Shirley Gray

INTRODUCTION

• National Curve Bank       2nd Edition - 2019:                      Newest Release
• National Curve Bank       Classic Home Page:                   Released:  July 4, 2002
• Maria Gaetana Agnesi.   Biography and Stamp Project:  Released. January 1, 2001

Dr. Gray won the 2016 Outstanding Teacher Award of the Southern California-Nevada Section of the MAA.  She is grateful for the opportunity to thank the many students and staff who have supported her throughout her career.

Dr. Cye H. Waldman, Sam Chyau and Dr. Gray collaborated on "Archimedes Redux: Center of Mass Application from The Method" published by Mathematical Association of America in The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 49, NO.5, November, 2018, 346-352.

Shirley B. Gray, Daniel Ye Ding, Gustavo Gordillo, Samuel Landsberger, and Cye Waldman. The Method of Archimedes: Propositions 13 and 14, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Volume 62, Number 9, October 2015.

ISSN 1003 - 3092; MATHEMTICS, 2017

Dr. Gray, Dr. Stewart Venit and Dr. Russ Abbott have created and maintained a web site under the auspicies of the National Science Foundation and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation.  The prestigious journal Science recognized our work in Fall, 2006.  See <http://old.nationalcurvebank.org>.

Science, Vol. 314, October 27, 2006, p. 571.

In addition to hosting the NCB web site, Dr. Gray enjoys teaching MATH 320 History of Mathematics.     The CSULA campus has a unique asset.  Our campus is located near the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA.  The Huntington's priceless collection of mathematical books and incunabula was recently augumented by the acquisition of 66.000 items from the Burndy Collection. Many works in both the old and new holdings are rare first editions.  Thus, CSULA students have access to what may be called the finest collection in the history of mathematics and science in North America.  Our History of Mathematics course offers students and faculty the unique pleasure of seeing these books and their magnificent illustrations.  

TEACHING INTERESTS

Gray has especially enjoyed the network of friends that was created by participating in IHMT, Washington, D.C. Institute for the History of Mathematics in Teaching, sponsored by the MAA/NSF. June, 1996 and June, 1997 and the special interest group of the MAA-HOM-SIGMA.

RESEARCH

• Dr. Cye H. Waldman, Sam Chyau and Dr. Gray collaborated on "Archimedes Redux: Center of Mass Application from The Method" published by Mathematical Association of America in The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 49, NO.5, November, 2018, 346-352.
• In conjunction with her efforts to organize support for the Vatican and Poste Italiane to issue stamps honoring Maria Gaetana Agnesi on the 300th anniversary of her birth (May 16, 1718), Dr. Gray wrote several articles including a review of Mazzotti's book reissued by The Johns Hopkins Press.  See The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 49, NO.3, May, 2018, 229-232.
• Dr. Gray and her collaborators have been featured in the October, 2015 issue of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, one of the highest impact journals in the field of mathematics.  (See: S. B. Gray, D. Y. Ding, G. Gordillo, S. Landsberger and C. Waldman, The Method of Archimedes: Propositions 13 and 14, Notices of the AMS, 62, 9, 2015, pp.1036-1040.  The print article is supplemented by< http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/method/method.htm >.
• Dr. Gray took the opportunity to examine not retrospectively at the content of propositions in the famous Archimedean Method, but instead in terms of 21st century mathematics and technology.  Moreover, she participated in every scholar’s quest to have a Eureka moment – she and her collaborators found the Golden Ratio, or Golden Mean, in their efforts to image the footprint of Archimedes.   Thus, they found original mathematics that  had neither been identified nor published for 2,300 years.
• This collaboration exquisitely united the mathematics, computer science and engineering skills of faculty, students, and industry representatives.  In addition, this collaboration has generated ideas for faculty on other campuses.  Those looking for undergraduate projects have followed this model by cloning the basic components of uniting math skills, computer software, and engineering applications in order to strengthen STEM education.

Dr. Gray and her collaborators were the first to publish 3-D Printer models involving mathematics on our campus, and perhaps the entire CSU.
3-D Printer Complement & Hoof	3-D Printer Hoof  Half-cylinder

        Also see <  http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/method/method.htm > and < http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/supercurve/supercurve.htm >.

• Dr. Gray and her team were the first group on our campus to submit a Wikipedia entry on mathematics.  This is also a first for the College of Natural and Social Sciences (NSS)  < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superparabola >.
   
• Dr. Gray and her collaborators have been featured on the American Mathematical Society’s Facebook page.< https://www.facebook.com/amermathsoc >(9/23/2015).
   
• After an extensive search of the literature, Dr. Gray and her collaborators were among the first to identify a unique mathematical curve.  This, in itself, is another first for the CSU.

• See < http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/supercurve/supercurve.htm  >.

