What did Nikolay Krasovsky Study?

Nikolay Krasovsky, born in Yekaterinburg (on the Iset River), worked in the mathematical theory of control, dynamical systems and differential games.

A Lookback at 17th Century Maths

A very good "lookback" at 17th Century maths can be found on the following website. This includes Edmonton-born Brook Taylor's treatise: "Methodus Incrementorum Directa & Inversa". Taylor was famed for the Taylor series and Taylor's theorem. John Napier's treatise on logarithms is also presented in translated form: "Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio".

Latin is one of the "hazards" of reading 17th Century maths. As a taster, Mirifici (above) is the plural of Mirificus (wonderful, miraculous). Canonis is the genitive of canon (referring to a catalog of sacred writings). Descriptio means simply description.

As well as discovering logarithms, John Napier was also known for inventing the so-called "Napiers Bones" which was a calculating device for multiples and quotients. It was based on lattice multiplication.

Bifurcation Theory for PyCryptonistas

What is bifurcation theory? An abstract definition is possible, but the most common usage is in dynamical systems, when a small change to parameters creates a major change to the "topology" of a solution (typically of a family of differential equations). It is informally part of the "qualitative" theory of differential equations.