Virginia Ragsdale
In general, Virginia Ragsdale was born on a farm in Jamestown, North Carolina. She grew up in simple times. She attended a private school in Jamestown. There, mathematics was an important part of the curriculum. At her school, her teacher wanted them to master arithmetic “backwards and forwards.” Ragsdale entered Salem Academy as a junior, where she studied piano and academic studies. She graduated in 1887, as valedictorian. She then attended Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. She graduated from Guilford College with a B.S. degree in 1892. She was awarded a scholarship to Bryn Mawr College for being the woman with the highest scholastic average.
Specifcally, Virginia suggested looking at algebraic curves corresponding to polynomials of even degree, 2k. In this case the curves are all topological circles, or ovals. Some ovals are nested inside each other, some are not. An oval is even if it contains an even number of other ovals of the curve, otherwise the oval is called odd. The reason for considering these quantities was Ragsdale’s greatest mathematical insight: The difference p-n is the Euler characteristic of a region bounded by the even and odd ovals. The difference p-n is the Euler characteristic of a region bounded by the even and odd ovals. Ragsdale's main conjecture was the following: Assume that an algebraic curve of degree 2k contains p even and n odd ovals. Next,Ragsdale conjectured that:
p <= 3k(k-1)/2 + 1
n<= 3k(k-1)/2.
She also posed the inequality,
| 2(p-n)-1 | <= 3k^2 - 3k +1,
,which was later proved by Petrovskii, and showed that this inequality cannot be improved.
In closing, Ragsdale taught for several years. Ragsdale retired from teaching in 1928, in order to care for her mother's health. Upon her mother's death, she then built a beautiful house on the edge of the Guilford College campus, where she spent her remaining years gardening, working with furniture, and researching her family's genealogy. Upon her death, she bequeathed her beautiful house to Guilford College. Over the subsequent years, it housed many faculty, alumni, and visitors. As you can see, Ragsdale was a very smart, proud, independent, woman who lived a happy life.
Resources:
www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/ragsdale.htm
I couldn’t find any other resources
I learned a lot about Virginia Ragsdale, and about how she became so good at mathematics. I think she is a very strong woman. I have also learned that she really tried hard to achieve a goal, or just something to do. And for that I admire her very much. I also learned that there are many mathematicians in this world, that not all of us see, and from learning about Virginia Ragsdale, I hope I now can!
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