University of Santo Tomas

College of Education
Espaa, Manila

The 19th Century Mathematics of

Germany: Modern Mathematics

Prepared By:
Ferrer, John Martin S.
Valenzuela, Vyxen Vaughn P.
Yanga, Kal Ezekiel G.
2 Mathematics Majors
S. P. G.
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The 19th Century saw an unprecedented increase in the breadth and complexity of
mathematical concepts. Both France and Germany were caught up in the age of
revolution which swept Europe in the late 18th Century, but the two countries treated
mathematics quite differently.
After the French Revolution, Napoleon emphasized the practical usefulness of
mathematics and his reforms and military ambitions gave French mathematics a big
boost, as exemplified by the three Ls, Lagrange, Laplace and Legendre, Fourier and
Galois.

Joseph

Fourier's

study, at the beginning of the 19th

Century, of infinite sums in which
the

terms

are

trigonometric

functions were another important

advance

in

mathematical

analysis. Periodic functions that

can be expressed as the sum of

an

infinite series of sines and cosines are known today as Fourier Series, and they are still
powerful tools in pure and applied mathematics. Fourier also contributed towards
defining exactly what is meant by a function, although the definition that is found in texts
today - defining it in terms of a correspondence between elements of the domain and
the range - is usually attributed to the 19th Century German mathematician Peter
Dirichlet.
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Germany, on the other hand, under the influence of

the great educationalist Wilhelm von Humboldt, took
a

rather

different

approach,

supporting

pure

mathematics for its own sake, detached from the

demands of the state and military. It was in this
environment that the young German prodigy Carl
Friedrich Gauss, sometimes called the Prince of
Mathematics,

received

his

education

at

the

prestigious University of Gttingen. Some of Gauss

ideas were a hundred years ahead of their time, and
touched on many different parts of the mathematical world, including geometry, number
theory, calculus, algebra and probability. He is widely regarded as one of the three
greatest mathematicians of all times, along with Archimedes and Newton.
Later

in

life, Gauss also

claimed

to

have

investigated a

kind

Euclidean

geometry using

curved space

but, unwilling to

court

controversy, he

decided not to

Euclidean, hyperbolic and elliptic geometry

of

pursue

non-

or

publish any of
these avant-garde ideas. This left the field open
for Jnos

Bolyai and Nikolai

Lobachevsky(respectively, a Hungarian and a

Russian) who both independently explored the
potential of hyperbolic geometry and curved
spaces.

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The German Bernhard Riemann worked on a different

kind of non-Euclidean geometry called elliptic geometry,
as well as on a generalized theory of all the different types
of geometry. Riemann, however, soon took this even
further, breaking away completely from all the limitations
of 2 and 3 dimensional geometry,

whether

flat or curved, and began to think in

higher dimensions. His exploration of the zeta function in multidimensional complex numbers revealed an unexpected link with
the distribution of prime numbers, and his famous Riemann
Hypothesis, still unproven after 150 years, remains one of the worlds great unsolved
mathematical mysteries and the testing ground for new generations of mathematicians.
British mathematics also saw something
of resurgence in the early and mid-19th
century. Although the roots of the
computer

go

back

to

the

geared

calculators of Pascal and Leibniz in the

17th Century, it was Charles Babbage in 19th Century England
who designed a machine that could automatically perform
computations

based

on

program

of

instructions stored on cards or tape. His

large "difference engine" of 1823 was able to
calculate

logarithms

and

trigonometric

functions, and was the true forerunner of the

modern electronic computer. Although never
actually built in his lifetime, a machine was
built

almost

200

years

later

to

his

specifications and worked perfectly. He also designed a much more sophisticated

machine he called the "analytic engine", complete with punched cards, printer and
computational abilities commensurate with modern computers.
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Another 19th Century Englishman, George Peacock, is

usually credited with the invention of symbolic algebra, and
the extension of the scope of algebra beyond the ordinary
systems of numbers. This recognition of the possible
existence of non-arithmetical algebras was an important
stepping stone toward future developments in abstract algebra.

In

the

mid-19th Century, the British mathematician George

Boole

devised an algebra (now called Boolean algebra or Boolean

logic),

in which the only operators were AND, OR and NOT, and

which could be applied to the solution of logical
problems and mathematical functions. He also
described a kind of binary system which used just two
objects, "on" and "off" (or "true" and "false", 0 and 1, etc), in

which, famously, 1 + 1 = 1. Boolean algebra

was

the

starting

point

of

modern

mathematical logic and ultimately led to the

development of computer science.

