An Ode to the greatest

Mathematics. This marvelous field of a never-ending void of numbers, equations and

puzzles is the primary foundation for the entire world. Believe it or not, if it were not for

those people who commenced the advanced learning into the fantastic subject, the

human race would be way behind and ancient from the present! So, let’s take out some

time to acknowledge some of the most prominent and celebrated mathematicians who

built the base pillars for us.

1. Hypatia (360-415 AD)

In a time period when males dominated the society and women were consistently

under-represented in the field of study, Hypatia raised the bar with her work on

Geometry and astronomy. References in letters by Synesius, one of Hypatia's students, credit Hypatia with the invention of the astrolabe, a device used in studying astronomy. She also edited the work On the Conics of Apollonius, which divided cones into different parts by a plane. This concept developed the ideas of hyperbolas, parabolas, and ellipses; which are integral part of mathematics today and are needed for several real-life applications like establishing radio stations in positions, representing various combinations of securities, funds, etc. While studying and contributing to the subject, she also followed a strict physical routine (which was developed by her father Theon of Alexandria) to ensure for her a healthy body as well as a highly functional mind.

2. Leonhard Euler (1707- 1783)

Often titled as the most prolific mathematician ever, Euler (pronounced ‘Oiler’) is said to

have published nearly 900 books! He is famously known for the irrational number ‘e’ the

Euler’s number (≈ 2.71828…), which is the base of natural logarithms. His mind-

boggling result, popularly known as Euler’s identity e iπ + 1 = 0, which combines the 5

most important constants e, i, π, 1 and 0, has an erudite impact in various areas of

mathematics. The widely used notation for functions, f(x) was also introduced by him.

Amazingly, he also successfully combined two separate branches of mathematics to

form a new field, the analytic number theory, which pioneered the way for modern math and terminology. For his remarkable contributions to the mankind, Euler was honored in different ways like printing his face on the Swiss notes, naming an asteroid after him and announcing a book prize in his name.

3. Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)

Saluted and recognized by everyone around the globe, he is considered as one of the

maestros of Physics and Mathematics. His renown book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia

Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687,

serves as the building block for classic mechanics, an important element of almost

every functioning thing manufactured today. Newton’s laws of motion, his generalized

binomial theorem, theory of finite differences are some of his brilliant works amongst

many others. Any amount of appreciation is scarce in front of his enormous contribution to the field of infinitesimal calculus, without which all of mathematics would have been incomplete and so many of the inventions we have today would not have existed. Be it optics, gravitation, mechanics, equinoxes, geometry or functions, he has bequeathed his knowledge and thinking everywhere; for us to learn and progress from.

Every word of gratitude will be incomparable to the immense work and effort these

exemplar personalities have put into the field of Mathematics. If not for them, mankind

wouldn’t be at the astonishing level of progress and achievement as it is now. Surely, its

going to be a long wait until someone who can stand up their greatness emerges. Until

then, we all say, Thank you mathematicians.

By

Hetvi Vakil