Glen Van Brummelen's Home Page

Professor of Mathematics at Bennington College

I will be on sabbatical during the school year 2005/06, at the Dibner Institute for History of Science and Technology. This page will not be updated while I am away. I can be reached at my usual Bennington College address.

Students, click on your course below!

Secrets of the Ancient Astronomers	Multivariable Calculus	Mathematical Statistics
Geometric Modeling	Calculus I	Modeling Our World
Abstract Algebra	Calculus II	History of Mathematics
Linear Algebra Students	The Practice of Statistics	Vector Calculus
Real Analysis	Spherical Trigonometry	Peer Mentoring
Mathematics and Music	Lecture Series	Mathematics and Democracy

My weekly schedule may be found here.

Mathematics and the Historian's Craft: The Kenneth O. May Lectures

Web-based Book and Conference Site

I participated in the International Congress of Mathematics Instruction Study Group on the history of mathematics in education in Luminy, France in April 1998, via the Internet. The result is the book History in Mathematics Education: The ICMI Study, eds. John Fauvel and Jan van Maanen (Dordrecht: Kluwer), which appeared summer 2000. My contribution was mostly the site Resources in the History of Mathematics on the World Wide Web, which is by now mostly obsolete, but is left here for historical purposes. If the title page takes too long too long to load, click here to bypass it.

Animations of Ptolemy's Planetary Models

In the Journal for the History of Astronomy (1998), I made available a set of computer animations for Ptolemy's geometric models of planetary motion. They may be downloaded from this site. Animations are available for the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and Mercury. The files may be obtained by clicking the appropriate words above.

You will need the program Geometer's Sketchpad to run the animation. This old demo will allow you to play the files.

The parameters in these files are set not for correctness, but for ease of demonstration. Another set of files of animations with parameters set accurately is available, in zipped format, here.

Ariel Catherine Van Brummelen

born August 8, 1995,

Matthew Julian Robert Van Brummelen

born November 26, 1999, and

Andrew David Van Brummelen

born April 10, 2003!

For more information:

• Research Publications
• Calculus Explorations Powered by Technology: Tales of History and Imagination
  Co-authored with Mike Caraco, this book contains a series of guided explorations in calculus, suitable for high school and first-year college students. They contain historical and cultural episodes, as well as extended applications. It is available through Houghton Mifflin as an ancillary to the 2nd edition of the Ostebee/Zorn calculus text. Click the above for the book's home page!
  
  
• Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Mathematics
  Choose this link if you are interested in Web sources related to the history of mathematics.

Last updated: June 10, 2005