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SUMMARY:Is historical mathematics largely true? - A.C. Paseau (University 
 of Oxford)
DTSTART:20251029T130000Z
DTEND:20251029T143000Z
UID:TALK238345@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Matt Farr
DESCRIPTION:(Joint work with Fabian Pregel)\n\nHistorical mathematics is w
 idely regarded as a repository of truths. It would seem unusually sceptica
 l to deny that\, say\, early Chinese\, Babylonian\, or Greek mathematician
 s established many truths about numbers and shapes\, such as Pythagoras' T
 heorem or instances of it for specific right-angled triangles. But is this
  assumption correct\, and if so\, what exactly justifies it?\n\nTo test th
 e assumption\, I raise and address a series of objections to it. I'll look
  at two case studies in particular\, both involving apparently extra-mathe
 matical beliefs that 'infect'\, or in some way threaten the truth of\, old
 er mathematics. The first is 18th-century geometry\, and the second 19th-c
 entury matricial algebra.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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