| Sunday, August 17, 2008 |
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| Pierre de Fermat |
Spotlight: The French lawyer/mathematician who was largely responsible for modern calculus, Pierre de Fermat, was born on this date in 1601. A kind of Renaissance man, Fermat was a jurist whose interests included classical literature, foreign languages, ancient science, and of course, mathematics. He came up with number theory and, along with Blaise Pascal, the theory of probability. He claimed to have a proof of what became known as Fermat's Last Theorem, but didn't reveal it. It was finally proved in the mid-1990s.
Quote: "And perhaps, posterity will thank me for having shown it that the ancients did not know everything."
Question of the Day: Who did Pierre de Fermat claim to have inspired his work in mathematics?According to Pierre de Fermat, his greatest inspiration came from the Greek mathematician Diophantus of Alexandria. Diophantus is sometimes called the "father of algebra." He was the first to try to develop algebraic notation and his study of equations (which came to be known as Diophantine equations) is one of the bases of number theory.
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| Tea |
n.
1. a. An eastern Asian evergreen shrub or small tree (Camellia sinensis) having fragrant, nodding, cup-shaped white flowers and glossy leaves.
b. The young, dried leaves of this plant, prepared by various processes and used to make a hot beverage.
2. An aromatic, slightly bitter beverage made by steeping tea leaves in boiling water.
This week, inspired by the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, we'll take a look at some English words that came to us from the Chinese.
Today's History:
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| Stonehenge |
- Pike Place Market: Seattle's top tourist destination and one of the oldest farmers' markets in the US opened for business (1907)
- Double Eagle II: became the first hot-air balloon to complete a transatlantic flight, from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France (1978)
- harmonic convergence: new age gatherings wrapped up in Stonehenge, Mount Shasta and other places, having prayed and meditated for peace (1987)
Today's Birthdays:
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| Robert de Niro |
- Jiang Zemin (82): former president of China
- V.S. Naipaul (76): Nobel Prize-winning author of A House for Mr. Biswas
- Robert De Niro (65): Oscar-winner, Godfather II ; Mae West (1893-1980), Maureen O'Hara (88), Sean Penn (48), Donnie Wahlberg (39), Bryton McClure (22) and Brady Corbet (20)
- Guillermo Vilas (56): tennis hall-of-famer; other sportsmen born on this date include Jon Gruden (45), Jorge Posada (37) and Antwaan Randle El (29)
- Everette Harp (47): R&B saxophonist
