Subject: Re: [HM] Calendrical questions
From: Edward Cohen (ecohen@aix1.uottawa.ca)
Date: Sat Feb 05 2000 - 21:57:15 EST
I received the following a long time ago if anybody is interested in
Fraenkel's thesis. Personally, I don't think that there is anything
about any kind of "calendar" in the thesis from the title of the thesis.
Here are all the papers about calendars by Fraenkel that I could find. If
anybody knows any more, I would be interested in hearing:
(1) Zeitschrift fur mathematisch und naturwissen-schaeftlichen Unterricht
39 [German]; 598-606 (1908) [about Passover and the Mohammedan calendar].
(2) Monatsschrift fur Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentum 53 [German];
736-743 (1909) [about Jewish dates in the Mohammedan calendar].
(3) Crelle's Journal 138 [German]; 133-146 (1910) [about calculation of
Easter].
(4) Calendar [Hebrew]; Encyclopaedia Hebraica 21; 335-353 (1969).
As far as Gauss goes, in his Werke (Volumes VI and XI), there are several
papers on Easter--apparently he corrects and recorrects calculations he
knew he got wrong at first. I haven't looked at these yet; in the final
corrections, he may eventually be right.
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Subject: A.A.Fraenkel's thesis
During last September and October, there was some discussion here about the
thesis of Avraham (Adolf) Halevi Fraenkel. Today I received the following
message concerning it.
Avinoam Mann
===========================================================================
From: Sara Frankel <sarafr@mail.biu.ac.il> 6-JAN-1998 10:55:51.92
Dear Assaph and Dr. Mann,
I understand from what I read today in the Netscape, that you are
looking for the thesis of Prof. Abraham Fraenkel.
I can give you all the details; Bar-Ilan University Library has a
copy! The name of the thesis is: Uber dir Teiler der Null und die
Zerlegung von Ringen. Marburg, 1914. 42 p. Our system number: 364680.
The book is in the Rare Books room, as it seems that there are no other
copies in the country.
If somebody needs a photocopy, it can be done
Sara Fraenkel
Daughter in law of Pr. Fraenkel
To Prof. Mann: Please forward that to your list!
*********************************************
* Dr. Sara Fraenkel *
* Curator of Rare books and Manuscripts *
* Bar-Ilan University Library *
* Ramat Gan 52900 (Israel) *
* Tel.: 972 03 531 8225 *
* Fax: 972 03 534 9233 *
* E-mail: sarafr@mail.biu.ac.il *
*********************************************
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I sent this last month on another question--apparently, this did not get
in; it was probably my fault, it being the first time I sent.
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dear don,
The year 1321 began on 30 March 1903. I have yet to familiarize myself
with the Islamic calendar, but, with the help of 2 books [listed below],
I can (almost) obtain the Gregorian date for 19 Ramadan 1321. It is, I
believe, 9 December 1903. According to book 2, it apparently begins the
sunset of this date, but, because I am not too familiar yet with this
calendar, I could be off by one day--that is, Dec. 9 could be the full
next day until sunset.
If anyone can correct me on this, I would appreciate knowing.
I don't think the author wrote this when he was 8 years old.
1. Rev. Sherrard Beaumont Burnaby, Elements of the Jewish and
Muhammadan Calendars, George Bell & Sons, London, 1901.
2. GSP Freeman-Grenville, The Muslim and Christian Calendars: being
tables for the conversion of Muslim and Christian dates from the Hijra to
the year A.D. 2000, Rex Collings Ltd, London, 1963 & 1977.
ed cohen
On Sun, 19 Dec 1999, Don Cook wrote:
>
> Dear All:
> An enjoyable set of mathematical tales from a Muslim point of view is
> The Man Who Counted: a Collection of Mathematical Adventures by
> Malba Tahan, translated by Leslie Clark and Alastair Read, W.W. Norton &
> Co. 1972, 1993 ISBN 0-393-30934-7 (paper), ISBN 0-393-03430-5 (cloth)
> Malba Tahan 1895 - (I know that's 104 years, but that's how the title page
> has it) is a Brazilian mathematician. The book also has a publication date,
> perhaps fictional, of nineteenth day of the moon of Ramadan, 1321. Can
> someone translate the date to the Gregorian calender for me?
> Happy any holiday that you celebrate, Christmas, Chanuaka, Kwanza,
> Ramadan, MM, etc
> Peace, Don Cook
>
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from
*************************************************************
** **
** Ed Cohen, Adjunct Professor **
** Department of Mathematics & Statistics **
** University of Ottawa **
** Ottawa, ON CANADA K1N 6N5 **
** E-MAIL: ecohen@uottawa.ca OR ecohen@aix1.uottawa.ca **
** URL: http://www.uottawa.ca/~ecohen **
** tel.#: 613-728-9526--------------fax#: 613-562-5776 **
** **
*************************************************************
On Wed, 2 Feb 2000, Sanford Segal wrote:
>
> [Roger Cuculiere]
>>
>> There is no Passover in the Islamic calendar. Any formula for this
>> calendar is not sure, because this calendar is purely lunar, and each
>> month (especially Ramadan) begins at a new moon, and this new moon
>> has to be seen by a believer.
>
>
> Exactly!! In fact Fraenkel mentions this difficulty in his
> autobiography on the cited pages. For the 16-year old it was apparently
> a mathematical challenge which he apparently solved. Please read what
> Fraenkel says!!
> One of the things that occasionally annoys me about this list is the
> tendency of some people to declaim about things without "doing their
> homework".
> Sandy Segal
>
>
> ************************************************************************
>
> [Sandy Segal]
>>
>> It is funny how rumors get started! With respect to (2) below,
>> the necessary information is in Fraenkel's autobiography Lebenskreise.
>> Shortly after his 16th birthday Fraenkel write his first published
>> paper, which obtained a formula for the date of Passover in the Islamic
>> calendar. This appeared in 1908 (Fraenkel was born in 1891). In autumn
>> 1909 Fraenkel completed a far deeper calendrical study, which thanks to
>> Alfred Loewy, who was not only a mathematician, but Fraenkel's uncle by
>> marriage, appeared in Crelle. These publications leaned on the "Method
>> of Gauss". (pp.76-77). Through a letter from Loewy and the Crelle paper
>> (which was about the date of Easter), Fraenkel met Kurt Hensel (p.110).
>> He wrote a dissertation with Hensel in ring theory and this also appeared
>> in Crelle. Its title was "On Zero-Divisors and the Decomposition of
>> Rings". He was awarded the doctoral degree in January 1914 summa cum
>> laude (pp. 119-120).
>> While Fraenkel's autobiography is not always historically reliable,
>> I think we can trust it on the events of his life.
>
>
> [John W. Dawson]
>>
>> (2) I understand that the doctoral dissertation of Abraham Fraenkel,
>> the well-known set theorist, concerned a method for computing the date
>> of Passover (presumably an improvement over the methods in use before).
>> Has his method been published, and is it still the preferred one?
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