[FOM] H.N. from "Mathematical Cranks"

John Baldwin jbaldwin at uic.edu
Sun May 6 16:10:15 EDT 2018


Norman Hamilton was a very bright mathematician who did not in fact publish
much. He was a great resource
in our department for many years.  He is probably best know for his
historical work on Babylonian mathematics.

   - Hamilton, Norman T. & Aaboe, Asger Hartvig, “A Babylonian Venus Text
   Computed according to System A: ACT No. 1050”, *Archive for History of
   Exact Sciences*, *53* (1998), 215-221 [SpringerLink].
   -

I doubt he had any connection with William Dilworth

John T. Baldwin
Professor Emeritus
Department of Mathematics, Statistics,
and Computer Science M/C 249
jbaldwin at uic.edu
851 S. Morgan
Chicago IL
60607

On Sun, May 6, 2018 at 11:33 AM, Alexander M Lemberg <sandylemberg at juno.com>
wrote:

> The following in from the preface to this book:
>
> "We are greatly indebted to Professors Robert G. Bartle, Pierce W.
> Ketchum, Echo D. Pepper and Wilson M. Zaring of the Mathematics
> Department, University of Illinois, who have taught from various earlier
> drafts of this book and who have given us both useful criticisms of the
> text and the benefits of their classroom experiences. We also wish to
> thank Professors William W. Boone and Herbert E. Vaughan, of the same
> department, who gave valuable suggestions for Chapters 1 and 2. We owe a
> particular debt of gratitude to Professor Zaring for his detailed and
> careful comments on every aspect of the next-to-last draft."
>
> I would be surprised if this were to turn out to be the same person, but
> anything is possible.
>
> Sandy
>
> On Sun, 6 May 2018 07:43:30 +0530 "A. Mani" <a.mani.cms at gmail.com>
> writes:
> > On Sun, May 6, 2018 at 1:26 AM, tchow <tchow at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> > > In Underwood Dudley's book "Mathematical Cranks," he devotes a
> > short chapter
> > > to someone that he identifies only as "H.N."  Evidently, H.N. was
> > a full
> > > professor of mathematics when, in 1970, he wrote:
> > >
> > > "Recently I have discovered a surprising fact.  Logicians'
> > axiomatic set
> > > theory is meaningless in mathematics.  They have been working in
> > wrong
> > > mathematics and exerting their efforts in vain over the past sixty
> > years.
> > > They are still making the same mistake.  So I dare say that all
> > the books
> > > related to axiomatic set theory must be removed immediately.  Only
> > my book
> > > describes correct set theory."
> > >
> >
> > I found exactly one book on 'set theory' written by an author with
> > initials 'H.N.' before 1970:
> >
> > Norman Hamilton and Joeseph Landin (Univ of Illnois):
> > Set Theory and the Structure of Arithmetic, Allyn and Bacon, 1964,
> > 292pp
> >
> > The book in question is meant for high school teachers and is
> > written
> > in fairly simple terms.
> > The natural numbers are defined using sets and the finite induction
> > principle.
> > Concept of hereditary sets, final elements in a set, etc are
> > introduced.
> > Authors use transfinite induction in the book, but claim to avoid it
> > in the earlier part.
> > Cantor sequences are used to define the reals instead of Dedekind
> > cuts.
> > There are few bad typos in the book E.g p 117
> >
> > Some results do not require transfinite induction, but they do use
> > it
> > in proving them.
> >
> > Overall a simple, readable, standard text.
> >
> >
> > Best
> >
> > A Mani
> >
> > Prof(Miss) A Mani
> > CU, ASL, AMS, ISRS, CLC, CMS, IEEE
> > HomePage: http://www.logicamani.in
> > Blog: https://logicamani.blogspot.in/
> > sip:girlprofessor at ekiga.net
> > _______________________________________________
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> > https://cs.nyu.edu/mailman/listinfo/fom
> >
>
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