The University of Indianapolis
Department of Mathematics
and Computer Science
 

Jeff Oaks

Ph.D.
University of Rochester, 1991.

BA
Hobart College, 1984.

U of I faculty since 1992.

   Jeffrey A. Oaks,  Professor of Mathematics, and chair.

(Media Relations is working around the clock to produce a presentable photo of Professor Oaks.)
Specialty:  History of medieval algebra in Arabic, Latin, Italian.
e-mail: oaks@uindy.edu
Office: Lilly Science Hall 213
Phone: (317)-788-3454
Fax: (317)-788-3569
Class Schedule Fall 2011
MATH 190 Calculus I.  MWRF 10:00-10:50 AM.


MATH 270 Calculus III.  MTWF 9:00-9:50 AM.



Interests

Articles
---"Al-Khayyam's scientific revision of algebra".  To appear in:  Suhayl : Journal for the History of the Exact and Natural Sciences in Islamic Civilisation, 2011.
---Four articles for Springer Verlag's upcoming Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions: "Mathematics and Islam", "Arithmetic and Islam", "Algebra and Islam", and "Geometry and Islam", 2012.
---"Geometry and proof in Abu Kamil's algebra".  Pp. 234-256 in:  Actes du 10ème Colloque Maghrébim sur l'Histoire des Mathématiques Arabes  (Tunis, 29-30-31 mai 2010).  Tunis:  L'Association Tunisienne des Sciences Mathématiques, 2011.
---"Polynomials and equations in medieval Italian algebra".  Bollettino di Storia delle Scienze Matematiche 30 (2010), 23-60.
---"Equating and equations in Arabic mathematics" Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences 60 (2010), 265-298.
---"Medieval Arabic algebra as an artificial language".  Journal of Indian Philosophy 35 (2007), 543-575.  This is my contribution to the meeting "The Generosity of Artificial Languages in an Asian Perspective" held in Amsterdam, May 18-20, 2006, and sponsored by the International Institute for Asian Studies.
---"Polynomials and equations in Arabic algebra".  Archive for History of Exact Sciences 63 (2009), 169-203.
---with Haitham M. Alkhateeb.  "Simplifying equations in Arabic algebra".  Historia Mathematica 34 (2007), 45-61.
---with Haitham M. Alkhateeb.  "Mâl, enunciations, and the prehistory of Arabic algebra".  Historia Mathematica 32 (2005), 400-425.

Book reviews
---"Roshdi Rashed, ed., Al-Khwarizmi:  The Beginnings of Algebra.  London:  SAQI, 2009."  BSHM Bulletin:  Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics 26 (2011), 68-70.
---"Medieval Italian practical mathematics.  Jacopo da Firenze's Tractatus Algorizmi and Early Italian Abbacus Culture, by Jens Høyrup.  (Basel:  Birkhauser, 2007)."  Newsletter of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics.  Vol. 45, November 2009, 19-23.  The full 14-page review is on the Society's web page:  http://www.cshpm.org.  Høyrup's answer is there, too, and my response to his answer can be found at http://pages.uindy.edu/~oaks/Articles/ResponseHoyrup.pdf.  (Reviews of Menso Folkerts and Warren van Egmond agree with me, and Raffaella Franci has recently written an article explicitly supporting my conclusions.  "The history of algebra in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries.  Some remarks on recent historiography" is available online:  http://publicacions.iec.cat/repository/pdf/00000165%5C00000095.pdf.
---"Barnabas Hughes, ed., Fibonacci's De Practica Geometrie (Heidelberg:  Springer, 2008)"  Centaurus 51 (2008), 168-169.

Bibliography
    2001-2003.  I compiled an online Bibliography of Medieval Islamic Mathematics, arranged by topic.  Countless articles and books have been included so far.     Publication:  Singularities and Self Intersections of Curves Evolving on Surfaces, Indiana University Mathematics Journal 43 (1994), 959-981.  The main result and its proof can also be found in the 2001 book The Curve Shortening Problem by Kai-Seng Chou and Xi-Ping Zhu (CRC Press). I wrote two textbooks designed to help students pass standardized exams.  The Statistics guide is geared toward the ACT exam, while the Algebra guide is for the CLEP test.
    Publications:  Statistics (1997), College Algebra (2000).  Published by The College Network, Inc. Not surprisingly, I am just about the only one around who studies the history of railroad tie preservation.  For more info, click here.
    Publication:  Date Nails and Railroad Tie Preservation, a 560 page book in three volumes (1999).  Published by the University of Indianapolis Archeology and Forensics Laboratory.
    In the April 2006 issue of Technology and Culture is Mark Aldrich's article "From Forest Conservation to Market Preservation:  Invention and Diffusion of Wood-Preserving Technology, 1880-1939".  The author makes many minor errors, he misses or misrepresents the major episodes in the history of tie preservation, and his main argument is completely wrong.  I wrote a rebuttal, which at 22 pages turned out to be too long for the journal.  The full version an be read here:
                            http://pages.uindy.edu/~oaks/Articles/Response.htm

My reduced, two-page critique appeared as part of "Communications", Technology and Culture 48.3, July 2007, pp. 680-688.
I collected exact dates of events in Roman history, and I compiled them by day of the year.  You can look up, for example, July 16, and findout what events form Roman history are known to have occured on that day.  Over 1,500 events are listed.
    Publications:  Ancient Roman Calendar (1995).  Privately published.  pdf version of the whole book
              The Birth Dates of Valentinian II and Valentinian III:  A Correction to PLRE I, Medieval Prosopography 17:1 (1996), 147-148.
 
 
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