The GNU Scientific Library (GSL) is a numerical library for C and C++ programmers. It is free software under the GNU General Public License. The library provides a wide range of mathematical routines such as random number generators, special functions and least-squares fitting. There are over 1000 functions in total with an extensive test suite. The complete range of subject areas covered by the library includes, Complex Numbers Roots of Polynomials Special Functions Vectors and Matrices Permutations Sorting BLAS Support Linear Algebra Eigensystems Fast Fourier Transforms Quadrature Random Numbers Quasi-Random Sequences Random Distributions Statistics Histograms N-Tuples Monte Carlo Integration Simulated Annealing Differential Equations Interpolation Numerical Differentiation Chebyshev Approximation Series Acceleration Discrete Hankel Transforms Root-Finding Minimization Least-Squares Fitting Physical Constants IEEE Floating-Point Discrete Wavelet Transforms Basis splines Unlike the licenses of proprietary numerical libraries the license of GSL does not restrict scientific cooperation. It allows you to share your programs freely with others.
On September 20, 1996, Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdös passed away. He published more scientific papers than any other mathematician in history, with hundreds of collaborators.
On October 23, 1635, German astronomer and mathematician Wilhelm Schickard, who constructued the very first mechanical calculator, passed away. His famous calculator was able to perform additions and subtractions. For more complicated operations, it provided so-called Napier bones, named after the Scottish mathematician John Napier, who came up with the idea of logarithms. Although it is widely believed that the first mechanical calculating device was created by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1642. However, that distinction actually belongs to Wilhelm Schickard.
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R. Goldstein, and D. Pratt. Proceedings of the 25th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME25), 3, page 49--56. PO Box 9432, 3506 GK Utrecht, The Netherlands, Freudenthal Institute, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Uthrect University, (July 2001)
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