June 06, 2018 Wednesday
Bedtime Story
Lagrange Acquires Patronage of Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia
Yes, it does happen in real life that a
tragedy for one can be a fortune for the other and hence it is virtually
meaningless to quantify any event as absolutely “good” or “bad”.
Just as it is in the case of predator-prey
biological interaction which is an absolute zero-sum game wherein the
predator’s gain or loss of utility is exactly balanced out by the loss or gain
of utility of the prey.
Something similar happens in competitive
exams for coveted few positions where any student’s success almost certainly is
a tragic loss of several others.
Such was the case with Euler; the tragic
early death of Nicolaus Bernoulli proved a boon for the young Euler.
Like Euler Lagrange too was fortunate enough
to find a benefactor; not just that, but in fact he was very much a sought
after mathematician.
Such was his brilliance in mathematics of
this late bloomer that it got the attention of none other than Charles Emmanuel
III of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia who had a long reign of
forty three years from 1730 to 1773 until his death.
In 1755, when Lagrange had just turned 19
and was just two years into his deep engagement with mathematics, that he was
appointed as the Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the Royal Military Academy
of the Theory and Practice of Artillery.
It is very evident from the position and
place as to the reason why the duke placed him so; he saw the power of
mathematics and this exactly the reason why today most of the human apes speak
either English, Spanish, French or some European languages.
In the era of Enlightenment, the Monarchs,
Kings, the Dukes and the Generals foresaw the power of mathematics and
mathematical sciences and their potential to their military ambitions.
At that tender age of 19 with self-taught
training in mathematics, he was imparting training in calculus and mechanics
which had the direct application to the army in its military development of
ballistics.
As we will discuss later, Lagrange took
special interest in mechanical physics such as projectiles, pendulums, vibrating
strings and application of mathematics to them.
Lagrange was gradually building up on this
subject what was initiated by Leonhard Euler in Saint Petersburg and Berlin and
the English mathematician and military engineer Benjamin Robins.
Both Euler and Robins were senior
contemporaries of Lagrange, all Europeans of course, if one wishes to count
England as part of Europe too.
It is said that Lagrange was the first
professor or rather a teacher to teach calculus in an engineering school; in
fact, Lagrange was far more impressed with analysis (calculus) rather than
arithmetic and geometry.
As a matter of fact, he was rather condescending
about geometry as is evident by his letter to his French friend and
mathematician Jean d’Alembert:
“I cannot say whether I will still be doing
geometry ten years from now.”
We shall continue with what Lagrange had to
say about geometry in the nights to come.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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