Mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi

Mathematician - Maria Gaetana Agnesi JAFLOR Maria Gaetana Agnesi Since the olden days, mathematics has been an area of study that has contributed much to diverse discoveries, inventions, and innovations of science and technology. Without mathematics, we will not experience the remarkable events of science, as well as the convenience that high technology brings to us. The academic mastery of mathematics is dominated by men, even up to these days. There are very few mathematician women who made a name in the field of mathematics.

More especially in the past, social prejudices became a hindrance for women to master mathematics. At present, only three women captured success in the field of mathematics. They are Sonia Kovalevsky of Russia, Emmy Noether of Germany and U.S., and Maria Gaetana Agnesi of Italy (from Maria Agnesi and Her "Witch"). The following discussions in this paper is about Maria Gaetana Agnesi and her mathematics. From a well-to-do and literate family in Milan, Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born on May 16, 1718.

The oldest of 21 siblings, Agnesi demonstrated her intellectual gifts at an early age. By the age of nine, Agnesi had mastered a number of foreign languages, such as French, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, and German. Her passion for mathematics may be an influence from her father, a professor of mathematics in Bologna (Crowley, 2003). Agnesi had mastered this subject during her teens (Unlu, 1995). Their home became her father's place of intellectual gatherings of educated personalities in Europe. Agnesi participated in most of the philosophical conversations and debates in these gatherings.

In the years of debates she had spent in their home gatherings, Agnesi was able to write more than 190 essays, called Propositiones Philosophicae, which was published by her father in 1738 (Parente, 2003). Agnesi engaged herself in different areas of mathematics. She had written 2 volumes of mathematical books, the Institutioni analytiche ad uso della gioventu italiana (Analytical Institutions), that covers elementary and advanced mathematics which she started to develop when she was teaching mathematics to her younger brothers. Her books aim to present a complete lecture of algebra and mathematical analysis.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi was well-known for her "The Witch of Agnesi," which, actually, should be called "The Curve of Agnesi." The Italian term "versiera," or plane curve, was mistakenly translated by John Colson into the word "witch" (Parente, 2003). Thus, "The Curve of Agnesi" was also known as "The Witch of Agnesi." Elif Unlu describes "The Witch of Agnesi" by stating the following.

Agnesi wrote the equation of this curve in the form y = a*sqrt (a*x-x*x)/x because she considered the x-axis to be the vertical axis and the y-axis to be the horizontal axis [Kennedy]. Reference frames today use x horizontal and y vertical, so the modern form of the curve is given by the Cartesian equation.