Some fraction of these articles I’ll dedicate to exploring a part of the mathematical canon: who the author was, the nature of their project, and why their work is worth reading not just for technical specialists, but for everyone. Finally, I’ll conclude with some suggestions about the kairos for the author: when they can be […]
Classic works often advertise their lofty ambitions in their first sentence: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” “Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc’d by fate, | And haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate, |
Some fraction of these articles I’ll dedicate to exploring a part of the mathematical canon: who the author was, what they were on about, and why their work is worth reading not just for technical specialists, but for everyone. Finally, I’ll conclude with some suggestions about the kairos for the author: when they can be
Two authors, Tamaichi Hara and Samuel Eliot Morison, describe the mauling of the American cruiser Atlanta in the November 13, 1942 Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Each author offers an account of the battle, in which a Japanese fleet ambushed and destroyed an American fleet, the first of many nocturnal naval battles during the Solomons campaign.
The Mathematical Canon If one of our students progressed through a classical education without reading any Homer, or any Chaucer, or any Austen, or any O’Connor, we would raise an eyebrow. As Austen might say, it is a truth universally acknowledged that there is a canon of great literature, a collection of authors and
