Stifel and Roberval
Michael Stifel Michael Stifel was a German mathematician who lived in the late fifteenth century and early to mid-sixteenth century. He was born in 1487, in Esslingen, Germany. The exact date of his birth is unknown. Stifel died on April 19, 1567, in Jena, Germany. His father was Conrad Stifel, a well-respected member of the community. When Michael was young his family did not have much money. Not much is known about Stifel's life until the time he attended the University of Wittenberg, in Germany. After he graduated, Stifel was awarded an M.A. from the university. Then Stifel began his life with the church. He entered the Augustinian monastery and became a catholic priest in 1511. Soon after this, Stifel began questioning the Catholic Church. He did like the idea of taking money from poor people. As a result of this, Stifel was forced to leave the monastery in 1522. Now he decided to go to Wittnenberg and become a Lutheran. During this time, Stifel became friends with Martin Luther himself, and lived in his house for a time. In 1523, Martin Luther made Stifel a pastor, but because of anti-Lutheran feelings Stifel was forced to leave this job. Then in 1528, Martin Luther decided to give Stifel a parish in Lochau, which is now Annaberg. This where Stifel's story gets wacky. While in Lochau, Stifel decided to announce to everyone that the world was going to end on October 19, 1533 at exactly 8:00 AM. It seems that Stifel performed a series of calculations in which he changed the letters to their successive triangular numbers. However, how these calculations proved that the world was coming to end is beyond my comprehension of mathematics. Stifel told the people of Lochau of his "findings" on New Year's Eve of 1522. This announcement had amazing repercussions. The sleepy town of Lochau believed Stifel. They all began living for the day and not worrying about what the future would bring. They did not bother to plant crops or store what food they had. Lochau also became a destination for pilgrims. Once they got to Lochau people began to prepare for the end of the world. Some people even took their own life instead of waiting. Some of the town's people burned their houses in an attempt to remove themselves from material objects and make it easier for to get to "Heaven".
Trois-Rivieres is a place of cultural, economic, and physical diversity. Located in a country with a deep history, which is also growing into modern times, Trois-Rivieres shows its 375-year-old history by contributing to modern development. Economically, Trois-Rivieres has many resources, but the main economic resource is manufacturing which is always changing. In particular, the St. Lawrence River is connected to the three-armed delta that gave Trois-Rivieres its name. The natural vegetation is as diverse as the city as it ranges from forests to grasslands. Trois-Rivieres is small city with much to offer.
Born in the summer of September 17, 1826 in Breselenz, Kingdom of Hanover what’s now modern-day Germany the son of Friederich Riemann a Lutheran minister married to Charlotte Ebell was the second of six children of whom two were male and four female. Charlotte Ebell passed away before seeing any of her six children reach adult hood. As a child Riemann was a shy child who suffered of many nervous breakdowns impeding him from articulating in public speaking but he demonstrated exceptional skills in mathematics at an early age. At the age of four-teen Bernhard moved to Hanover to live with his grandmother and enter the third class at Lynceum two years later his grandmother also passed away he went on to move to the Johanneum Gymnasium in Lunberg and entered High School. During these years Riemann studied the Bible, Hebrew, and Theology but was often amused and side tracked by Mathematics. Showing such interests in mathematics the director of the gymnasium often time allowed Riemann to lend some mathemat...
AUTHOR: Oswald Spengler, (1880-1936), was a German philosopher who acquired his conservative views from his father, a postal official in Germany. Spengler attended the Universities of Munich, Berlin and Halle in Germany, where he studied natural science and mathematics. In 1903, he wrote his dissertation on a Greek philosopher named Heraclitus, though he failed due to a lack of references. Spengler resubmitted his revised thesis in 1904, earning him his doctorate degree. Shortly after earning his degree, Spengler suffered a mental break down, secluding himself from the world. In 1906, he recovered and began working as a teacher in secondary schools until he received some money from his mother. In 1911, Spengler gathered his inheritance and moved to Munich as a private scholar.
St. Boniface, originally named Winfrith, was an extremely studious man, a converted monk, priest, missionary and finally martyr. Born in 672, near Exeter, England, St. Boniface at an early age developed a desire to follow the path of God and live a monastic life. Through non-stop prayer and religious practices, he tuned his mind and body to reach beyond the obstacles and enticements of everyday life at his young adult age. He was a major influence on society during his life and affected the lives and history of Germany permanently. Often called the “Apostle of Germany”, St. Boniface was a strong believer in the principles of the Church and truly wanted to open any pagan believers minds to the knowledgeable and rewarding path of the Christian life.
"Where do you live?" If you have ever met anyone in St. Louis, this is probably one of the first questions asked. Whether you are from the city, county, north, south, east or west, most people in St. Louis are convinced that they can identify you by what community you come from.
