How is everyone today? Let me introduce myself I am Maria Gaetana Agnesi
I am from Italy where women made big leaps in the academic world. Intellectual women were admired by men, they were never ridiculed for being intellectual and educated. This is why women like myself participate in arts, medicine, literature, and mathematics. I was by far one of the most important and extraordinary figure in mathematics during the 18th century.
I am the eldest of 21 children but my fathers favorite child.I was a child prodigy very early, I spoke French by the age of five; and had mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and several modern languages by the age of nine, In my teens I mastered mathematics. I participated in most of the seminars, engaging with the guests in abstract philosophical and mathematical discussions.
Once my mother died everything changed I had to take care of the house hold but I did not give up on Math.
In 1738 I published a collection of complex essays on natural science and philosophy called Propositiones Philosophicae, based on the discussions of the intellectuals who gathered at her father's home. In many of these essays, I expressed my conviction that women should be educated.
By the age of twenty, I began working on my most important work, Analytical Institutions, dealing with differential and integral calculus. I started writing Analytical Institutions as a textbook for her brothers to help him understand math more clearly. my work was published in 1748, it caused a sensation in the academic world. It was one of the first and most complete works on finite and infinitesimal analysis. The was contribution to mathematics with this book was that it brought the works of various mathematicians together in a very systematic way with my own interpretations which was simple for people to understand.
The Curve
What I am best known for the curve called the "Witch of Agnesi". The equation of this curve in the form y = a*sqrt(a*x-x*x)/x because she considered the x-axis to be the vertical axis and the y-axis to be the horizontal axis. Reference frames today use x horizontal and y vertical, so the modern form of the curve is given by the Cartesian equation yx2=a2(a-y) or y = a3/(x2 + a2). It is a versed sine curve, originally studied by Fermat. "It was called a versiera, a word derived from the Latin vertere, meaning 'to turn', but it was also an abbreviation for the Italian word avversiera, meaning 'the wife of the devil.'" Here are a few link to help you understand a bit more.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/WitchofAgnesi.html
http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/Texts.Folder/Agnesi/witch.html
After the success of my book, I was elected to the Bologna Academy of Sciences. But I spent so much of my life on math I wanted to devote my time to something where i can help more people like charity work. I devoted the rest of her life to the poor and homeless sick people, especially women.
