Math 180 Logic History Project

*This project idea was inspired by Dr. McMurran and Dr. Johnson and used with their permissions.
Math 180 Logic History Project
Due Thursday, June 4, 2020
1. Choose a logician from the list given. A maximum of three students may sign up for the
same logician. Sign up for your logician on the Google Doc sent to your CSUSB email
address. First come – first served. This must be done by Thursday May. 14.
2. Write 1 or 2 journal entries as if they were being written by your logician. These entries
should tell an interesting story or anecdote related to your logician’s life, and should be
written from the perspective of your logician. Length requirement: half page.
3. Thoroughly describe some logical perspective, result or discovery that your logician is
responsible for. Explain this discovery in detail. Do not just give a biography of your
logician. Also, discuss the historical significance of this result. What impact did this result
have on later logical thought, if any? Relate the logical ideas to what we have discussed in
class. Length requirement: 1.5 pages.
4. General Guidelines:
a. Use a cover page to identify yourself and to cite the resources/sources used.
b. All items must be typed and printed on plain white paper, in 11 or 12-point black
font (either Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri). Lines should be double spaced.
c. Campus Policy on Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of presenting the ideas and writings of another as one’s own.
Plagiarism is a violation of the Student Discipline Code and makes the offending
student liable to penalties up to and including expulsion. Students must make
appropriate acknowledgements of the original source where material written or
compiled by another is used.
5. Resources
a. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/
b. One of the many useful sites for biographies of mathematicians is the “MacTutor
History of Mathematics Archive” at St. Andrews University. The webpage is
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk.
6. Grading (100 points – 25% of grade)
Clear, correct English (clear correct sentences, grammar, spelling, etc) 8 points
Proper format used 4 points
Directions followed 3 points
Journal entry informative and accurate 35 points
Logical result detailed and accurate 50 points
List of Logicians
Al-Farabi
Aristotle
Avicenna
Babbage, Charles
Boole, George
Cantor, Georg
Chrysippus
DeMorgan, Augustus
Dharmakirti
Dignaga
Dodgson, Charles (Lewis Carroll)
Frege, Gottlob
Godel, Kurt
Hopper, Grace Murray
Hui Shi
Leibniz, Gottfried
Lovlace, Ada
Lukasiewicz, Jan
Mozi
Panini
Pascal, Blaise
Peano, Giusseppe
Plato
Ramsey, Frank
Robinson, Julia
Russell, Bertrand
Turing, Alan
Udayana
Venn, John
William of Ockham