Mainly, there should be two kinds of questions:
about persons or about . In either case, I may come with a few
follow-up questions, like "How is this related
General remarks. For persons, of
course you should have a grasp of the general
biography (when and where (s)he lived, what was
his/her regular occupation(s)); but the most
important part is the mathematics the person did or
contributed to; and therefore also his/her
interaction with other mathematicians.
Persons about which I may ask questions
Bernoulli (various family members)
Evidently, some of these people are more important
than others; but you should be able to place
all of them reasonably in time, space, main
mathematical field(s),, and with respect to their
connections with each others.
Mathematical subsubjects I may ask about
The development of analytic geometry in the 17'th
The development of probability theory in the 17'th
The earlier and later approaches to "derivatives"
et cetera (i. e. to what we today
means with derived functions and differential
Newton's and Leibniz's different approaches to
"calculus", and their "interaction".
The use of infinitesimals in (ordinary) calculus
(det vi i dag kallar "elementär analys").
The use of infinitesimals in solving differential
The use of power series in 17'th century calculus;
in particular, the extended binomial theorem.
The development of statistics in the 18'th century;
including error calculus.
The evolution of the function concept (especially in
the 18'th century).
The development of modular calculations.
The earlier treatment of quadratic reciprocity, and
the statement and solutions of the quadratic
The attempts to prove Fermat's last theorem, and the
development of ring theory.
Extensions of number systems in the 19'th century,
and the development of set theory.
Important text books in mathematics in the 17'th and
The rest of Katz'es bookNo; that's
probably going just a little too far.
Observera att engelskans 17'th century
motsvarar svenskans 1600-talet, och så