Math 490: History of Mathematics
Task 2 - Reviewed History of Mathematics Links

Sites are reviewed out of 5 stars - 5 being best. you can scroll down the page to read all the reviews or click on the stars below to go to those reviews directly.
 

Mathematical MacTutor

(CD)
This contains indexes of people and dates.  There are nice descriptions of the people mentioned and what they did.  It is easy to follow the layout making research quick and easy.
Site author: John O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson
Reviewer: Charles DeBoer
The Math Forum Home Page
(FB)
Presents history of math through the investigation of some of the all time great problems. Examples include value of Pi famous paradoxes and Puzzling problems.  Also contains a book review section on history of math books.
Site author:  Isaac Reed (1998)
Reviewer: Filiberto Barajas
Math Soft's Favorite  Mathematical Constants
(EL)
This web page is worth seeing...it starts by saying all numbers are not created equal and then lists at least 100 mathematical constants and gives a bunch of information, including history, about the constants.
Site author: Steven Finch
Reviewer: Eric Libicki
Fred Rickey's Home Page
(SG)
This website is a great site and I recommend everyone to visit it.  This site is Frederick Rickey's homepage and I found it as I was searching for ideas to put in last week's timeline.  This site has a great link to "Math humor on the web".  From this link, you can read math jokes, comics, math games, science jokes, etc.  You can also learn about Frederick Rickey, a Professor Emeritus of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Bowling Green State University.  He sounds very impressive.  Rickey provides many sites where a person can find out more about the history of mathematics.  Along with each math history site, he provides a sentence or two summary of what the site is about.  This links he provides along with his bookmarks that he has available to the public provides a wealth of information.  There is so much information on this site that it would be impossible to go through everything that site.  I highly recommend this site to everyone.
Site author: V. Frederick Rickey (1998, ongoing)
Reviewer: Sergio Gonzalez
 History Topics
(HS)
This site provides tremendous amounts of information ranging from number theory to astronomy.  The site also contains a birthplace map index, a calender that demonstrates mathematicians' anniversaries throughout the year and various links to biographies.
Reviewer: Henry Sheen
History of Mathematics: by Subject
(HS)
 In this site, a brief history of mathematics (in outline form) is found by subject or region.  A chronology of mathematicians and their works is provided.  In addition, refrences to books are available for students interested in conducting research on particular subjects.
Reviewer: Henry Sheen
Links to Math History, Math Humor, Math Puzzles, Math Art, Math Quotations, and more!!!
(EL)
The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is that some of the links don't work and it's only a collection of links rather than having actual topics about math.
Site author: Teo Wah Liang
Reviewer: Eric Libicki
The Abacus: the art of calculating with beads
(EL)
This site shows you how to use an abacus, and the interesting history behind the abacus (when it was invented, who used it and why).  It is really fun to try, and I think they give a clearer and more detailed explanation on how to use an abacus than our book did.
Site author: Luis Fernandez
Reviewer: Ester Landin
A Brief History of Algebra and Computing
(PK)
Limited in scope and also focusing primarily on English accomplishments in the field, the site nonetheless gives a good overview of its selected subject with numerous biographies of the key persons. Several links to other sights are also included.
Site author: Johnathon Bowen,  12/11/94
Reviewer: Paul Koenig


 Study Web's  Guide to Math History

(TB)
Although this website is intended for a primarily high school audience and its history topics are limited to four web pages, this site contains a fair amount of useful information concerning the history of math.  Its topics are alphabetized, with the exception of most mathematicians being alphabetized by their FIRST name, and thus are relatively easy to locate.  It also provides a rating guide for both the visual content (meaning the quality and quantity of pictures/video clips at the site) and educational level.

Were I considering this web site strictly on the basis of its content for a postsecondary history of mathematics course, I would probably only give it a 2 (or maybe 3) STAR rating.  However, from the viewpoint of a potential SECONDARY math teacher, I feel that this web site is quite useful, for both a teacher and for his or her students.  Therefore, I rate it as highly as I do.
Site author:  American Computer Resources, Inc. (1998)
Reviewer: Tony Brinkso

 http://nunic.nu.edu/~frosamon/history/math.html
(SG)
This website gives the viewer a "mathematical journey through time".  It gives great summaries of the important events and people Mathematics and allows the viewer to read more about the event or person by clicking on the link it has for it.  The site allows the viewer to look at the history of mathematics through different time periods.  For example, if I want to know what happened between 1500 - 1599 AD, I can read about Leonardo da Vinci or Rafael Bombelli and if I want to read more about them, I would click on their names to receive a bibliography on them.  The problem I had with this website is that not all the links were available because they were either down or no longer valid.  If all connecting site were up and running, I would gladly give this site 5 stars.
Site author: Jui-ling Chao (1996)
Reviewer: Sergio Gonzalez
A Catalog of Mathematics Resources on WWW and the Internet
(CT)
A virtually exhaustive catalog of mathematical resources on the world-wide web and the internet.
Site author:  Dr. M. Maheswaran (9/11/97)
Reviewer: Clarence Terry
Mathematics Archives WWW Server
(CT)
Provides topics in mathematics, math software, teaching materials for grades K through 12, and links to other math related sites.
Site author:  help@archives.math.utk.edu  (9/7/98)
Reviewer: Clarence Terry


