A New Look at an Old Function, e^iθ

Award: George Pólya

Year of Award: 1996

Publication Information: The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, (1995), pp. 6-10

Summary: An introduction to "the most important transcendental function of a complex variable" using only elementary calculus and emphasizing the simple geometric ideas underlying Euler's function e^iθ

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About the Author: (from The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, (1995))

James G. Simmonds studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning an S.B. and S.M. in aeronautical engineering (1958) and-after active duty with the U.S.A.F. at NASA, Langley-a Ph.D. in applied mathematics (1965). He joined the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Virginia in 1966 and recently served as chair. His research has focused on the theory of shells but his equally strong interest in pedagogy is reflected in several of his undergraduate textbooks, including A First Look at Perturbation Theory (with James Mann: Krieger, 1986) and A Brief on Tensor Analysis (2nd ed., Springer, 1993).