Harley Flanders facts for kids

Harley M. Flanders (born September 13, 1925 – died July 26, 2013) was an American mathematician. He was well-known for writing several math textbooks. He also made important contributions to different areas of mathematics, like algebra and linear algebra.

Harley Flanders' Life Story

Harley Flanders was a very curious student. When he was in college, he asked his calculus teacher, Lester R. Ford, for more difficult books to read. Ford suggested a challenging math book that had tough problems. One problem asked for a way to find the derivatives of a composite function, which is like a chain rule for more complex math. This is now called the Faa di Bruno formula.

His Education and Early Career

Harley Flanders earned three degrees from the University of Chicago: a bachelor's in 1946, a master's in 1947, and a PhD in 1949. His PhD work was about a topic called "class field theory." His main teachers were Otto Schilling and André Weil.

After finishing his studies, he worked at Caltech. Later, he became a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1955, he heard a famous mathematician named Charles Loewner give talks about "continuous groups." Harley Flanders helped edit Loewner's notes, and in 1971, they were published as a book.

Teaching and Writing

Harley Flanders taught at many universities during his career. Some of these included Purdue University, Tel Aviv University, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

He also worked as the Editor-in-Chief for a major math magazine called the American Mathematical Monthly from 1969 to 1973. Besides his teaching and editing, he created a calculus computer program called MicroCalc.

In 1991, Harley Flanders was invited to a special workshop about "automatic differentiation." This is a way for computers to calculate derivatives. He showed an algorithm (a set of steps) that could quickly find derivatives of complex functions. He believed his method was more efficient than older ways.

Harley Flanders passed away on July 26, 2013, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Understanding Differential Forms

Harley Flanders is famous for his work with something called differential forms. This is a way to do advanced calculus without needing to use complicated coordinates.

Imagine you're trying to describe something in space. Usually, you might use x, y, and z coordinates. But differential forms offer a more elegant way to describe things, making complex math easier to understand.

In 1963, Flanders wrote a book called Differential Forms with Applications to the Physical Sciences. This book helped connect pure mathematics with real-world physics, especially in areas like electromagnetism. It showed how electric and magnetic fields could be described using these special forms.

Awards and Recognition

Harley Flanders received several awards for his contributions to mathematics and education:

• MAA Lester R. Ford Award 1969
• NCRIPTAL/EDUCOM Distinguished Software Award 1987
• NCRIPTAL/EDUCOM Distinguished Software Award 1989
• Lifetime Senior Member, IEEE 1998

Helping Students Learn Math

Harley Flanders was very dedicated to helping students learn math. Starting in 1970, he wrote many helpful textbooks for college students.

He wrote books on Calculus with other mathematicians like Justin Jesse Price and Robert R. Korfhage. He also wrote books to help students prepare for college-level math, covering topics like Algebra and Trigonometry.

In 1984, he published a textbook about the Pascal language, which is a computer programming language. This showed his interest in how computers could help with scientific calculations. He also wrote a calculus textbook that used his MicroCalc software.