Following the tradition of the American Mathematical Society, the seventh colloquium of the Society was held as part of the summer meeting that took place at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison. Two sets of lectures were presented: On Invariants and the Theory of Numbers, by L. E. Dickson, and Functions of Several Complex Variables, by W. F. Osgood. Dickson considers invariants of quadratic forms, with a special emphasis on invariants of forms defined in characteristic $p$, also called modular invariants, which have number-theoretic consequences. He is able to find a fundamental set of invariants for both settings. For binary forms, Dickson introduces semi-invariants in the modular case, and again finds a fundamental set. These studies naturally lead to the important study of invariants of the standard action of the modular group. The lectures conclude with a study of ``modular geometry'', which is now known as geometry over $\mathbf{F}_p$. The lectures by Osgood review the state of the art of several complex variables. At this time, the theory was entirely function-theoretic. Already, though, Osgood can introduce the ideas and theorems that will be fundamental to the subject for the rest of the century: Weierstrass preparation, periodic functions and theta functions, singularities--including Hartogs' phenomenon, the boundary of a domain of holomorphy, and so on.

The 1903 colloquium of the American Mathematical Society was held as part of the summer meeting that took place in Boston. Three sets of lectures were presented: Linear Systems of Curves on Algebraic Surfaces, by H. S. White, Forms of Non-Euclidean Space, by F. S. Woods, and Selected Topics in the Theory of Divergent Series and of Continued Fractions, by Edward B. Van Vleck. White's lectures are devoted to the theory of systems of curves on an algebraic surface, with particular reference to properties that are invariant under birational transformations and the kinds of surfaces that admit given systems. Woods' lectures deal with the problem of the classification of three-dimensional Riemannian spaces of constant curvature. The author presents and discusses Riemann postulates characterizing manifolds of constant curvature, and explains in detail the results of Clifford, Klein, and Killing devoted to the local and global classification problems. The subject of Van Vleck's lectures is the theory of divergent series. The author presents results of Poincare, Stieltjes, E. Borel, and others about the foundations of this theory. In particular, he shows "how to determine the conditions under which a divergent series may be manipulated as the analytic representative of an unknown function, to develop the properties of the function, and to formulate methods of deriving a function uniquely from the series." In the concluding portion of these lectures, some results about continuous fractions of algebraic functions are presented.

This features contributions by and about some of the luminaries of American mathematics. Included here are essays based on presentations made during the symposium Celebration of 100 Years of Annual Meetings, held at the AMS meeting in Cincinnati in 1994. The papers in this collection form a vibrant collage of mathematical personalities. This book weaves a tapestry of mathematical life in the United States, with emphasis on the past seventy years. Photographs, old and recent, further decorate that tapestry. There are many stories to be told about the making of mathematics and the personalities of those who meet to share it. This collection offers a celebration in words and pictures of a century of American mathematical life.

Cover -- Title page -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Photograph and Figure Credits -- Chapter 1. An overview of American mathematics: 1776-1876 -- Chapter 2. A new departmental prototype: J.J. Sylvester and the Johns Hopkins University -- Chapter 3. Mathematics at Sylvester's Hopkins -- Chapter 4. German mathematics and the early mathematical career of Felix Klein -- Chapter 5. America's wanderlust generation -- Chapter 6. Changes on the horizon -- Chapter 7. The World's Columbian exposition of 1893 and the Chicago mathematical congress -- Chapter 8. Surveying mathematical landscapes: The Evanston colloquium lectures -- Chapter 9. Meeting the challenge: The University of Chicago and the American mathematical research community -- Chapter 10. Epilogue: Beyond the threshold: The American mathematical research community, 1900-1933 -- Bibliography -- Subject Index -- Back Cover

Contemporary philosophy of mathematics offers us an embarrassment of riches. Among the major areas of work one could list developments of the classical foundational programs, analytic approaches to epistemology and ontology of mathematics, and developments at the intersection of history and philosophy of mathematics. But anyone familiar with contemporary philosophy of mathematics will be aware of the need for new approaches that pay closer attention to mathematical practice. This book is the first attempt to give a coherent and unified presentation of this new wave of work in philosophy of mathematics. The new approach is innovative at least in two ways. First, it holds that there are important novel characteristics of contemporary mathematics that are just as worthy of philosophical attention as the distinction between constructive and non-constructive mathematics at the time of the foundational debates. Secondly, it holds that many topics which escape purely formal logical treatment - such as visualization, explanation, and understanding - can nonetheless be subjected to philosophical analysis. The Philosophy of Mathematical Practice comprises an introduction by the editor and eight chapters written by some of the leading scholars in the field. Each chapter consists of short introduction to the general topic of the chapter followed by a longer research article in the area. The eight topics selected represent a broad spectrum of contemporary philosophical reflection on different aspects of mathematical practice: diagrammatic reasoning and representation systems; visualization; mathematical explanation; purity of methods; mathematical concepts; the philosophical relevance of category theory; philosophical aspects of computer science in mathematics; the philosophical impact of recent developments in mathematical physics.