”, and the curve became known as the “Witch of Angesi”. Even though she was a mathematical genius, she devoted the rest of her life to working with poor, homeless and sick people. Ultimately, she found helping the needy interested her more than mathematics. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Gaetana_Agnesi  ------------- "Morty Trust in God: She will provide." -- Emmeline Pankhurst |