Math History Research

Solving a good mystery requires finding the right sleuth. Such was the case for mathematics professor Steve Bean when he turned to math and classical studies major Evan Eakins to investigate a historical math question.

Bean became curious about the history of the gamma function. Leonhard Euler developed the unusual function to interpolate factorials, apparently in answer to a question by European intellectual Christian Goldbach in the 1720's. But what was the original question and why would Euler work so diligently on it when it seemed to have no practical application initially?

Eakins took on the challenge as a summer research project. He was well-versed in Greek, but to follow a trail of 18th century correspondence, he also needed to learn Latin, a little French, and brush up on his rusty German. He also needed a deep understanding of math and found Euler's writings to be a particularly interesting case study.

"Euler didn't seem to care if people thought he discovered something first," says Eakins. "Because of this, he had a lot less trouble describing how he did his math."

Eakins' research appears to have unraveled the mystery of the gamma function. Famous for posing conjectures to leading mathematicians and scientists of the day, Goldbach apparently posed a problem to mathematician Nicholas Bernoulli, and Euler, Bernoulli's roommate, eventually solved it.

“Unless we’re missing something, this hasn’t been written about before,” says Bean.