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        A Remarkable Artifice: Laplace, Poisson and Mathematical Purity

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        Thesis Bram Pel Final.pdf (529.5Kb)
        Publication date
        2025
        Author
        Pel, Bram
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        Summary
        In the early 19th century, a series of articles by Laplace and Poisson discussed the importance of ‘directness’ in mathematical methodology. In this thesis, we argue that their conception of a ‘direct’ proof is similar to the more widely contemplated notion of a ‘pure’ proof. More rigorous definitions of mathematical purity were proposed in recent publications by Arana and Detlefsen, as well as by Kahle and Pulcini: we compare Laplace and Poisson’s writings with these modern definitions of purity and show how the modern definitions fail to grasp some more nuanced aspects.
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        https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/48728
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