Mathematics in February

When I was a kid going to school, learning and loving mathematics, one of the most exciting things that I did was to read and study about "real" mathematicians. I heard about different mathematicians, in class and out, and would always go to the library to read about them. I heard about Newton, who invented The Calculus, and of course Big Al Einstein, who took the mathematical tools of physics to explore time travel. I knew of Descartes, Archimedes, Aristotle, Euler, Plato, Russell, Pascal, and Fermat, but it wasn’t until after college that I learned that one didn’t have to be an old white guy to do mathematics. I have since read and learned about such mathematical greats as Hypatia, Agnesi, Hopper, Banneker, Ramanujan and others and discovered there was as much diversity in the field of mathematics, as in other fields. This was an eye opener!

In recognition of Black History Month, I would like to have you help me build a resource for the Algebra web page dealing with African American Mathematicians. To do this, follow the steps below.

  1. Go to a search engine, see the FASST web page (http://fasst.fayar.net) and use the Search Me? link.
  2. Search for African American Mathematicians and find a good resource for one. This should be a legitimate place that has a good overview of the work of the particular mathematician.
  3. Show me the page and get my approval.
  4. Send me an email that contains the following information:
    a) Your Name,
    b) Date,
    c) Period,
    d) Identification as the Mathematics in February assignment.
    e) The Name of the web page you have identified.
    f) The URL of the page.
    g) The name of the African American Mathematician.
    h) A multi-paragraph explanation of the main points about the life and work of this mathematician.
  5. Send a copy to yourself.

These pages will be set us as a link to the Algebra web page as support for others looking for information on African American Mathematicians.