Ralph P. Boas Jr.

Ralph Philip Boas Jr. (August 8, 1912 – July 25, 1992) was an American mathematician, noteworthy for his expository writing in mathematics. Quotes The predecessors of Newton and Leibnitz knew perfectly well how to determine tangents and areas, but they had to approach each problem from first principles. The great contribution of Newton and Leibnitz was precisely to make the procedures for finding tangents, areas, etc. into a calculus, that is, a systematic way of calculating—a collection of algorithms, to use the currently fashionable word. Calculus as an Experimental Science 78 6 1971 664–667 The American Mathematical Monthly 10.2307/2316582 Suppose you want to teach the "cat" concept to a very young child. Do you explain that a cat is a relatively small, primarily carnivorous mammal with retractible claws, a distinctive sonic output, etc.? I'll bet not. You probably show the kid a lot of different cats, saying "kitty" each time, until it gets the idea. To put it more generally, generalizations are best made by abstraction from experience. They should come one at a time; too many at once overload the circuits. Can We Make Mathematics Intelligible? The American Mathematical Monthly 88 10 1981 727–731 10.2307/2321471 Quotes about Boas The fact that N Bourbaki was not a real person and represented a group of mathematicians was known to very few, for example, Ralph Boas, but the world of mathematics had come to believe in his existence. In an article for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Boas revealed the truth; he was severely reprimanded in a letter to him "From my ashram in the Himalayas", beginning with "You miserable worm, how dare you say that I do not exist?" and signed 'Nicolas Bourbaki'! as quoted by C. S. Yogananda in: Review of The Artist and the Mathematician: The Story of Nicolas Bourbaki, the Genius Mathematician Who Never Existed by Amir D. Aczel June 2015 Resonance 556–559 http://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/reso/020/06/0556-0559 External links Category:Mathematicians from the United States Category:1992 deaths Category:People from Washington (state) Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Editors from the United States Category:1912 births