Download famous mathematicians

FAMOUS MATHEMATICIANS
EUCLID (300 BC – 275 BC)
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Known as “the father of geometry”
His Elements is the most successful textbook in the history of mathematics. In it,
the principles of Euclidean geometry are deduced from a small set of axioms.
His contemporaries nicknamed him “beta” (Greek for “number two”) because he
supposedly proved himself to be the second in the ancient Mediterranean region
in many fields.
ARCHIMEDES (287 BC – 212 BC)
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His early advances in Calculus included the first known summation of an infinite
series with a method that is still used today. (Method of Exhaustion)
At his request, his tomb carried a carving of his favorite mathematic proof.
(a sphere inside a cylinder of the same height and diameter)
Quote : “Eureka! “ I have found it!” said after finding the density of an object
after submerging it in water.
In The Measurement of a circle, he gave an approximate value for the square root
of 3 which was very accurate.
In The Quadrature of the Parabola, Archimedes proved that the area enclosed by
a parabola and a straight line is 4/3 multiplied by the area of a triangle with equal
base and height.
In The Sand Reckoner, he set out to calculate the number of grains of sand that the
universe could contain.
ERASTOTHENES (276 BC – 194 BC)
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Contemporaries nicknamed him “beta” (Greek for “number two”) because he
supposedly proved himself to be the second in the ancient Mediterranean region
in many fields.
Devised a system of latitude and longitude.
First known to have calculated the circumference of the Earth.
He is remembered for his prime number sieve, the “Sieve of Erathosthenes”.
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY (BORN ABOUT 85 AD)
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Wrote Almagest (gives in detail the mathematical theory of the motions of the
Sun, Moon, and planets).
DIOPHANTUS (born between 200 and 214 AD
and died between 284 and 298 AD_
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Sometimes called “the father of algebra”
Wrote “Arithmetica”
He was the first person to use algebraic notation and symbolism. Before him
everyone wrote out equations completely.
HYPATIA (370 AD – 415 AD)
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She edited the work On the Conics of Apollonius, which divided cones into
different parts of the plane.
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JOHN NAPIER (1550 – 1617)
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Nicknamed “Marvellous Merchiston”
He is most remembered as the inventor of logarithms and Napier’s bones (a
multiplication tool using a set of numbered rods) and for popularizing the decimal
point.
RENE DESCARTES (1596 – 1650)
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Father of Modern Philosophy
Father of Modern Mathematics
Cartesian coordinate system used in plane geometry and algebra named for him
Descartes Rule of signs is also a commonly used method in modern mathematics
to determine possible quantities of positive and negative zeros of a function.
He created Analytical Geometry
One of Descartes most enduring legacies was his development of Cartesian
geometry, the algebraic system taught in schools today.
He also created exponential notation, indicated by numbers written in what is now
referred to as superscript (x 2 )
LEONARD EULER (1707 – 1783)
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He introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation,
particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion of a mathematical
function.
Introduced the notation f(x).
He published more papers than any other mathematician of his time.
The letter “e” which is used in natural logarithms was named after him (Euler’s
number).
MARIA AGNESI (1718 – 1799)
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Analytical Institutions (differential and integral Calculus)
Book was one of the first and most complete works on finite and infinitesimal
analysis
Best know from the curve called the “Witch of Agnesi) yx 2 = a 2 (a - y)
SOPHIE GERMAIN (1776 – 1831)
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Submitted papers and assignments under the pseudonym “Mondieur Le Blanc:
One of her major contributions to number theory was the following theorem : if
x, y, and z are integers and x 5 + y 5 = z 5 then either x, y, or z has to be
divisible by 5.
ADA LOVELACE (1815 – 1852)
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Her birth name was August Ada Byron.
is mainly known for having written a description of Charles Babbage;s early
mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine.
Her father called her “the princess of parallelograms”
Credited with be the first computer programmer.
GEORGE BOOLE (1815 – 1864)
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Inventor of Boolean Algebra, which is the basis of all modern computer
arithmetic.
Regarded as one of founders of the field of computer science, although computers
did not exist in his day.
JOHN VENN (1834 – 1923)
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Famous for conceiving the Venn diagrams, which are used in many fields,
including set theory, probability, logic, statistics, and computer science.
Wrote The Logic of Chance which introduced the frequency interpretation of
probability; Symbolic Logic which introduced the Venn diagrams and Principles
of Empirical Logic.
SONYA KOVALEVSKY (1850 – 1891)
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First woman member of Russian Academy of Sciences.
Established first significant result in general theory of partial differential
equations.
In her memoir, On the Problem of the Rotationo of a Solid Body about a Fixed
Pointshe completely settled a problem whose solution had long eluded
mathematicians.