UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Cambridge University History of Mathematics Society
presents an illegal, immoral, and fattening lecture series
A HISTORY OF MATHEMATICAL IDEAS
FROM
CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT
Held in the faculty of mathematics, but NOT by the faculty of mathematics
4 pm MR4, Wednesdays and Fridays, Michaelmas & Lent Terms 2023-24
Well, to the First Years, welcome to Cambridge, and to the Second and Third years,
welcome back to Cambridge, and to anyone else watching these lectures online,
welcome to Cambridge education, sitting on your couch watching videos. It’s lovely to
have you all back up in Cambridge, although I can’t tell if the people on Zoom are in
Cambridge or Seoul, or anywhere between … so “coming [back] up to Cambridge” is
something of a misnomer. But, with thanks to the Cambridge University History of
Maths Society, who now organise my history of maths and history of science courses,
welcome to Cambridge In-person and On-line, Inc., purveyor of education to the
interested elites everywhere.
This year we will continue as normal – as if anything about Cambridge could be
described as normal – with face-to-face lectures, with the addition that I’m going to be
streaming these lectures on Zoom, for those that prefer Zoom or those outside of
Cambridge who would like to sit in on my lectures. Links and news will be in my
irregular emails to those that attend these lectures; you need to sign up to the email list
(QR Code below). This will be the last year these lectures are in-person in the Maths
Faculty, so I don’t know if they will ever be done in-person anywhere in the future. I
have not put these lectures up on YouTube – the task of editing them into something
tolerably adequate for YT is more than I’m willing to do – although if any of you are
adept at video editing and would like to help, please let me know: I might reconsider.
Lectures are recorded, however, so if you miss a lecture and want to catch up you will
be able to get the recording.
Cambridge and the Cambridge experience is back to normal, including the glamorous
social life, networking, organising World Revolution (or your future career as a boring
banker), sex’n’drugs’n’rock’n’roll, fancy dress dinner parties in bib’n’tucker, erudite
(and/or pretentious) seminars and talks about everything, and cycling in the bitter and
cold rain of Cambridge. Sobriety optional. If you’re new here, you will soon know what I
mean. And for those who have been here, you also know that loneliness, depression,
Impostor Syndrome, fatigue, alienation, vitamin deficiencies, despair, total immersion in
maths and occasional moments of actually understanding some maths are also included,
Bursill-Hall, History of maths lectures 2023, Introduction
free of charge. And you’re a mathmo, so you aren’t going to get much of the partying and
glamour of all those Hooray Henrys and Henriettas anyway, so the glamour of your
social life is … well, relative. Welcome to Cambsville.
Lecture topics this year
As the years go by and slowly some glimmer of wisdom has managed to seep through to
me, I have learned not to promise that certain lectures will cover particular topics, as
the inevitable failure to keep precisely (or even vaguely) to the programme and any sort
of timetable makes me feel guilty and gives rise to an appreciation on the part of
students that the University is completely disorganised and held together by string and
sealing wax. Since the entire Cambridge system is carefully designed to hide this
phenomenon, it is considered unprofessional to make it too obvious to students. You are
supposed to discover this on your own, slowly and painfully. Hence, I announce here
some of the topics that I will cover in the lectures that follow*, but this list is neither
complete nor shall it be deemed anything so firm as an actual promise or contract to talk
about these topics.
1 For introductory stuff, I will give an overview of the history I will cover, possibly
discuss a couple of questions about the foundations or nature of mathematics (in a very
abbreviated way), and briefly some points about epistemology and proof and
mathematics; I will, obviously, avoid trying to explain definitively the underlying nature
or ontology of mathematics. I will also at some point want to talk about Whig
historiography (or just give you a 600-page handout that you won’t read) and why we
don’t do that sort of thing – the Whig stuff, I mean – because it is both rude and bad, and
causes carcinogenic halitosis; and also is intellectually crass. Then I might mention
extremely briefly the early Chinese development of mathematics (which is awesome
and deserves its own lecture course), and then talk a little bit about two (of the many)
early ‘practical’ mathematical traditions: Egyptians and Mesopotamians.
