Briefly Noted

Summary

Some articles and notes we found to be of considerable interest, but with limited space we decided not to include the whole text. Here we give short descriptions of some and suggest that the reader check them out in the archives if they appear to be of interest. For further descriptions of outstanding pieces in the Magazine, we suggest reading our article “Twentieth-Century Gems from Mathematics Magazine” that appears in the Magazine 78 (2005), 110–123.

In “The theory of numbers for undergraduates” in 10 (1935/36), 53–57, Emory P. Starke of Rutgers University made a case for inclusion of number theory in the undergraduate curriculum, a rather natural suggestion. His opening paragraph includes the following quote: “A month's intelligent instruction in the theory of numbers ought to be twice as instructive, twice as useful, and at least ten times as entertaining as the same amount of ‘calculus for engineers’.” It is no surprise that these are the words of G. H. Hardy. What is curious is that these remarks are taken from Hardy's 1928 address to the American Mathematical Society in New York, his Josiah Willard Gibbs lecture. These are lectures given every year (with five exceptions) since 1923 in the field of applied mathematics! Was Hardy so prescient that he could predict the developments in cryptography that would make some parts of number theory into applied mathematics?

• Benjamin F. Finkel, founder of the American Mathematical Monthly, wrote a series of eighteen articles for the Magazine between 1940 and 1942 on the early history of American mathematical journals.