Math History Through Biographies
Biographies are a mainstay of a living books curriculum. Therefore biographies of mathematicians are a key part of living approach to math.
In my transition to living math, I bought the book, Mathematicians Are People, Too. It is composed of 15 chapters, each recounting a specific incident from the life of a famous mathematician.
We like to use notebooking as a narration technique, even for math, so I decided to design some notebooking pages to go with each mathematician in the book. In my researching the mathematicians, I found some wonderful quotations written by them and also decided to make some cursive copywork pages for my daughter. She needs practice with handwriting, and these quotations give her something thoughtful to ponder as she copies. On this page, you'll find links to all the free notebooking and curisive copywork pages I designed for my daughter.
General notebooking form that can be used for any mathematician can be found at Homeschool With Index Cards.
In addition, I added any helpful links that I discovered for the individual mathematicians. We're still working on this book, so I'll add any new things we find as we continue our readings.
Contents at a Glance
Mathematicians Are People, Too
Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians
This is the book from which I got the list of mathematicians. They are listed here in the same order they are presented in the book, which seems to be mostly chronological.
For lesson plans to go along with many of the chapters in Mathematicians Are People, Too visit Ohio Resource Center.
The CA Department of Education also has an overview of this title.
For a sample chapter from this book, click here. (It's the chapter on Pythagoras.)
Mathematicians Are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians
Amazon Price: $18.50 (as of 11/20/2009)
A standard recommendation for a living math approach, this book will whet your appetite for more math history with its engaging stories and detailed pen and ink illustrations.
Mathematician Timeline
These files contain timeline figures for each of the 15 mathematicians featured in Mathematicians Are People, Too. Cut them out and affix them to your own timeline. Each mathematician's name and dates are included below his or her image.
- Mathematicians are People, Too Timeline Figures page 1 of 2
- Timeline figures for the first nine mathematicians.
- Mathematicians are People, Too Timeline Figures page 2 of 2
- Timeline figures for the remaining 6 mathematicians.
Thales
- READING -- Exerpts from String, Straightedge, and Shadow
- Two chapters about Thales from this classic living book about geometry. Illustrations are included!
- PRINTABLE -- Thales Notebooking Pages Plus Copywork
- A set of six different Thales notebooking pages plus one cursive copywork page with a quote by Thales, "A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind. "
Pythagoras
- READING -- BEFORE THE TIME OF CHRIST
- from Stories of the Great Scientists by Charles R. Gibson
- PRINTABLE -- Pythagoras Notebooking Pages
- A set of many pages featuring Pythagoras himself as well as the math he studied.
- ACTIVITY --Hands-on Activity with Platonic Polyhedra (3D Shapes)
This entry from my blog will walk you through a supplemental activity you may want to do with Pythagoras. The Platonic Solids were actually discovered by the Pythagoreans. And they are mentioned in the chapter on Pythagoras.- READING -- Pythagoras Chapter from Mathematicians Are People, Too
- Here's the full Pythagoras chapter from Mathematicians Are People, Too.
What's Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure
We read this picture book along with the chapter on Pythagoras. It's a great book that will really help a visual learner see the math that Pythagoras used.
What's Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure
Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 11/20/2009)
Completed Notebooking Pages
Here are samples of my daughter's mathematician noteobooking pages. I'll add more as we complete them.
Pythagoras
Pythagoras
Archimedes
Archimedes
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes
Archimedes
287-212 B.C.
- READING --ARCHIMEDES
- A chapter from a book in the public domain -- Statemen and Sages by Charles Horne
- READING -- "EUREKA!"
- Thirty More Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin Delightfully retold!
- IMAGES -- Pictures of Archimedes
- Lots of pictures
- PRINTABLE -- Archimedes Notebooking Page
- This page features a full color image of Archimedes (an artist's rendition) plus lined areas for filling in facts about the mathematician.
- PRINTABLE -- Archimedes Notebooking Pages
- A set of seven different pages with some black and white and some color images.