Henry Acevedo, Gustavo Gordillo, Dr. Gray, Alexander Morales, and Flavio Argueta;  Spring, 2016.

• After an extensive search of the literature, Dr. Gray and her collaborators were among the first to identify a unique mathematical curve.  This, in itself, is another first for the CSU.

See < http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/method/method.htm >  > and < http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/supercurve/supercurve.htm >. 

2018	Dr. Cye H. Waldman, Sam Chyau and Dr. Gray collaborated on Archimedes Redux: Center of Mass Application from The Method published by The Mathematical Association of America College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 49, NO.5, November, 2018, 346-352.
2018	Review of Massimo Mazzotti's The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God, reissued 2018 by John Hopkins University Press. Review published in the The Mathematical Association of America College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 49, NO.3, May, 2018, 229-232.
2016	< https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superparabola > < http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/volbox2/volbox2.htm >
2015	Shirley B. Gray, Daniel Ye Ding, Gustavo Gordillo, Samuel Landsberger, and Cye Waldman. The Method of Archimedes: Propositions 13 and 14, Notices of the American Mathematical Society, Volume 62, Number 9, October 2015.
2013	Forsén, Sture, Harry B. Gray, L. K. Olof Lindgren and Shirley B. Gray.   &ldHome Page .quo;Was Something Wrong with Beethoven’s Metronome?”,  Notices of the American Mathematical Society, October, 2013, 60 (9).
2012	Gray, Shirley B. and Rice, Zebanya.  “The Mayan Number System and Calendar:  December 21, 2012: A Date of Opportunity”  Mathematics Teacher [cover] 106(5), December, 2012-January, 2013, 338-344.
2011	http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/method/method.htm
2010	http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/harriot/harriot.htm  http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/swan/swan.htm
2009	Gray, Shirley B., "BSHM detective story continued" BSHM Bulletin, 24 (3), 2009. , , Science and Culture Review, 6 (3), 2009. Translation by Yibao XU.
2008	Gray, Shirley B., "A Centennial Celebration of Two Great Scholars," Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 55 (7), August, 2008, pp. 776-783. Gray, Shirley B., "On the Equals Sign - Our 'Twins': A Tour through Original Sources," The Mathematical Intelligencer, 30 (2), 2008, pp. 19-23.
2006	“Bent into Shape”,  NETwatch (M. Leslie, ed.); Science, 2006, 314, 571.  [(October 27, 2006)] “A Renie for the Brachistochrone, Short Takes (F. Gouvêa, ed.); Focus, 2006, 26(5), 21. Gray, Shirley B. and Gordillo, Gustavo.  “The Brachistochrone: For the ‘shrewdest mathematicians of all the world’ “  CMC ComMuniCator. 30(3) 34 – 36, March, 2006. Gray, Mary and Gray, Shirley B.  “Calculus: A Play in London”  math HORIZONS,   Mathematical Association of America.  February, 2006. Gray, Shirley B., “A Multiplicity of Multiplications.” College Mathematics Journal, 37, Spring, 2006.
2005	Gray, Shirley B. “National Curve Bank Project”  College Board AP Central.  College Board AP Calculus AB program.  January, 2005. Perkins, Gay with Shirley B. Gray  “Life of a 1950s Homecoming Queen,”  The Western Scholar.  Western Kentucky University.  Spring, 2005.
2004	Gray, Shirley B., "Hypatia", Mathematics for Students, Macmillan Reference USA.
2003	Gray, Shirley B., "Agnesi", Mathematics for Students, Macmillan Reference USA.
2002	< http://curvebank.calstatela.edu > < http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/home/home.htm > The National Science Foundation and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation have supported this project.
2001	MAA Online Book Review, Stephen Smale:  The Mathematician Who Broke the Dimension Barrier, < http://maa.org.reviews/reviews.htm >, April, 2001.
2001	< http://instructional1.calstatela.edu/sgray/Agnesi/ >
2001	Gray, S. I. B. and Sandifer, C. Edward,  The Sumario Compendioso, Mexico City, 1556:  The New World's First Mathematics Book, Mathematics Teacher,  NCTM, 94 (2) 98 - 103.
2000	Mathematics in the Age of Jane Austen:  Essential Skills of 1800. Mathematics Teacher.  NCTM, 93 (8) 670-679.
2000	CALTECH AT OXFORD, 40 YEARS ON.  The American Oxonian; A Publication of the American Rhodes Scholar Foundation, LXXXVII (1) 1-8.
1999	Gray, S. I. B., and Malakyan, Tagui, The Witch of Agnesi: A  Lasting Contribution from the First Surviving Mathematical Work by a Woman.  A commemorative on the 200th Anniversary of her death.  The College Mathematics Journal,Mathematical Association of America.  Cover article,  30 (4), September, 1999,  258 - 268.  Ms. Malakyan was a student in MATH 320.
1999	Gray, S. I. B.,  The Mathematics of Lewis Carroll,  math HORIZONS,  Mathematical Association of America.  April, 1999, 18 - 23.
1999	Gray, Shirley I. B.,  THESE RUINS ARE STILL INHABITED:  Caltech at Oxford.  A Tribute to Muriel and George Beadle, Update for 1998. Engineering and Science, California Institutue of Technology,  LXI (4),  April, 1999.
1999	Gray, S. I. B., Heiberg and the Lost Palimpsest of Archimedes.  The British Society for the History of Mathematics Newsletter, Summer, (39) 26-31.
1999	Gray, S. I. B.,  Mathematics Education Across the Poind in Great Britain. CMC ComMuniCator,23 (4),  June, 1999, 46 - 47.
1998	Gray, S.I.B.,  A Mathematics Treasure in California, The Mathematical Intelligencer, 20(2), 41-46.
1997	Gray, Shirley B. and Mena, Robert A. Amusements in the History of Mathematics, PRIMUS, VII(4), 317-328.
1997	Gray, Shirley B., Producer and Director. Using a Graphing Calculator, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, CSULA. A videotape featuring 25 students, faculty and staff.
1996	Gray, Shirley B. Earthquake Mathematics: An Infant Science. [This earthquake problem has been selected for LAUSD's Standards for High School Curriculum as a model for all students.]
1992	Gray, Shirley B. Fractal Math, Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 1(1), 31-38.
1992	Gray, Shirley B. and Craig, Terence. G. Math Matching Ideas: A Generic HyperCard-HyperTalk Program, Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 1(2), 235-250.

