On Thursday March 16, 2000, Joseph Evan from Binghamton University
presented "Eureka! The Mathematics of Archimedes" at Ithaca College to
an audience consisting of students and faculty from Ithaca College,
Cornell University, and Binghamton University. The talk consisted of a
brief historical sketch of Archimedes life, a discussion of the
various codices from where our knowledge of Archimedes work comes, and
an analysis of his ingenious solution to the problem of finding the
area bounded by a parabola and a chord. Joe was able to show the
similarities between this solution and our modern day calculus
methods. Student response to the talk was positive.
After the talk we enjoyed an informal dinner at the Moosewood
Restaurant in Ithaca. In attendance were Luise-Charlotte Kappe, Joanna
Su, and Fred Kluempen from Binghamton University; Mary Ann Rishel and
Patrick Ratchford from Ithaca College; and Tom Rishel and James Belk
from Cornell University. The day was a success and we look forward to
continuing such programs during the coming year.