- PRINTABLE -- Archimedes Quotations Cursive Copywork
- Two quotations by Archimedes presented on copywork pages.
1. There are things which seem incredible to most men who have not studied mathematics."
2. ""Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." - PRINTABLE -- Pi Notebooking Pages
- A few choices of layout and style, all about mathematical Pi.
Archimedes and the Door of Science
Archimedes and the Door of Science (Living History Library)
Amazon Price: $10.04 (as of 11/20/2009)
Hypatia
- PRINTABLE -- Hypatia Notebooking Pages
- A set notebooking pages with different styles to choose from.
- PRINTABLE -- Hypatia Quotations Cursive Copywork Pages
- Two quotations by Hypatia written in cursive to be copied.
1. "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all. "
2. "To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those things that lie beyond."
John Napier
- PRINTABLE -- John Napier Notebooking Pages
- A set of pages with many styles to choose from. The images are black and white and include both the portrait of Napier (seen here) as well as his logarithmic rods.
- PRINTABLE -- John Napier Quotation Cursive Copywork
- Originally in Latin from the opening of Napier's work, Descriptio this copywork features a rhyming ditty,
"The use of this book is quite large, my dear friend
No matter how modest it looks,
You study it carefully and find that it gives
As much as a thousand big books. "
Galileo Galilei
(1564-1642)
- READING -- GALILEO
- A chapter from Famous Men of Modern Times by John H. Haaren .
- READING -- GALILEO AND THE LAMPS
- from Thirty More Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin
- READING--GALILEO AND THE WONDERS OF THE TELESCOPE
- from Children's Stories of the Great Scientists by Henrietta Christian Wright
- PRINTABLE -- Galileo Notebooking Page
- A set of three pages, each in a different style. All feature black and white drawings of Galileo.
Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei
This book was actually part of our Noeo Physics curriculum. It is a beautiful, oversized picture book that shares a kid friendly biography of Galileo along with some of his major scientific discoveries.
Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 11/20/2009)
Blaise Pascal
1623-1662
- PRINTABLE --Blaise Pascal Notebooking Pages
- Six different styles to choose from in this set.
- PRINTABLE -- Cursive Copywork of Blaise Pascal Quotations
- Some marvelously profound quotes about math and about faith in Jesus are included in these cursive copywork pages.
Examples:
"The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence. "
"There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus"."
Each page includes an image of Pascal. - PRINTABLE --Pascal's Pumpkins
- Pascal's Pumpkins encourages students to look for patterns in Pascal's Triangle. The handout develops awareness of this important mathematical pattern through this timely seasonal activity. Students who take higher math courses will meet Pascal again in many different applications, including probability. This handout is an outgrowth of the Rutgers Universiy Discrete Math Institute.
A Piece of the Mountain:The Story of Blaise Pascal
This is another book that is on my wishlist!
A Piece of the Mountain:The Story of Blaise Pascal
Amazon Price: $12.95 (as of 11/20/2009)
Issac Newton
- READING -- NEWTON AND THE FINDING OF THE WORLD SECRET, 1642-1727
- from Children's Stories of the Great Scientists by Henrietta Christian Wright
- READING -- SIR ISAAC NEWTON AND THE APPLE
- Thirty More Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin
- READING -- SIR ISAAC NEWTON
- Famous Men of Modern Times by John H. Haaren
- READING -- SIR ISAAC NEWTON (1642-1727)
- Great Englishmen by M. B. Synge
Leonhard Euler
1707-1783
- PRINTABLE -- Leonhard Euler Notebooking Pages
- A set of six different styles of notebooking pages.
- PRINTABLE -- Leonhard Euler Quotations Cursive Copywork
- Two quotations for copywork:
1. Upon losing the use of his right eye, "Now I will have less distraction."
2. "Mathematicians have tried in vain to this day to discover some order in the sequence of prime numbers, and we have reason to believe that it is a mystery into which the human mind will never penetrate."