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Non-Euclidean geometry

In mathematics, non-Euclidean geometry consists of two geometries based

on axioms closely related to those specifying Euclidean geometry. As Euclidean
geometry lies at the intersection of metric geometry and affine geometry, non-Euclidean
geometry arises when either the metric requirement is relaxed, or the parallel
postulate is replaced with an alternative one. In the latter case one obtains hyperbolic
geometry and elliptic geometry, the traditional non-Euclidean geometries. When the
metric requirement is relaxed, then there are affine planes associated with the planar
algebras which give rise to kinematic geometries that have also been called nonEuclidean geometry.
Early history

While Euclidean geometry, named after the Greek mathematician Euclid,

includes some of the oldest known mathematics, non-Euclidean geometries were not
widely accepted as legitimate until the 19th century.

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss

Was
a German mathematician who
contributed
significantly to many fields, including number
theory, algebra,
statistics, analysis, differential
geometry, geodesy, geophysics, mechanics, electrosta
tics, astronomy, matrix theory, and optics.
Gauss also claimed to have discovered the possibility
of non-Euclidean geometries but never published it.
This discovery was a major paradigm shift in
mathematics, as it freed mathematicians from the
mistaken belief that Euclid's axioms were the only way
to make geometry consistent and non-contradictory.

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Farkas Bolyai
Also known as Wolfgang Bolyai in Germany) was
a Hungarian mathematician, mainly known for his work
in geometry.
Bolyai's
main
interests
were
the
foundations
of geometry and the parallel axiom.His main work,
the Tentamen (Tentamen iuventutem studiosam in
elementa matheosos introducendi), was an attempt at a
rigorous and systematic foundation of geometry,
arithmetic, algebra and analysis. In this work, he
gave iterative procedures to solve equations which he
then proved convergent by showing them to be
monotonically increasing and bounded above. His study of theconvergence of series
includes a test equivalent to Raabe's test, which he discovered independently and at
about the same time asRaabe. Other important ideas in the work include a general
definition of a function and a definition of an equality between two planefigures if they
can both be divided into a finite equal number of pairwise congruent pieces. He first
dissuaded his son from the study of non-Euclidean geometry, but by 1830 he became
enthusiastic enough to persuade his son to publish his path-breaking thoughts.

Jnos Bolyai
Was a Hungarian mathematician, one of the founders
of non-Euclidean geometry a geometry that differs
from Euclidean geometry in its definition of parallel lines.
The discovery of a consistent alternative geometry that
might correspond to the structure of the universe helped
to free mathematicians to study abstract concepts
irrespective of any possible connection with the physical
world.
He
became
so
obsessed
with Euclid's parallel
postulate that his father wrote to him: "For God's sake, I
beseech you, give it up. Fear it no less than sensual
passions because it too may take all your time and
deprive you of your health, peace of mind and happiness in life".
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He wrote to his father: "I created a new, different world out of nothing."
Between 1820 and 1823 he prepared a treatise on a complete system of non-Euclidean
geometry. Bolyai's work was published in 1832 as an appendix to a mathematics
textbook by his father.
Gauss, on reading the Appendix, wrote to a friend saying "I regard this
young geometer Bolyai as a genius of the first order". In 1848 Bolyai discovered
that Lobachevsky had published a similar piece of work in 1829. Though Lobachevsky
published his work a few years earlier than Bolyai, it contained only hyperbolic
geometry. Bolyai and Lobachevsky did not know each other or each other's works.
In addition to his work in geometry, Bolyai developed a rigorous geometric concept
of complex numbers as ordered pairs of real numbers. Although he never published
more than the 24 pages of the Appendix, he left more than 20,000 pages of
mathematical manuscripts when he died.

Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky

Was a Russian mathematician and geometer, known
primarily for his work on hyperbolic geometry,
otherwise known as Lobachevskian geometry.
Lobachevsky's main achievement is the development
(independently from Jnos Bolyai) of a non-Euclidean
geometry, Lobachevsky would instead develop
a geometry in which the fifth postulate was not true.
The non-Euclidean geometry that Lobachevsky
developed is referred to as hyperbolic geometry.
Lobachevsky replaced Playfair's axiom with the
statement that for any given point there exists more
than one line that can be extended through that point
and run parallel to another line of which that point is not part. He developed
the parallelism which depends on the distance the point is off the given line. In
hyperbolic geometry the sum of angles in a hyperbolic triangle must be less than 180
degrees. Non-Euclidean
geometry stimulated
the
development
of differential
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geometry which has many applications. Hyperbolic geometry is frequently referred to as

"Lobachevskian geometry" or "BolyaiLobachevskian geometry".
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann
Was an influential German mathematician who made
lasting and revolutionary contributions
to analysis, number theory, and differential
geometry. Through his pioneering contributions to
differential geometry, Riemann laid the foundations of
the mathematics of general relativity.
Riemann found the correct way to extend
into n dimensions thedifferential geometry of surfaces,
which Gauss himself proved in his theorema
egregium. The fundamental object is called the
Riemann curvature tensor. For the surface case, this
can be reduced to a number (scalar), positive,
negative or zero; the non-zero and constant cases
being models of the known non-Euclidean
geometries.

