Letters to famous mathematicians

The letters were written by the Turkish, German, Italian, Spanish and Greek students during the 3rd Erasmus+ meeting in Kissamos-Greece in September 2016

Dear Thales, Firstly, we would like to thank you about your admirable accomplishments that are very helpful and important to us. As far as i know, you tried to attach the natural phenomena by another perspective , making the difference in your era. Specifically your thoughtfulness about constellation was the foundation to beyond discoveries. Apart from that your contribution to geometry was huge, as you made some essential discoveries about the circle and the triangle. Of course, your most famous piece of work, the Thales Theorem, is until now an integral part of geometry. Concluding, you are deservedly one of the seven wise men of the ancient times and we are thankful for all your above achievements.

Your sincerely, Ulaş Duman Gerçek, Dumitru Barbalata, Mαριπόπη Nικολακάκη

Dear Pythagoras…

My name is Umutcan Çakmak. I am from Turkey. First, we know the contribution you have made to mathematics. I am the lover of mathematics. We have a few questions to you. Some people say that you don't have written work. Don't you really have? I am interested in your contribution to art and science by using music.

Take care of yourself.

Umutcan Çakmak

Dear Pythagoras, I have recently read your biography and i am really impressed by the theories and your contribution in maths.

To begin with the Pythagorean theorem is an important part of trigonometry and its proof is used to prove that a triangle is right. Also the proof of the existence of irrational numbers which was a huge step for nthe development of maths.

These are not only impressing because you achieved to solve these mathematic problems but you achieved it under no good conditions and the mathematic knowledge and tools were not so much developed like they are today.

So we own to you and the others mathematicians a thank you because maths would not be the same without your contribution.

Your sincerely , Mιτάλης Ψωματάκης

Dear Euclid, My name is Tereza Hambarian and I am from Armenia, but I have been born and I live in Greece. About that, I feel so lucky that I have the opportunity to live in the same country where you were living. Your fame about your mathematical inventions are spread worldwide.

Consequently, you are called as "the father" of geometry, because of your significant work. You are also characterized in the history of logic and math. In addition, there are many information, about yourself, that are still unknown. Therefore, I would appreciate it, if I had the chance to know more about your life, such as your place of birth, your date and place of death. Finally, I hope to accept a reply as soon as it is possible.

Best wishes from Creece/Crete Tereza Hambarian.

Dear Euclid, My name is Aykutcan and my surname is SoÄ&#x;ancÄą.Im from Turkey.I live in Samsun.

First of all we know your achievements in maths.We also know your important place in geometry.For this reason it is not surprising that your name comes to mind first whenever geometry is spoken.Based on your achievements what would you advise us to imrove our maths? We are asking you this question because we know that you are "the father of geometry." What path should we follow to improve our maths? And we of course know that you told everything in your book titled "Euclid's Elements Of Geometry ." Many people have benefited from your information you have shared and the most famous of them is Enstein in our consideration.

Aykutcan

Dear Euclid, this letter may be too late now but I wanted to write you some words.

My name is Anastasia and I am a half German and half Greek girl, living in Germany. I know you from my math lessons at school and from my dad, he talks a lot about famous Greek people and he wants me to know every single one of them. In maths we mostly connect your name to geometry. You work is our base for modern geometry and we are thankful for your work. The scientists are not that sure about your life. They say you might have lived in Alexandria. Is that true? Did you live there? Could you tell me a little more about your life and your methods to work in your answer letter? I will be glad if you answer..but I sadly know that my letter is way too late and a time machine is not yet invented. I will still continue this letter, maybe the letter will reach you one day. I like maths and if I had to be honest i liked geometry nearly the most. Geometry and the way you shaped it is logical and sometimes it even makes fun! We are really impressed by your ancient Greek version of elementary number theory. I like that you involved Pythagoras Ideas of the mathematic proof into the number theory. I am also very impressed by your work „ Euclid's Elements‟ and your definition of prime numbers which is also in the chapter where you described the number theory. At school we learned your theorem about the prime numbers which includes the infinity of prime numbers.

Maybe I will write you again some day, I hope the letter reaches you.

Greetings and best wishes from Germany, Wetzlar.

- Anastasia Tzékas

Dear Mr Archimidis, I am Archontissa Kounelaki, it‟s been an honor for me to have the opportunity to write this letter to you! As we all know you are a very talented mathematician, a physicist , a mechanical and an inventor and astronomer of the ancient times but I also admire your special ability in maths. When it comes to maths everyone remembers you as the optimum mathematician of all times!!!Mr Archimidis I can‟t tell you how much you‟ve contributed to society with your maths and all your abilities…I wish with all my heart that I could have taken the chance to meet you…people like you are not found through centuries! Even people who are not as good at maths ( like me ) have gained knowledge for life . Yes ! Your way of thinking helps our everyday life . Helps us become better people among ourselves so we can be useful for the general public and of course our society . Maths make our lives easier to cope with , to deal with and to fight all the challenges that brings in front of us .It gives us the basis to struggle , try and become good warriors and heroes of life. You taught us that good life equals good maths , and good maths equals good life . So simple . Life is so simple when you know how to use in practice the Maths Language . I feel that all of us should thank you for one of the most precious gifts you offered us : The path to a good, practical life .