  Resource Room: Middle Level Browse

(MC)
Contains eight entries pertaining to Math History on the topics of Euclid, Eratosthemes, lbs, 360 degrees, pi, babilonian numbers, and the 4-color theorem. The entries are interesting, but the sight is limited in what it includes which is why it does not recieve a higher rating.
Site Author:  Department of Mathematics and Statitics at the University of Regina (6/24/97)
 A Chronology of Mathematicians
(MC)
A chronological listing of mathmeticians.  An excellent sourse for finding out when mathmeticians were alive, but it doesn't have links attatched; one must take the information and search more if one desires more information.
Site Author: John J O'Connor and Edmund F Robertson of the School of Math and Computational Sciences, University of St. Andrews (5/98)
Reviewer: Maggie Cooper
Kevin Brown's MathPages
(TL)
This website contains a lot of information on  selected topics in the history of mathematics, such as the notion of negative numbers.  There are also articles based on certain mathematicians and their work like Euclid, Newton & Pythagoras.  There are even some quotes from these early  mathematicians. The drawbacks of this website are that there is no timeline of mathematicians or mathematical discoveries and the articles are not arranged in  any specific order.  There is no way to search the site for general topics, or specific people or discoveries. This website has good information on selected topics, but would not be useful in searching for general topics in math history.
Site author: Kevin Brown
Reviewer: Tim Lucas
DIMACS Open Problems for  Undergraduates
(EL)
This site has many different types of problems to get you thinking about different areas of math and it's applications.  However, this site has not been updated for over a year, so these questions might already be answered.  I am curious to see what new questions they could come up with.
Site author: Robert Hochman
Reviewer: Ester Landin
 The Museum of HP Calculators
(PK)
Mostly a shrine to a single persons favorite brand, the museum includes descriptions of the functioning of adding machines and calculating devices back to 1614. Overall, this sight offers insight into the way mathematics was conducted on an everyday basis for three and a half centuries.
Site author:  David G. Hicks,  1998
Reviewer: Paul Koenig
History of Mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin
(TB)
At first glance, this site does not appear too appealing.  It is rather bland in appearance, and it contains only three links:  one to a biography of 17th and 18th century mathematicians taken from Rouse's "A short account of the history of mathematics;" another to mathematical papers by or about the mathematicians Hamilton, Berkeley, Boole, Riemann, Cantor, and Newton; and the third to a directory of web sites and pages around the world relevant to the history of mathematics. Although the first two links are useful for the specific information they contain, the third link
(http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/Links.html) is of the most use for one who is searching the web for broader information about the history of math.

Wilkins' directory of web sites is quite extensive, but, unfortunately, he does not provide any sort of annotation to the web site links he includes on his page.  However, he does provide a classification system for his links to help the user identify good sites to which to travel.  All in all, an average, yet still useful, web site to visit.
Site author:  David R. Wilkins, Trinity College, Dublin
Reviewer: Tony Brinkso

 History of Mathematics: Chronology of Mathematicians
(CD)
This contains a nice timeline with references to mathematicians highlighted. For example clicking on Plato will display all of his works.  There is not much detail on the actual sight, but it gives other places to read more about the mathematicians.  This is a good place to start research.
Site author: David E Joyce
Reviewer: Charles DeBoer
Mathographies by Bellevue Community College
(TL)
The title of this website is Mathographies.  This website contains short biographies on many famous mathematicians such as Sir Isaac Newton, Archimedes, and René Descartes.  This website would be a good starting point for getting information on key people in the history of mathematics, but it would only really be a starting point.  There is some good general information on the mathematicians, but the biographies are in most cases only a page long. The biographies barely scratch the surface of the lives and works of these mathematicians.  The mathematicians listed are in alphabetical order which helps, but the number of people listed is limited to twenty-four.
Site author:  Bellvue Community College
Reviewer: Tim Lucas
Taoufik Nadjik's History of Math Page
(FB)
Contains great graphics animations and sound.  Offers great historical information on the Egyptian, Chinese, Greeks, Arab, and Indians of the Ameicas. Very detailed math history cite.
Site author:  Taoufic Nadji (1997)
Reviewer: Filiberto Barajas
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Last updated September 1998