Related papers: A Mathematical Approach to the Plato's Problem
Zeno's paradoxes are explained as being the result of inappropriate combination of discrete and continuous mathematical systems. It is proposed that the source of this confusion lies in the course of development of the number system, which…
These notes explore three amazing formulas proved by Abel in his 1826 Paris memoir on what we now call Abelian integrals. We discuss the first two formulas from the point of view of symbolic computation and explain their connection to…
The problem of axiomatization of physics formulated by Hilbert as early as 1900 and known as the Sixth Problem of Hilbert is nowadays even more topical than at the moment of its formulation. Axiomatic inconsistency of classic, quantum, and…
This survey article on Hilbert's first and second problems is adapted from a one-hour colloquium lecture given at the University of Auckland in May, 2000, just three months before the 100th anniversary of Hilbert's lecture. It includes an…
Newtonian gravity can be regarded as a hypothetic-deductive system where the inverse square law is the starting point from which gravitational phenomena are deduced. This operational form of presenting gravity endorses problem solving and…
These are lecture notes that arose from a representation theory course given by the first author to the remaining six authors in March 2004 within the framework of the Clay Mathematics Institute Research Academy for high school students,…
The Collatz conjecture is a famous math problem that was introduced by Lothar Collatz in 1937, and nobody has yet succeeded in proving or disproving it. In this article, I will analyze this problem with a new approach and I will discuss my…
The classical three-body problem arose in an attempt to understand the effect of the Sun on the Moon's Keplerian orbit around the Earth. It has attracted the attention of some of the best physicists and mathematicians and led to the…
When introducing the calculus of variations, we may invoke Dido's problem to illustrate the most fundamental variational problem: to find the curve of given perimeter which bounds the greatest area. This type of problem led mathematicians…
It is shown that the ``retrodiction paradox'' recently introduced by Peres arises not because of the fallacy of the time-symmetric approach as he claimed, but due to an inappropriate usage of retrodiction.
Section 7 of Einstein's 1905 electrodynamics paper gives frequency-shift and aberration formulae that together describe an elongated ellipsoidal wavefront. A Lorentz contraction of this ellipsoid solves most (but not all) of the associated…
Western thinking underwent a turning point between 1885 and 1925. Einstein in 1905 symbolizes the emblematic hinge of this change of direction. To find an equivalent phenomenon in the past we need to go back to the period from the XV…
The Jacobian conjecture is thought to have been proposed by O. H. Keller in 1939. However, we have found that the statement of the conjecture is precisely the main result of a paper published by L. Kraus in 1884. Although the final step of…
More than two centuries ago Malfatti (see \cite{malfatti}) raised and solved the following problem (the so-called Malfatti's construction problem):Construct three circles into a triangle so that each of them touches the two others from…
The thought experiment (called the clock paradox or the twin paradox)proposed by Langevin in 1911 of two observers, one staying on Earth and the other making a trip toward a star with a velocity near the light velocity is very well known…
Today, science have a powerful tool for the description of reality - the numbers. However, the concept of number was not immediately, lets try to trace the evolution of the concept. The numbers emerged as the need for accurate estimates of…
The question of the origins of logic as a formal discipline is of special interest to the historian of physics since it represents a turning inward to examine the very nature of reasoning and the relationship between thought and reality. In…
Following J.-Y.B\'eziau in his pioneer work on non-standard interpretations of the traditional square of opposition, we have applied the abstract structure of the square to study the relation of opposition between states in superposition in…
Translated from the Latin original "Novae demonstrationes circa resolutionem numerorum in quadrata" (1774). E445 in the Enestrom index. See Chapter III, section XI of Weil's "Number theory: an approach through history". Also, a very clear…
The classical formulation of "Olbers' Paradox" consists in looking for an explanation of the fact that the sky at night is dark. We use the experimental datum of the nocturnal darkness in order to put constraints on a Newtonian cosmological…