Abstraction of algebra
In algebra, which is a broad division of mathematics, abstract algebra (occasionally
called modern algebra) is the study of algebraic structures. Algebraic structures
include groups, rings, fields, modules, vector spaces, lattices, and algebras. The
term abstract algebra was coined in the early 20th century to distinguish this area of
study from the other parts of algebra. As in other parts of mathematics, concrete
problems and examples have played important roles in the development of abstract
algebra. Through the end of the nineteenth century, many -- perhaps most -- of these
problems were in some way related to the theory of algebraic equations. Major themes
include:

Solving of systems of linear equations, which led to linear algebra

Attempts to find formulae for solutions of general polynomial equations of higher
degree that resulted in discovery of groups as abstract manifestations of symmetry

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Arithmetical investigations of quadratic and higher degree forms and diophantine

equations, that directly produced the notions of a ring and ideal.
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss
Gauss
proved
the fundamental
theorem
of
algebra which states that every non-constant singlevariable polynomial with complex coefficients has at
least one complex root. Mathematicians including Jean
le Rond d'Alembert had produced false proofs before
him, and Gauss's dissertation contains a critique of
d'Alembert's work. Ironically, by today's standard,
Gauss's own attempt is not acceptable, owing to
implicit use of the Jordan curve theorem. However, he
subsequently produced three other proofs, the last one
in 1849 being generally rigorous. His attempts clarified
the concept of complex numbers considerably along
the way.

Marie Ennemond Camille Jordan

Was a French mathematician, known both for his
foundational work in group theory and for his
influential Cours d'analyse. He was born in Lyon and
educated at the cole polytechnique. He was an
engineer by profession; later in life he taught at the
cole polytechnique and the Collge de France, where
he had a reputation for eccentric choices of notation.
He is remembered now by name in a number of
foundational results:

The Jordan curve theorem, a topological result required in complex analysis

The Jordan normal form and the Jordan matrix in linear algebra

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In mathematical analysis, Jordan measure (or Jordan content) is an area

measure that predates measure theory.

In group theory the JordanHlder theorem on composition series is a basic

result.

Jordan's theorem on finite linear groups

Joseph-Louis Lagrange
The greater number of his papers during this time were,
however, contributed to the Prussian Academy of
Sciences. Several of them deal with questions in algebra.

His discussion of representations of integers

by quadratic forms (1769) and by more general
algebraic forms (1770).

His tract on the Theory of Elimination, 1770.

Paolo Ruffini
By 1788 he had earned university degrees in philosophy,
medicine/surgery, and mathematics. Among his work was
an incomplete proof (AbelRuffini theorem) that quintic (and
higher-order) equations cannot be solved by radicals (1799),
and Ruffini's rule which is a quick method for polynomial
division. Ruffini also made contributions to group theory in
addition to probability and quadrature of the circle.
Ruffinis 1799 work marked a major development for group
theory. Ruffini developed Joseph Louis Lagrange's work on
permutation theory, following 29 years after Lagranges
"Rflexions sur la thorie algbrique des equations" (17701771) which was largely
ignored until Ruffini who established strong connections between permutations and the
solvability of algebraic equations. Ruffini was the first to controversially assert the
unsolvability by radicals of algebraic equations higher than quartics.
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variste Galois
Was a French mathematician born in Bourg-la-Reine. While
still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and
sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable
by radicals, thereby solving a problem standing for 350
years. His work laid the foundations for Galois
theory and group theory, two major branches of abstract
algebra, and the subfield of Galois connections. He died at
age 20 from wounds suffered in a duel.
While many mathematicians before Galois gave consideration to what are now known
as groups, it was Galois who was the first to use the word group (in French groupe) in a
sense close to the technical sense that is understood today, making him among the
founders of the branch of algebra known as group theory. He developed the concept
that is today known as a normal subgroup. He called the decomposition of a group into
its left and right cosets a proper decomposition if the left and right cosets coincide,
which is what today is known as a normal subgroup. He also introduced the concept of
a finite field (also known as a Galois field in his honor), in essentially the same form as it
is understood today.

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