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Prof Jan van den Heuvel

Prof June Barrow-Green

This course is available on the BSc in Actuarial Science, BSc in Mathematics and Economics, BSc in Mathematics with Data Science, BSc in Mathematics with Economics and BSc in Mathematics, Statistics and Business. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course is available with permission to General Course students.

Students must have completed Mathematical Methods (MA100).

General Course students may substitute an equivalent course.

This course surveys the development of mathematics from the beginning of history with an emphasis on its relation with the societies and cultures in which those developments happened. Major themes are the origins of mathematics in different cultures with a special emphasis on the development of money and finance; diversity in mathematics; mathematics and ethics; and the place of mathematics in modern society.

20 hours of lectures and 11 hours of classes in the WT.

Students are expected to submit written work on a weekly basis. These will be in the form of short to medium length (500-1000 words) essays.

In addition, students will be expected to contribute to discussion topics in class.

Jacqueline Stedall, History of Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2011) is recommended for introductory (background) reading.

Additional reading for each of the sections of the course will be given in the course material. The historical parts of the course is based on source material which will be distributed to students.

Indicative further reading:

– June Barrow-Green, Jeremy Gray, and Robin Wilson, The History of Mathematics: A Source-Based Approach, volume 1 (AMS, 2019).

– June Barrow-Green, Jeremy Gray, and Robin Wilson, The History of Mathematics: A Source-Based Approach, volume 2 (AMS, 2021).

– Norman Biggs, Quite Right: The Story of Mathematics, Measurement and Money (Oxford, 2016).

– Mathilde Gerbelli-Gauthier, Pamela E. Harris, Michael A. Hill, Dagan Karp, and Emily Riehl (eds.), A Conversation on Professional Norms in Mathematics (AMS, 2021).

– George Gheverghese Joseph, The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics (Princeton, 2010).

– Helaine Selin (ed.), Mathematics Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Mathematics (Springer, 2000).

Exam (40%, duration: 2 hours, reading time: 5 minutes) in the spring exam period.
Essay (45%, 2000 words) and presentation (15%) in the ST Week 1.

There is a 2-hour Exam in Spring Term counting for 40% of the final mark. The Coursework counting for 60% is in the form of an Essay counting for 45% (due week 1 of Spring Term), plus a related Oral Presentation counting for 15% (which will be scheduled during the first weeks of Spring Term).