Maria Gaetana Agnesi's Life And Accomplishments

Maria Gaetana Agnesi was an Italian philosopher who made an important contribution to mathematics. She was born on May 16, 1718 in Milan, Italy and died on January 9, 1799. She was known as the first women in the Western World that a reputation of having achievements in mathematics. However, she typically wasn’t famous, but still made an impact on the mathematic world. Her life was simple, but she decided to give up mathematics in her life because it wasn’t what she was interested in. During her life time she lived in the Renaissance era where women did not have equal rights. Therefore, Agnesi made her mark by pushing herself to get a better education, which allowed for the world to see that women should not be put down for wanting to make
She was the eldest of 21 children of her father’s three wives. She was known as a child prodigy by her father, who provided her with the best tutors to better her education. At age five, she had mastered Latin Greek. Also, she was able to master Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and several modern languages by age nine. As she grew to her teenage years she became to master mathematics. This was around the time when her father started to host gatherings at their home to display her knowledge and talents. She did her best to attend these events; however, she did not like to go because she had a very shy personality. As time went on, she was able to stop going to these seminars because her mother had died and used that as an excuse to stop going and work in the household. Since she was obligated to help the family, it was very important that she kept her priorities on her family, therefore, this was more than likely a reason why she did not get
Her first publication of essays in 1738 was “Propositiones Philosophicae.” These essays were based on the seminars her father made her attend as a child. As he life progressed into her twenties, she wrote her most impacting work; “Analytical Institutions.” This book dealt with finite quantities, elementary problems of maxima, minima, tangents, and inflection points. It also went on to teach people the integral calculus method of tangents and differential equations. However, it was originally written for her two brothers, but it later became one of the most important text books. Her book was later published in 1748, and was the first and most complete work on finite and infinitesimal analysis. By her publishing this book, it brought many mathematicians together and allowed people to understand math more clearly. Another contribution Agnesi made to the mathematic field was the curve called “Witch of Agnesi.” The equation is a versed sine curve which is called versiera, meaning ‘to turn.’ However, the curve got its name of “Witch of Agnesi” because versiera is the abbreviation of the Italian word avversiera, which means “wife of the devil.” Agnesi made many contributions to the mathematic field that were very important and made big achievements in education. Even though she had given up mathematics, she still proved her point by achieving great things through her