Faithfully yours , and forever a true admirer, Archontissa Kounelaki

Dear Eratosthenes, First of all we would like to thank you for all your remarkable work not only in maths but also in geography and astronomy. You were the first one who achieved to calculate the circumference of the Earth by using a measuring system, called stadia. In addition, you created the first map of the world based on the available knowledge of your time and this was a big accomplishment. Furthermore, you first supported that the Earth is round, placed in the centre of the universe and you also measured accurately the distance to the sun.

To sum up, we are very thankful for all your above achievements and we really appreciate your contribution to the world of science.

Yours faithfully, Ömer Faruk Υılmaz, Luca Masciolini, Xριστίνα Mανωλακάκη

Dear Hypatia, we are Miriana and Asia, two Italian girls who have studied and understood your story.

We're writing to let you know how we admire you and how much things have changed since the year of your wrong fuldeath in 415.

Your strong personality impressed us right away, probably because in your century it was really difficult for women to assert and to express their opinions with the same courage and the same boldness that you had.

Your colleagues had a very closed mind, but we want to tell you that things have changed: thanks to the hard battles and uprisings over the years, women have made it. With honor, they have been awarded the freedom of thought.

So much that today it is possible for us to do and say anything, in the same way as men do. We are all equal. We are happy to inform you that your assumptions on the movement of the wandering stars were right.

Science has moved forward and has proved you right. First of all, it is not the Earth at the center of the Universe.

As you had already agreed in part with Aristarchus, the Earth rotates around the Sun. However, you were also not in agreement about the perfect shape of the circle as an orbit around the Sun and how the planet's motion around itself.

And in fact you were right: the orbit described by a planet is elliptical, of which the Sun occupies one of the two fires. But there's more ... We are part of just one of the countless galaxies in the universe. A Galaxy is a set of systems, gas and stardust and ours is called the Milky Way. The universe is immense and we are only a small dot compared to the rest.

You know, we admire you so much for being able to formulate an hypothesis so true, despite not having sophisticated tools as we have today. For this reason we consider your death unjust and undeserved, that happened only because of religious men who had not even a small part of your intelligence.

However, your documented studies have come down to us , and in 2016 you are remembered as a great astrologer, mathematician and Philippe; so much that in 2004 a museum dedicate e to women's science finally opened .

You have also been honored over the years, being the protagonist in movies, paintings, books and essays that have survived to the present day.

Yes, it's all really changed but you have not been forgotten, the very opposite indeed! We are really thankful to you for having been for us a source of great inspiration.

Dear Mr Euler we hope you are fine wherever you might be right now. Please let us first start with a question to you: Could you imagine during your lifetime that pupils from different European countries would write a letter to you about 300 years later? So your work is still very important for us to learn in school and especially in math class. Therefore we learn for example trigonometric functions and your mathematical notations are something every student gets to know. In general there can be seen big differences between school in your days and school nowadays. Today in Europe nearly everyone has the possibility to gain a good education. As far aswe know your only possibility to get educated was getting taught by your father and going touniversity at the age of 14. Going to university at that age would not even be allowed today and furthermore going to school is obligatory for every child in germany and other European states. Today everyone has to take mathematic lessons and that is also the reason why so many students still get to know the things you came up with 300 years ago. But not only the school system has changed but also our everyday life.The excuse that the journey to St.Petersburg was too hard so you had to wait until Spring 1727 to start working there would not be as easily accepted today as it was in 1726 because today you can take a flight from Basel to St. Petersburg which only takes about five hours. What is very impressive in our opinion is your solution for the Problem of Basel which you found in 1735. So there can be seen that you were already ahead of your time. Generally today your notations like for example Pi, f(x) and e are an important base for our A-levels. But mathematics was not the only thing you were very good at. You also published works in

mechanics, physics, differental calculus, integral calculus, artilery, ballistics, analysis, naval architecture and navigation. Incredible how multi talented you had to be! Therefore, Mr Euler, you have our full admiration regarding the things you did during your lifetime and also concerning the way you still influence mathematics nowadays. So thank you for enriching us through your work and for showing us a new kind of mathematics.

Best wishes Lena Grebe, HüseyinBakır, Ερμιόνη Σαποσνάκη

Dear Mr Gauß We are students from Greece, Turkey and Germany and we'd like to talk to you about your life.

We are very impressed by what you already achieved just by the age of eighteen years. You came up with the idea of adjustment computation which made it possible to discover an asteroide.

It is also imposing that you managed to find out your date of birth by only knowing that it was a Wednesday and 39 days after Easter.

Additionally, we found out that you shared only a little of the things you knew about mathematics (and other things) with the public. Only one year after your death, the King of Hanover had a commenorative medal with your picture and the words "MathematicorumPrincipi", which means "the foremost of mathematicians", minted.