Leonhard Euler was born in Basel, Switzerland as the first born child of Paul Euler and Marguerite Brucker on April 15, 1707. Euler’s formal education started in Basel where he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother on his father’s orders. Euler's father wanted his son to follow him in working for the church and sent him to the University of Basel to prepare him in becoming a pastor. He entered the University in 1720 to gain general knowledge before moving on to more advanced studies. Euler’s pastime was used for studying theology, Greek, and Hebrew in order to become a pastor like his father. During that time at the age of thirteen Euler started gaining his masters in Philosophy at the University of Basel, and in 1723 he achieved his master degree. On his weekends, Euler was learning from Bernoulli in several subjects because Bernoulli noticed that Euler was very intelligent in all types of mathematics and it also helped that Euler’s father was a friend of the Bernoulli Family, at the time Johann Bernoulli was Europe’s best mathematician. Bernoulli would later become one of ...
Not every great writer can be correct in what he or she is saying. This is the idea that Gaunilo had in mind when he wrote his criticism to St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument which states that if something greater than anything else that could be thought of is conceived in the understanding then it must exist. Gaunilo says it is foolish to believe in the existence of something just because it is understood. He says there must be some kind of other explanation. In this paper, I will try to explain both Anselm’s theory and Gaunilo’s argument by first breaking each of them down in simpler terms. I will attempt to show what Gaunilo is trying to discredit with his objection.
Blaise Pascal was born on 19 June 1623 in Clermont Ferrand. He was a French mathematician, physicists, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher. He was a child prodigy that was educated by his father. After a horrific accident, Pascal’s father was homebound. He and his sister were taken care of by a group called Jansenists and later converted to Jansenism. Later in 1650, the great philosopher decided to abandon his favorite pursuits of study religion. In one of his Pensees he referred to the abandonment as “contemplate the greatness and the misery of man”.
Michael is first introduced to mankind through the scriptures written in the Bible. In the book of Daniel, Michael is introduced as one of the "chief princes" of Heaven as well as the guardian of the people of Israel (Daniel 10:13). His name is translated to mean "Who is like unto God," and he is one of the seven archangels of Heaven who is mentioned in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments.
It is said that when history looks upon the life of an individual when their time has passed; it is not the dates on the tombstone that define the man but the dash in between. Such was the case in the life of theologian, philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal. Pascal was born on the 19th of June 1623, in Clermont-Ferrand France and died at the age of 39 of tuberculosis on the 19th August 1662 in Paris, but the bulk of his career, his success and life achievement began in his early years. As a young boy, Pascal’s lost his mother and soon afterward his father moved the family, Blaise and his two sisters to Paris. Pascal’s father, Étienne Pascal was a mathematician himself and taught Pascal Latin and Greek, which at the time was considered
No other scholar has affected more fields of learning than Blaise Pascal. Born in 1623 in Clermont, France, he was born into a family of respected mathematicians. Being the childhood prodigy that he was, he came up with a theory at the age of three that was Euclid’s book on the sum of the interior of triangles. At the age of sixteen, he was brought by his father Etienne to discuss about math with the greatest minds at the time. He spent his life working with math but also came up with a plethora of new discoveries in the physical sciences, religion, computers, and in math. He died at the ripe age of thirty nine in 1662(). Blaise Pascal has contributed to the fields of mathematics, physical science and computers in countless ways.
» Part 1 Logarithms initially originated in an early form along with logarithm tables published by the Augustinian Monk Michael Stifel when he published ’Arithmetica integra’ in 1544. In the same publication, Stifel also became the first person to use the word ‘exponent’ and the first to indicate multiplication without the use of a symbol. In addition to mathematical findings, he also later anonymously published his prediction that at 8:00am on the 19th of October 1533, the world would end and it would be judgement day. However the Scottish astronomer, physicist, mathematician and astrologer John Napier is more famously known as the person who discovered them due to his work in 1614 called ‘Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio’.
Theologians, Biblical scholars and Christians all over the world often wrestle with two extremely important questions about their faith. These questions are, "What is God like?" and "How should we live in response to God?" Some feel that we need others to direct us, some feel we need them to challenge us, but everyone agrees that we need others. That is exactly how Saint Augustine struggles to find his faith and beliefs. He found it extremely difficult to come with a conclusion when it was staring at him straight in the face, but just as he did, we draw up our own conclusions with the guidance of others.
The 17th Century saw Napier, Briggs and others greatly extend the power of mathematics as a calculator science with his discovery of logarithms. Cavalieri made progress towards the calculus with his infinitesimal methods and Descartes added the power of algebraic methods to geometry. Euclid, who lived around 300 BC in Alexandria, first stated his five postulates in his book The Elements that forms the base for all of his later Abu Abd-Allah ibn Musa al’Khwarizmi, was born abo...
The man behind the Fibonacci numbers, Leonardo Fibonacci, was born in Pisa in 1175 A.D. During his life, he was a customs officer in Africa and businessman who traveled to various places. During these trips he gained knowledge and skills which enabled him to be recognized by Emperor Fredrick II. Fredrick II noticed Fibonacci and ordered him to take part in a mathematical tournament. This place would eventuall...