Math Department (Thesis/2008-09)

Numerical Approximations in Indian Mathematics

Under the direction of: Kim Plofker

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The topics in this set have a math-historical focus. History of mathematics is still a very under-studied field, and even a one-semester undergraduate thesis can potentially uncover new and interesting results that researchers and teachers in the field would be eager to know. Students interested in these topics are encouraged to consider planning and structuring their theses for publication, with the assistance of the instructor.

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This topic explores the early history of numerical methods outside the modern Western tradition beginning with Newton. In particular, mathematicians in medieval India, working without modern computational or graphical tools, developed some remarkably sophisticated methods using interpolation, iteration, and related techniques. This topic will focus on a particular problem or technique of the student's choice.

Math Department web pages Created: 25 Apr 2007 Last modified: 24 Apr 2008 15:25:05 Comments to: math@union.edu

Thesis Topics - K. Plofker Thesis Topics for 2008-2009 Thesis Topics - K. Plofker