Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta mathematicians. Mostrar todas as mensagens
Mostrar mensagens com a etiqueta mathematicians. Mostrar todas as mensagens
quarta-feira, 10 de setembro de 2014
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) lived in Göttingen and worked in many areas, ranging from complex numbers (numbers of the form a + bi, where i2 = –1) to astronomy and electricity. He gave the first satisfactory proof that every polynomial equation has a complex root, and in number theory he initiated the study of congruences and proved the law of quadratic reciprocity.
Gauss also investigated which regular polygons can be constructed with ruler and compasses, proving that a regular n-gon can be so constructed when n is a power of 2 times a product of different Fermat primes of the form 2k + 1 (where k is a power of 2) such as 17 (as shown on the East German stamp) or 65,537.
[East Germany 1977; Germany 1955, 1977; Nicaragua 1994]
terça-feira, 9 de setembro de 2014
segunda-feira, 8 de setembro de 2014
domingo, 7 de setembro de 2014
Pedro Nunes
One of the first European mathematicians to apply mathematical techniques to cartography was Pedro Nunes (1502–1578), Royal cosmographer and the leading figure in Portuguese mathematics and nautical science. Nunes wrote extensively on spherical geometry, astronomy, navigation and algebra.
In his 1537 treatise on the sphere he showed how to represent rhumb lines or loxodromes (the path of a ship on a fixed bearing) as straight lines; on the globe these are spirals that converge to the poles. He also constructed nonius scales for accurately measuring fractions of a degree; these were used by navigators when measuring the heights of stars with a quadrant.
[Portugal 1978, 2002]
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
A later unsuccessful attempt to prove Euclid’s parallel postulate was provided by the Persian mathematician Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201–1274). Al-Tusi wrote substantial works on astronomy and constructed the first modern observatory. He also wrote influential treatises on astronomy, logic, theology and ethics, and his extensive investigations into plane and spherical trigonometry included the sine rule for triangles.
[Azerbaijan 2001; Iran 1956; Syria 2000]
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