2 This will take a week or so, and then I will talk about the Greeks in some detail –
primarily because I think their maths is cool and I have thought a lot about it. I will
cover topics such as: Greek mathematics generally (sources, transmission, and
survival phenomena), its origins, and then the 5th Century:
(i) rethinking [read: burying] the story of the Pythagoreans;
(ii) an alternative view of the early research programme;
(iii) Hippocrates of Chios, not Cos
(iv) the development of the concept of proof;
(v) three classical problems;
(vi) Zeno and Democritus on infinite division;
(vii) the problem of proportion;
* although absolutely no commitment to precision or exactitude is made, and the lecturer will not be held
responsible for deviations, additions and omissions from this programme; this does not affect your non-
existent statutory rights
2
Bursill-Hall, History of maths lectures 2023, Introduction
and then the notion – and huge, huge mathematical problems therein – of space, and in
particular the Greek worries about the nature of space because of the problem of
curvilinear quadrature:
(i) squaring the circle; Hippocrates, Antiphon & Bryson;
(ii) Eudoxus’ method of exhaustion;
(iii) How Eudoxus’ method of exhaustion might have developed, Archimedes’
method of exhaustion;
(iv) the problem of heuristics and method: Archimedes’ [lost, not lost, lost,
found, lost, not lost] Mechanical Method
Finally, I will give a very cursory glance at later Greek mathematics (Diophantus and
Pappus; commentators, creative mathematicians, and above all the survival and
transmission of texts).
3 Then I shall look very briefly at early Muslim mathematics and the general problem of
the transmission of ancient Greek texts; transmission directions (it is more trendy to
talk about transmission vectors) and their problems, i.e.
(i) the context of Muslim-Arab mathematics and the discontinuity of research
traditions:
(ii) translators, arithmetic and algebras; al-Khwarizmi and the Algebra,
(iii) algebra & geometry confused; and possibly some
(iv) applications of mathematics.
I will also discuss the General Theorem: medieval Muslim culture was seriously cool. This
theorem is discussed more fully in the History of Science for Mathmos course that I am
giving on science in early Islam on Thursdays this year (on-line and in-person).
4 Next I shall look at (western) Medieval, Renaissance, neo-classical & Baroque [pre-
calculus] maths, which consists of an examination of the life and times and
development of some more discontinuous research traditions (you might notice that
DRTs are an important thing to watch for in the history of maths):
(i) Medieval and early Renaissance mathematics; the complex
transmission ‘vectors’ of texts and the medieval ‘project’ in mathematics:
the “high maths” medieval tradition and uses of geometry,
(ii) and the traditions of practical mathematics and the teaching arithmetics;
the subsequent cossist and abbacist “low maths” traditions and the
equation solving arts, and
(iii) then all of this gets seriously important after the general solution to the
cubic and the development of decent algebraic notation,
(iv) the new commercial enterprise of printed ‘algebra’ or cossist texts
(v) the changing status of ‘algebra’ and the science of equations, and its
consequences for mathematics and the rest of the cosmos.
5 Then I will talk about a further transmission vector of ancient Greek mathematics into
Renaissance Europe in the first half of the 15th century, and more generally about
Renaissance humanism and mathematics, which takes us once again to another
discontinuous research tradition and the new mathematics of curves (that is, Son of
3
Bursill-Hall, History of maths lectures 2023, Introduction
Archimedes or Method of Exhaustion II): the late Renaissance re-construction of the
ancient geometrical research tradition, corruptions and the search for the hidden
heuristic; the changing scope and status of mathematics; the subtle but extraordinary
effects of the slow but steady seepage of algebra to the brain and a faith in formal
manipulation. Once we find ourselves slipping quietly into the Seventeenth century, I
will continue this story with its consequences:
(i) Discontinuous research traditions and infinitesimals: Kepler, Cavalieri and
others, and a radical new heuristic ... or, more generally, substance abuse
in the 17th Century.
(ii) Then Fermat & Descartes (and what was he smoking?), safe sex and safer
alternatives to the geometry of infinitesimals: what I call the tradition of
‘equation bashing’ – a small but dangerous ambition to study curves
using algebraic geometry;
(iii) an emerging mid-century consensus and lack of consensus on the theory
of curves. Here you will find out what a GAGTOC is, which is something
that will change your life, followed by some mildly polemical remarks
about:
(iv) what the calculus is and is not, and how not to view its history. Note: on
historical maps this area is labelled: “Dragons and Bad Historians Found
Here”
6 Further on the topic of what the calculus is not, I shall talk about the calculus & early
Enlightenment stuff, which will be a very rapid tour through such topics as Newton (a
typical Trinity mathmo) and Leibniz (ugh: another foreigner): both studied general
algebraic-geometric theories of properties of curves; followed by the story of the early
calculus (Malebranch, l’Hôpital & the Basle group; early foundational problems;
Fontenelle and more early signs of formalist thinking; early limitations to the new
algebraic geometry of curves …) and generally will try to subtly suggest that neither
Newton nor Leibniz discovered what we think of as the calculus. But that’s just me,
trying to be awkward and annoying as usual.
