Raymond EDCP 442

This has been a wonderful journey to learn about a rich side of Math which I thought really little about. While Susan has structured the course in the chronological order of past civilizations, it was eye-opening to see how capable ancient people were in using mathematics to aid their lives. Learning the intricacies of the base 60 system in Babylonian math and its relationship to time was fun. I still remember that the 24-hour system was introduced as early as around 147 BC Hipparchus. As someone who grew up only knowing base 10 and base 2 systems, I never thought about how base 10 is just a construct instead of an empirical truth. Another aspect of the class I enjoyed was also the recognition that math history and contributions have been largely euro-centric. The progression of the course focusing on other non-European history was helpful and insightful for someone who came from a Chinese background. Math problems have also been a challenge as an ELL student in the past. Seeing ho...

For the research of Emilie, I got into rabbit holes of her wild journeys as a female philosopher, scientist and mathematician in the male-dominant fields during the Enlightenment Period. I got fascinated with her personal stories of hustling to fund her research using her aptitude for logical reasoning. There are many mentions of interesting facts which I have yet to read on, hence the books Passionate Mind and Daring Genius of the Enlightenment will be my holiday readings. I also learned that her contribution to science was born out of the sheer passion and fascination of mathematics. She was exposed to Newotian thinking early on and kept involving herself in the field even after marriage. Women at that time focused on marrying the ideal man as a goal while she continued to be herself as an equal amongst the male scientists at the time. It is truly inspiring how much will she had in dedicating in something she loves despite the adversities. Overall, I am very happy to choose her as th...

This document includes everything about our math history art project. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yCxa5gft-UEPsHltfYtXWnQVo_B51MmBg3Xw66ZeSPQ/edit?usp=sharing