 Mr. Miller's history of math web site is viewed around the world
GULF HIGH SCHOOL, March 4, 2007.—Mr. Miller, one of
Gulf High School's math teachers, maintains a web site devoted to the
history of mathematics. One of the main pages of the web site has had
over 250,000 hits since the site was created.
Mr. Miller explained that the web site has two sections—one on the history of mathematical symbols and one which attempts to trace the origins of terms used in mathematics. The math symbols section is largely based on a two-volume study done in the 1920s, but the mathematical terminology is mostly original research. The web site is one of the leading web sites on the Internet devoted to the history of math. A Google search indicates that more than 9,000 other web pages from around the world link to it. The web site of the British Society for the History of Mathematics provides a link to the site and calls it “very high quality and an excellent resource.” Mr. Miller's site was also recommended by the former Enyclopædia Britannica Internet Guide. The web site has been included as one of the features on a resource CD that comes with a college math textbook, and parts of the site have been translated into Spanish and Portuguese. The site is also listed on the syllabi of many high school and college math teachers. The web site was started in 1997. The math words section was originally one page long, and Mr. Miller said that he consulted all of the math history books at the USF library and several he personally owned before creating the site. Now the site runs to hundreds of pages if printed, and it has become something of a collaborative effort as professors of mathematics at major universities have contributed information that they have found at their libraries. Mr. Miller said that earlier this year a professor in Germany found and contributed an early, apparently previously unknown use of the term “inflection point” by the seventeenth-century mathematician Fermat. The topic of inflection points was being studied by Mr. Miller's calculus class at the same time the contribution was made. The opening page of the history of math words section is here. (You can also search for words of mathematics at Google, and the site will probably be the first one listed.) From the opening page are links to a section on the history of math symbols and a section displaying pictures of postage stamps from around the world that relate to mathematics. |