Rene Descartes
Rene descartes, 1596 was born in Dulan, France on March 3 1. Descartes was a great philosopher, physicist, mathematician and physiologist. The founder of analytic geometry. Descartes was one of the founders of modern European bourgeois philosophy, and Hegel called him "the father of modern philosophy". He is self-contained, integrating materialism and idealism, and has far-reaching influence in the history of philosophy. At the same time, he is a scientist who dares to explore, and his analytic geometry is of epoch-making significance in the history of mathematics. Descartes is one of the most influential masters in the field of philosophy and science in Europe in the17th century, and is known as "the ancestor of modern science".
Euclid
Euclid (Greek: ε υ κ λ ε ι δ η? , about 330 BC-275 BC, Alexandria), an ancient Greek mathematician, was called "the father of geometry". During the period of Ptolemy I Soter (323 BC-283 BC), he was active in Alexandria. His most famous book, The Elements of Geometry, is the foundation of European mathematics. It puts forward five postulates and develops Euclidean geometry. It is widely regarded as the most successful textbook in history. Euclid also wrote some works about perspective, conic curve, spherical geometry and number theory, and was the founder of geometry.
Archimedes
Archimedes (287 BC-2 BC12) was an ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician and physicist. Born in Syracuse, Sicily. Archimedes has been to Alexandria. It is said that he invented Archimedes screw pump when he lived in Alexandria. Later, Archimedes became a great scholar who was both a mathematician and a mechanic, enjoying the reputation of "the father of mechanics". There are more than 10 mathematical works handed down by Archimedes, most of which are Greek manuscripts. Archimedes once said: Give me a fulcrum and I can move the earth. This sentence tells us: we must have the courage to find this fulcrum and the courage to find the truth.
Interesting knowledge of mathematics
1. Two boys each ride a bicycle, starting from two places 20 miles apart (1 mile +0.6093 km) and riding in a straight line. At the moment they set off, a fly on the handlebar of one bicycle began to fly straight to another bicycle. As soon as it touched the handlebar of another bicycle, it immediately turned around and flew back. The fly flew back and forth, between the handlebars of two bicycles, until the two bicycles met. If every bicycle runs at a constant speed of 10 miles per hour and flies fly at a constant speed of 15 miles per hour, how many miles will flies fly?
answer
The speed of each bicycle is 10 miles per hour, and the two will meet at the midpoint of the distance of 2o miles after 1 hour. The speed of a fly is 15 miles per hour, so in 1 hour, it always flies 15 miles.
Many people try to solve this problem in a complicated way. They calculate the first distance between the handlebars of two bicycles, then return the distance, and so on, and calculate those shorter and shorter distances. But this will involve the so-called infinite series summation, which is very complicated advanced mathematics. It is said that at a cocktail party, someone told john von neumann (1903 ~ 1957, one of the greatest mathematicians in the 20th century). ) Put forward this question, he thought for a moment, and then gave the correct answer. The questioner seems a little depressed. He explained that most mathematicians always ignore the simple method to solve this problem and adopt the complex method of summation of infinite series.
Von Neumann had a surprised look on his face. "However, I use the method of summation of infinite series," he explained.