Maria Gaetana Agnesi

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In a field that has historically been dominated by men, Maria Gaetana Agnesi broke that threshold in the 1700’s with her uncontroverted intelligence in the field of mathematics. Maria Agnesi laid the framework for many other women mathematicians to follow by her contribution of what is now known at the “Agnesi Curve,” as well as writing mathematical textbooks. Her lasting legacy in the field of mathematics makes her one of the most extraordinary women scholars of her day and of all time. Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in Milan, Italy, on May 16, 1718, to her father, Pietro Agnesi and her mother, Anna Fortunata. (Kennedy 1). Maria was the eldest of twenty-one children. (Kennedy 1). Maria was born into a wealthy and literate family as both of her parents came from wealthy merchant families of Milan (Kennedy 1). Maria followed in the mathematical footsteps of her father, Pietro Agnesi, who was a professor of mathematics at the University of Bologna. (Osen 39). Maria Agnesi was born in a time and place when the “best education for a woman was considered to be no education” (Perl 53). In this time, education for women, even the wealthy, was in a poor state and most …show more content…

The first section consists of finite quantities and the discussion of the construction of loci, as well as conic sections (Osen 43). The second section is dedicated to “infinitely small quantities,” which are quantities defined as small in comparison to the independent variable; the proportion is fewer than that of any assignable quantity (Osen 44). The third section deals with integral calculus (Osen 44). The fourth and final section includes “inverse methods of tangents” and differential equations (Osen 44). Agnesi did not make any claim to the original mathematical discoveries, but she did considerably revise the materials in attempt for them to be conveyed in a more concise and organized manner (Kennedy

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