it is used as a textbook.Her second accomplishment is a curve called the Witch of Agnesi. Maria cameup with the equation for this well known curve: y= a*sqrt(a*x-x*x)/x . The way togenerate the curve is xy2=a2(a-x)(Golden & Hanzsek-Brill, no date) The reason why itis called the Witch of Agnesi is because the man who translated the name of the curvemay have mistranslated the Latin word versiera. It can either mean to turn or the wifeof the devil. This curve is very useful in the field of mathematics; even Fermat studiedthis curve. Fermat also made the famous problem called Fermats Last Theorem, whichfamous female mathematician Sophie Germain studied (Unlu, 1995).Sophie Germain April 1, 1776-June 27,1831Sophie Germain, was born right before the French Revolution. She was born intothe middle class, and this meant that she had to hide her identity in order to practice math. The middle class was not supportive of women studying math, therefor much of her workis done under her pseudonym M. Leblanc. Because of the Revolution, Sophie had tospend many days in her house, for fear of being killed in a revolt. She was intrigued bythe story of Archimedes and how he got killed because he would not respond to a soldierwhile looking at a math problem. Some people think this is why Sophie choose to studymathematics. Sophie Germain studied under famous mathematician of the time, Carl FriedrichGauss. Gauss was really into number theory and Fermats Last Theorem. Fermats LastTheorem is closely related to the Pythagorean theorem. Instead of using x2+y2=z2,Pierre de Fermat used x,y,and z raised to powers of 3, 4, 5,etc. Many think that thisproblem was unsolvable, but Fermat said that he had proof it could work. The mystery isthough, that Fermat never wrote down his solution. It was up to future mathematicians tofind the solution that Fermat claimed.Sophie was up to the challenge, and in a letter to Gauss, written in 1808 she cameup with a ...
