[math-fun] Devil in the Details
Mathematician "E. Teuffel" is mentioned in a number of Google hits. Does anyone here what the "E" stood for? By the way, in a Wikipedia entry on the Spiral of Theodorus, he is called Frage von E. Teuffel, an unfortunate transcription error. :)
The Mathematics Genealogy Project knows about an Eberhard Teufel (one F), Stuttgart, 1979; and about an Elmar Teufl (one F, one E), Graz, 2002. Neither of these can be the one Hans seeks, since "E. Teuffel" was proving things about the Theodorus spiral in 1958. I suggest contacting Kate Long, who seems to have (but not reveal details of) the 1958 reference; her address is Klong@shipleyschool.org. On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 3:37 PM, Hans Havermann <pxp@rogers.com> wrote:
Mathematician "E. Teuffel" is mentioned in a number of Google hits. Does anyone here what the "E" stood for? By the way, in a Wikipedia entry on the Spiral of Theodorus, he is called Frage von E. Teuffel, an unfortunate transcription error. :)
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Allan Wechsler:
I suggest contacting Kate Long, who seems to have (but not reveal details of) the 1958 reference...
Her supplied email appears to be non-functional. I'm going to guess that our Teuffel was an Erich, based on one 1960 article referenced here: http://www.zblmath.fiz-karlsruhe.de/MATH/general/erdos/cit/erdcit.htm
Antwort vom Heiligen solved this, I think On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Hans Havermann <pxp@rogers.com> wrote:
Mathematician "E. Teuffel" is mentioned in a number of Google hits. Does anyone here what the "E" stood for? By the way, in a Wikipedia entry on the Spiral of Theodorus, he is called Frage von E. Teuffel, an unfortunate transcription error. :)
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-- Thane Plambeck tplambeck@gmail.com http://thaneplambeck.typepad.com/
I think I'm missing a German joke. I know that "Frage von" means "question from", and "Antwort" must be "answer", but I don't know what "vom Heiligen" means. On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 3:55 PM, Thane Plambeck <tplambeck@gmail.com> wrote:
Antwort vom Heiligen solved this, I think
On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Hans Havermann <pxp@rogers.com> wrote:
Mathematician "E. Teuffel" is mentioned in a number of Google hits. Does anyone here what the "E" stood for? By the way, in a Wikipedia entry on the Spiral of Theodorus, he is called Frage von E. Teuffel, an unfortunate transcription error. :)
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-- Thane Plambeck tplambeck@gmail.com http://thaneplambeck.typepad.com/ _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
I concocted the Spiral of Theodorus myself once. Though I figured it wasn't original, I am chagrined that I was beaten by 2500 years. It seemed clear to me that the vertices lie on some natural smooth curve. In the complex plane, the nth vertex is PROD(k = 1 to n; 1 + i/sqrt(k)) The best I could do with this is 1/sqrt(n!) PROD(k = 1 to n; sqrt(k) + i) which led me to believe the smooth curve might be akin to the gamma function, that is to say, well beyond my abilities. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hans Havermann" <pxp@rogers.com> To: "math-fun" <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2009 3:37 PM Subject: [math-fun] Devil in the Details
Mathematician "E. Teuffel" is mentioned in a number of Google hits. Does anyone here what the "E" stood for? By the way, in a Wikipedia entry on the Spiral of Theodorus, he is called Frage von E. Teuffel, an unfortunate transcription error. :)
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David Wilson:
I concocted the Spiral of Theodorus myself once. Though I figured it wasn't original, I am chagrined that I was beaten by 2500 years.
My introduction to the spiral was by way of Col. Robert Stanley Beard's drawing of it, as published in his 1973 "Patterns in Space". In 1979, I asked (in the Journal of Recreational Mathematics 11:4, p. 301) if the radial lines ever coincide. It took two years (compared to the usual one) but in 1981, Duane Allen (JRM 13:4, p. 300) provided a solution. You can imagine my surprise (last week) when I discovered that E. Teuffel had already proven in in 1958.
participants (4)
-
Allan Wechsler -
David Wilson -
Hans Havermann -
Thane Plambeck