Exercise 1 solution

(a) 1838 - 1780 = 58 years between Sieyès's coinage (unpublished manuscript, 1780) and Comte's introduction of "sociologie" (1838).

(b) Durkheim was born on 15 April 1858. The Rules of Sociological Method appeared in 1895. 1895 - 1858 = 37, but the book's month is not given in the sources used, so his age was 36 or 37 depending on whether it appeared before or after 15 April. The safest answer is "about 37".

(c) 1959 - 1895 = 64 years between Durkheim's Rules and Mills's The Sociological Imagination.

What the gaps tell you: the word came first (1780, 1838), then a method for studying society (1895), then a popular way of thinking about it (1959). The sociological imagination is a later idea built on the earlier ones.

The arithmetic was checked with Python (1838-1780 = 58; 1895-1858 = 37; 1959-1895 = 64).