Joseph Louis Lagrange
1736-1813
- READING -- Joseph Louis Lagrange Biography
- This short PDF has a good overview of Lagrange's life and his contributions to mathematics
- PRINTABLE -- Joseph Louis Lagrange Cursive Copywork
- Two quotations by Lagrange written in cursive, suitable for copywork:
"As long as algebra and geometry have been separated, their progress have been slow and their uses limited, but when these two sciences have been united, they have lent each mutual forces, and have marched together towards perfection."
"If I had inherited a fortune I should probably not have cast my lot with
mathematics." - PRINTABLE --Joseph Louis Lagrange Notebooking Pages
- A set of six different styles with a black and white photograph of Lagrange.
Sophie Germain
1776-1831
- PRINTABLE -- Sophie Germain Notebooking Pages
- A set of six different styles, all with this same black and white image of Sophie Germain.
Carl Friedrich Gauss
1777-1855
- PRINTABLE -- Gauss Notebooking Pages
- A set of seven styles, all featuring the same black and white image of Gauss shown here.
- PRINTABLE -- Gauss Cursive Copywork
- Two pages, each featuring a different quotation by Gauss:
1. "If others would but reflect on mathematical truths as deeply and as continuously as I have, they would make my discoveries."
2. "Mathematics is the queen of sciences and arithmetic is the queen of mathematics".
Evariste Galois
1811-1832
- PRINTABLE -- Galois Notebooking Pages
- http://www.hslaunch.com/mypage/profile
- PRINTABLE -- Galois Cursive Copywork Pages
- I could only fine one good quotation by Galois, so there is only one page in this PDF: "Unfortunately what is little recognized is that the most worthwhile scientific books are those in which the author clearly indicates what he does not know; for an author most hurts his readers by concealing difficulties."
Emmy Noether
1882-1935
- PRINTABLE -- Cursive Copywork Pages
- I couldn't find any great quotations by Emmy Noether, but I did find some interesting things that were said about her.
I used a quote from her 1935 New York Times obituary written by Albert Einstein, "In the judgment of the most competent living mathematicians, Fräulein Noether was the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began."
And I also used a quote that illustrates the common attitude towards women at her time, " I can testify that she is a great mathematician, but that she is a woman, I cannot swear." - PRINTABLE -- Emmy Noether Notebooking Pages
- skks
Srinivasa Ramanujan
1887-1920
- PRINTABLE -- Ramanujan Quotation Cursive Copywork Page
- A wonderful quote to show what math ultimately meant to Ramanujan, " An equation means nothing to me unless it expresses a thought of God."
- PRINTABLE -- Ramanujan Notebooking Pages
- A set of six different styles that each includes a black and white image of this mathematician from India.
- READING -- Kid Friendly Biography
- From Pitara, a website designed just for children.
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Your thoughts, suggestions, comments, or questions are welcome.
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- GonnaFly GonnaFly Sep 15, 2009 @ 12:55 am
- I love this page. I think the history of maths is fascinating!
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- Heidi Heidi Aug 17, 2009 @ 11:03 pm
- Jimmi,
I love this! Thanks so much.
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- Pam Pam Aug 17, 2009 @ 7:55 am
- Wow Jimmie. This is fantastic stuff. Thanks for all of your hard work.
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- Christine Christine Aug 16, 2009 @ 8:10 am
- WOW! Thanks for sharing your work! This is great, and I can't wait to get started using it!
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- Loni (Hearts-In-Training) Loni (Hearts-In-Training) Jul 16, 2009 @ 7:08 am
- Thank you very much Jimmi, this is incredible! I am so thankful you share all your hard work :D
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- spirituality spirituality Jul 12, 2009 @ 1:08 pm
- :) My dad (a person too) is a mathematician so I grew up hearing about the marvelous Ramanujan who was usually right, though he could not always prove it :) - blessed by a squidangel :)
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- Tina ( Morningstar Academy) Tina ( Morningstar Academy) Jul 8, 2009 @ 8:20 am
- Jimmi this is fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing this.
