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基本説明
The French mathematician Sophie Germain was the first woman in the history of mathematics to make a substantial contribution to the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. Much published research about Germain focuses on her mathematical feats, made under an assumed male name, yet no biography has explained how Germain learned mathematics before that time. This book is an attempt to answer this question. It chronicles the coming of age of a teenager learning mathematics on her own, growing up during the most turbulent years of the French Revolution. The fictionalised diary uses mathematics and historically accurate accounts of the social chaos that reigned in Paris between 1789 and 1794 to describe Germain's remarkable learning journey. The intellectual and personal struggles of this exceptional young woman will inspire a variety of readers, both students and teachers, mathematicians and novices.
Full Description
Sophie Germain overcame gender stigmas and a lack of formal education to prove that for all prime exponents less than 100 Case I of Fermat's Last Theorem holds. Hidden behind a man's name, her brilliance as mathematician was first discovered by three of the greatest scholars of the eighteenth century Lagrange, Gauss, and Legendre.
In Sophie's Diary, Germain comes to life through a fictionalized journal that intertwines mathematics with historical descriptions of the brutal events that took place in Paris between 1789 and 1793. This format provides a plausible perspective of how a young Sophie could have learned mathematics on her own-both fascinated by numbers and eager to master tough subjects without a teacher's guidance. Her passion for mathematics is integrated into her personal life as an escape from societal outrage.
Sophie's Diary is suitable for a variety of readers both young and old, mathematicians and novices who will be inspired and enlightened on a field of study made easy as is told through the intellectual and personal struggles of an exceptional young woman.
Contents
1. Awakening; 2. Discovery; 3. Introspection; 4. Under siege; 5. Upon the threshold; 6. Intellectual discovery; 7. Knocking on Heaven's door; Author's note; A biographical sketch of Marie-Sophie Germain; Index.
