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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Sylvester: Ushering In The Modern Era Of Research On Odd Perfect Numbers, Steven Gimbel, John Jaroma
Sylvester: Ushering In The Modern Era Of Research On Odd Perfect Numbers, Steven Gimbel, John Jaroma
Philosophy Faculty Publications
In 1888, James Joseph Sylvester (1814-1897) published a series of papers that he hoped would pave the way for a general proof of the nonexistence of an odd perfect number (OPN). Seemingly unaware that more than fifty years earlier Benjamin Peirce had proved that an odd perfect number must have at least four distinct prime divisors, Sylvester began his fundamental assault on the problem by establishing the same result. Later that same year, he strengthened his conclusion to five. These findings would help to mark the beginning of the modern era of research on odd perfect numbers. Sylvester's bound stood …
Developing Into Series And Returning From Series: A Note On The Foundations Of Eighteenth-Century Analysis, Giovanni Ferraro, Marco Panza
Developing Into Series And Returning From Series: A Note On The Foundations Of Eighteenth-Century Analysis, Giovanni Ferraro, Marco Panza
MPP Published Research
In this paper we investigate two problems concerning the theory of power series in 18th-century mathematics: the development of a given function into a power series and the inverse problem, the return from a given power series to the function of which this power series is the development. The way of conceiving and solving these problems closely depended on the notion of function and in particular on the conception of a series as the result of a formal transformation of a function. After describing the procedures considered acceptable by 18th-century mathematicians, we examine in detail the different strategies—both direct and …
Strukturationen Der Interaktivität, Rudolf Kaehr