Comments on some of the books CSULA students seen at the Huntington Library:

Claudius Ptolemy
Ptolemy wrote the Almagest, or "the greatest," in the second century A.D. He produced the definitive Greek work in mathematical astronomy for determining the location of the planets. His mathematics and its geocentric theory stood unchallenged for 1400 years until Copernicus proposed his heliocentric theory in 1513. 

The surviving copy at the Huntington uses the sexagesimal number system. It is thought to have been produced in the south of France, but the monastery, or atelier, is unknown. 

As for esthetics, this copy is illuminated with gold and color adornment. The hand-printed vellum is not thick, but has an unforgettable texture of strength tempered with the appeal of the finest of translucent paper. 

To view the Vatican's copy and other interesting titles: http://sunsite.unc.edu/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/Main_Hall.html

Euclid
The Huntington has more than 30 editions of the Elements, but counting the number of editions is arbitrary, for not all books have survived in all editions.  This collection was expanded (Fall, 2006) by the addition of the Burndy Library from M.I.T.

Following the invention of printing, Erhard Ratdolt's translation in 1482 was the first mathematics material to be printed. The manuscript opens immediately with 23 definitions, including those for the point, line and plane! Impressively, the Latin illustrations of "puntus, linea, plana," are clear to English readers 500 years later. On later pages, students will immediately recognize the "windmill" or "bride's chair" proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. 

The Huntington has two copies of the first English translation by Sir Henry Billingsley (London, 1570). It contains pop-up, three-dimensional models, embedded in the text. For example, the book includes fold-out models of two perpendicular planes, a tetrahedron and a pyramid. 
Many of the authors of the other editions are, themselves, famous, e.g., Lewis Carroll.

Copernicus
This first edition of Copernicus at the Huntington was the gift of Edwin Hubble of the "Hubble Space Telescope." It is nearly always on display in the Main Reading Room of the Library. Most of the other titles are seldom seen by the public.

Maria Agnesi and the Marquise du Châtelet
There are very few famous women in mathematics.  We select the following for special mention:

Apollonius
The Library also has Sir Edmond Halley's edition of Apollonius' works.

Euler
The CSULA Spring, 1997 students remarked that of all the books we had seen in chronological order, this was the first to look like a "math" book. By the 18th century, the equation and notation had evolved, as well as printing techniques, to have math equations, not verbal explanations, embedded in the text. Calculus students will immediately recognize that Euler was working on infinite series.

Brother Juan Diez, O.F.M.
The Sumario Compendioso in Spanish is the first book other than religious instruction printed in the entire Western Hemisphere. With a publication date of 1556 in Mexico City, it predates all North American settlement, e.g., Jamestown (1607), Plymouth Rock (1620), and Quebec City (1608). 

The Huntington Library has been the Sumario 's home since 1920. It is one of three remaining known copies in the World, with the other two being in the British Museum in London and in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid. 

The cover is primitive heavy leather. On opening the cover, the first thing one sees on the left is a recycled piece of printed matter that is pasted vertically. Paper must have been in very short supply in Mexico City in 1556. A gorgeous frontispiece is on the right opening page, and bears reference to the kingdoms of Peru (sic ).