What you probably want to know is that people found your diary in 1898, so that we know a lot more about mathematics now.

You cannot imagine how famous you are these days. The people are for example celebrating the centenary of your death with a postage stamp.

In addition, there are a lot of monuments in your homeland Germany.

There is a really big one in Brunswick for example.

We know you from school because we dealt with the Gaussian elimination in math class last year. This made a lot of things so much easier for us because we can't think of any other way to solve systems of equation.

Certainly, there are a lot of other approaches to mathematical problems you developed which we use in school and we are not aware that this was your work.

Yours sincerely, Σπσριδούλα Σκαλιδάκη, Yusuf Buğra Çolak and Theresa Daniel

Dear Mr. Turing,

we're the students of ITTS A.Volta in Perugia.

Our names are Nicola, Stefano, Andrea and Carlo. We are 17 years old.

We know about you because you invented the “machine of Turing� that can simulate any computer algorithm.

Every time, the machine has a head which is positioned over one of the squares on the tape. With this head, the machine can perform three very basic operations: 1. Read the symbol on the square under the head.

2. Edit the symbol by writing a new symbol or erasing it.

3. Move the tape from left to right by one square so that the machine can read and edit the symbol on the next square.

Your work was important for the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with your machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer.

You are considered the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.

We have seen the film about your life and we really appreciated it .

After having watched the movie, we have some questions.

How did your passion for computer science start?

What abilities did you look for in the men for your team?

Which type of technologies did you use to decode the code ?

Had you imagined that you would become a such important scientist in computer science?

We are so thankful for all you have done. Thanks to you now we can study computer science better than ever, you were so clever that you were and you are an example for all the young people who want to work with numbers and computer.

Well, now we have laptops, we have tablet and smartphone that are far more complicated than your machine but we could never do anything without you. Without your machine the future would have been so different.

We are looking forward to hearing from you!

Best regards, the guys of ITTS A.Volta.

Nicola, Stefano, Carlo, Andrea

Dear Mr. Nash, we are a group of Italian students who are very interested in your personal history. In particular , we were impressed by the fact that you, notwithstanding your mental problems, of which you were perfectly aware , you didn‟t given up in front of these obstacles and you kept doing your job. Your work gave you, in 1994, the best award ever, the Nobel Prize for…..

Being called “ the Crazy Mathematician” ( is this your nickname?) didn‟t mean anything to you.. Your “Equilibrium Theorem"(developed from the Games Theory) was crucial for modern Politics and Economy because, in some situations, it has helped to understand what was the best choice for the common welfare.

Furthermore you won the best award for a mathematician, the Abel Award, because of your contribution to the Theory of Derived Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and their applications to Geometry (but we think you already know).

Unfortunately sometimes life is strange, just as you were returning from Norway, were you received the Abel Award, you and your wife, who was always by your side, had an accident in a taxi and you were both killed.

Thanks for your job and for having made Mathematics even more interesting..

Best wishes

Dear John Nash, My name is Bahadır Şener and I come from Turkey. First of all, what was the thing that encouraged you to do experiment when you were 12 and why were you impressed the book named ''Men of Mathematics''?

What was the reasonof changing your depart when you were at universty?

While you were working on the ''Equalization Theory'', which basics did you use? What are the main subjects of ''Game Theory'' and the other 3 articles Bahadır Şener

Sevgili John Nash.

Benim adım Bahadır Şener ve Türkiye‟den geliyorum.Öncelikle 12 yaşındayken seni deney yapmaya teşvik eden şey neydi ve neden „‟Men of Mathematichs‟‟ adlı kitaptan etkilendin?Üniversitedeyken bölümünü değiştirmene ne sebep oldu? „‟Denkleştirme Teorisi‟‟ üzerinde çalışırken hangi temelleri baz aldın?‟‟Oyun Teorisi‟‟nin ve diğer 3 makalenin ana konusu nedir?

Bahadır Şener

Respected Mrs. Mirzakhani, The reason that we are writing this letter, it is because we feel the need to attribute to you our compliments and thank you for your great contribution to the science of mathematics. We feel proud of your contribution to the progress and development of science.

There is no doubt that through the science of mathematics, we can conquer multifaceted mathematical knowledge, broaden our intellectual horizons and to grow our critical capacity. Mathematical literacy nurtures / provides us with the appropriate knowledge / values that will take us to find solutions to practical issues of life. Through the teaching of mathematics and the conquest of the scientific way of thinking, we have the opportunity to improve our quality of life, to manage and maintain a balance in our economic relations. At the same time, the proper management of our economic affairs, promotes and maintains the stability of our economy. More generally, the lesson of mathematics, we are given a 'life lesson' ': In any' 'problem' 'there is a' 'solution' '.

With the above, we would like to emphasize the enormous admiration I have for your work and our appreciation for your great mathematical achievements.

Yours sincerely.

A student of B class lykeiou Kissamos-Greece Gianna Kokkinaki.