Queen of the Sciences: A History of Mathematics

Course No. 1434 (24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)
Taught by David M. Bressoud
Macalester College
Ph.D., Temple University
1. What Is Mathematics?
2. Babylonian and Egyptian Mathematics
3. Greek Mathematics—Thales to Euclid
4. Greek Mathematics—Archimedes to Hypatia
5. Astronomy and the Origins of Trigonometry
6. Indian Mathematics—Trigonometry Blossoms
7. Chinese Mathematics—Advances in Computation
8. Islamic Mathematics—The Creation of Algebra
9. Italian Algebraists Solve the Cubic
10. Napier and the Natural Logarithm
11. Galileo and the Mathematics of Motion
12. Fermat, Descartes, and Analytic Geometry
13. Newton—Modeling the Universe
14. Leibniz and the Emergence of Calculus
15. Euler—Calculus Proves Its Promise
16. Geometry—From Alhambra to Escher
17. Gauss—Invention of Differential Geometry
18. Algebra Becomes the Science of Symmetry
19. Modern Analysis—Fourier to Carleson
20. Riemann Sets New Directions for Analysis
21. Sylvester and Ramanujan—Different Worlds
22. Fermat's Last Theorem—The Final Triumph
23. Mathematics—The Ultimate Physical Reality
24. Problems and Prospects for the 21st Century