Term Paper on Maria Gaetana Agnesi
Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in Milan on May 16, 1718, to a wealthy and literate family (Luisa). Her father was a professor of mathematics and contributed to her thoughtful education. She was known as a child genius very early; she could spoke French by the age of five; and had a command over Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and several modern languages by the age of nine and earning herself the title ‘oracle of seven tongues.’ While mastered mathematics. (Lynn M) The Agnesi home was a meeting place for the most renowned intellectuals. Maria contributed in most of the seminars, participating herself in discussions with the guests in abstract philosophical and mathematical thinking. Being shy in nature Maria did not like such meetings. She engaged herself participating these gathering due to her father influence and to please her father. After her mother death she had find a reason to withdraw from such meetings (Luisa). She took over the control of household matters. Her father did not disagree, because he also imagine it was hard and expensive to get a housekeeper to care such a big family of 22 people including 21 children.
However her contributions to mathematics are very important, Maria Gaetana
Agnesi was not a classic famous mathematician. She led a rather simple life
and she left mathematics very early. She published a group of complex essays
on natural science and philosophy called ‘Propositiones Philosophicae’, in
1738; stand on the thought of the intellectuals who gathered at her father's
house. In these essays, she articulated her sincerity that women should be
educated. At the age of twenty, she started working on her most vital work,
‘Analytical Institutions’, dealing with differential and integral calculus.
"It is said that she started writing Analytical Institutions as a textbook
for her brothers, which then grew into a more serious effort" (Lynn M).
This work was initially begun as a textbook for Agnesi's brothers to
influence them, but expanded into a more crucial effort. Entirely, the book
collected and discussed the general or basic mathematical knowledge of the
time. When her work gets published in 1748, it created awareness in the
academic world. It was one of the earliest and most complete works on finite
and infinitesimal analysis (Schafer). Maria's great contribution to
mathematics was this book, because it brought the works of various
mathematicians together in a very systematic and methodical way with her own
interpretations. Her book became a model of clarity; which book was widely
translated and used as a textbook.
Analytical Institutions gave a clear summary of the state of knowledge in
mathematical analysis. The first section of Analytical Institutions deals
with the analysis of finite quantities. It also deals with elementary
problems of maxima, minima, tangents, and inflection points. The second
section discusses the analysis of infinitely small quantities. The third
section is about integral calculus and gives a general discussion of the
state of the knowledge. The last section deals with the inverse method of
tangents and differential equations.
Maria Gaetana Agnesi is best known from the curve called the "Witch of
Agnesi". Agnesi tremendous work of deriving the equation of this curve in
the form “ y = a*sqrt (a*x-x*x)/x “ because she measured the x-axis to be
the vertical axis and the y-axis to be the horizontal axis [Kennedy].
Reference frames use today in math use x-axis on horizontal and y-axis on
vertical, so the modern form of the curve is given by the Cartesian equation
“ y*x^2=a^2(a-y) or y = a^3/(x^2 + a^2)”.
After the triumph of her book, Maria was
elected to the Bologna Academy of Sciences. The university awarded her a
diploma and selected her to their faculty. She accepted the position and
served at the university until the death of her father. It was her father
who gave the inspiration and influences her attitude towards mathematics.
When he died, Maria gave up any further work in mathematics. It seems that
even though she was a mastermind, mathematics was only a temporary hobby of
hers. She engages herself in mathematics just to please her father. However,
her attitude demonstrates that she was not devoted to mathematics, which
explains why she gave up mathematics after her father death. Her classic
work, Analytical Institutions, was a proof of her intelligence and talent
that made it possible for her to incorporate approximately all of the state
of the art knowledge about calculus in a very clear way (Tee, pp 27-36). In
these volumes Agnesi brought together, the extremely significant meadow of
mathematics that had recently been invented called The Calculus.
References
Anzoletti, Luisa. Maria Gaetane Agnesi. Milan: L.F. Cogliati, 1990.
Kennedy, Hubert. "The witch of Agnesi-exocised," Mathematics Teacher 62
(1969): 480-482
Lynn M. Osen, Women in Mathematics, The MIT Press, 1992
Schafer, Alice T. "Women and Mathematics." In Mathematics Tomorrow, ed. Lynn
Arthur Steen. New York. Springer-Verlag, 1981.
Tee, G. J. "The Pioneering Women Mathematicians," The Mathematical
Intelligencer, 5(4) 1983, 27-36.
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