7 As if that were not bad enough, I will talk briefly about mathematics and the
Enlightenment; which is to say:
(i) a compare and contrast of the life and times of higher mathematics and
mathematical physics in France and England: institutions, education,
patronage, and the new language of mathematics (the weird, incredibly
important story of analytic vs. synthetic intuitions);
(ii) the foundations of the calculus in the middle and later 18th century,
reception of the calculus and then Euler’s programme, analysis as a way of
life, and ‘ontological agnosticism’; and then maybe something on
(iii) analytical mathematical physics – from 17th century mathematical
mechanics via Newton to Euler and d’Alembert’s ambitions, to Lagrange’s
analytical mechanics and Laplace’s universal analytical point-force
mechanics.
(iv) And, more generally, I will talk about the new imperialism of mathematics
and ‘higher mathematics’, and the unspoken Enlightenment project to
mathematise more and more areas of science.
4
Bursill-Hall, History of maths lectures 2023, Introduction
How much I talk about Enlightenment pure and applied mathematics, foundations, and
the growing imperialist hegemony of mathematics in the sciences will depend on how
quickly you listen: if you listen slowly, we will fall behind. Please note how this makes
it your fault not mine if we don’t finish the course by the end of Lent. We call this ‘guilt
transference’ in the trade.
8
In past years I have not really lectured much about the 19th century, but occasionally I
have given a few rather general lectures about maths in the 19th century and the way
that mathematics changed completely and totally in the middle decades of the century.
We can see if there is much or any appetite for any, or some, or more lectures on the
19th century, and if any students would like to contribute some presentations on
interesting and comprehensible topics. I make no promises on this, and we can talk
about this further in Lent Term.
00000000
If all of that sounds a bit heavy, don’t be fooled. This was once a Cambridge University
lecture course, so it isn’t exactly supposed to be trivial or bog-standard, and is designed
to go beyond what you will find in the secondary literature. If you want to know what is
in the standard secondary literature, there are libraries for that. We generally presume
that you can cover that stuff on your own if you are interested. Or ignore it because so
much of it is poor quality.
However, this is a survey of the history of mathematical ideas and the culture of
mathematics, of the intellectual context and styles of mathematical work, not (let me
repeat that in case you didn’t get it: NOT) a course in mathematical technicalities. This
may disappoint some mathmos (who want to know what was going on yesterday and
only wake up if I put lots of equations on the board or problems that you recognise from
the IMO) ... but this means that the course can be followed and understood by mathmos
and non-mathmos, and requires only the smallest outlay of mathematical labour to
follow. However, the course is not intended to be a slight advance of school-level
intellectual standards, but considerably more challenging and denser. You’re at
Cambridge now and that means you are amongst the best of the best, and we tend not to
do the easy stuff around here. Oh, and don’t worry about impostor syndrome: we all
have that.
I presume no particular mathematical background* and no technical mathematics will
need to be done by the student to follow the course. Any more than historians of
medicine are required to carry out dissections and operations, or historians of
chemistry are required to go and do alchemical exercises and inhale large quantities of
arsenic and mercury vapour. You may feel that these lacunæ are disappointing, and we
should make the history of the sciences a little more … hands on. Mathmos may find the
course of interest as a longer history of what pre-modern mathematics was like, and
because it isn’t quite the same perspective on the nature of the subject that Tripos
* Knowing arithmetic might be helpful, but not necessary; brain death, however, would be more of a
problem for those considering following these lectures. I will presume the Fermi audience principle
(infinite ignorance and infinite intelligence).
5
Bursill-Hall, History of maths lectures 2023, Introduction
lecturers tend to give. The lectures are also supposed to be an opportunity to think
about mathematics, which is a slightly different project from regular maths faculty
lectures and a bunch of awesome and mind-blowing theorems you need to be able to
prove and apply.
It is supposed to be for your amusement (for some fairly strange definition of
amusement … but you’re mathmos, so that’s OK), and it is more about listening and
thinking than taking notes and not understanding what the lecturer is talking about.
Attendance will require a sense of humour, however.
If you are not already signed up to my lectures-email list please do so via the QR below
or at www.lists.cam.ac.uk, search for maths-history-lectures. Room changes, reminders,
and the such will be announced in the emails.
Piers Bursill-Hall
dpmms
October 2023
