Joseph-Louis Lagrange was a mathematician and astronomer from the eighteenth century. Lagrange was not very interested in mathematics in his early life. It was not until he was a teenager that he became involved with mathematical study. He became curious about mathematics when he read a copy of Edmond Halley's 1693 work on the use of algebra in optics. Joseph-Louis Lagrange was one of the most renowned mathematicians in the eighteenth century. He contributed greatly to the progression of mathematics.
Joseph-Louis Lagrange was born in Turin, Italy on January 25, 1736 to Giuseppe Francesco Lodovico Lagrangia and Teresa Grosso. He was the eldest of eleven children, but one of only two to live to adulthood. Lagrange studied at the college of Turin. At first, his favorite subject was classical Latin. He later developed an interest in mathematics when he was around seventeen. Without the aid of the top mathematics of his time, Lagrange taught himself.
Lagrange published his first mathematical work on July 23, 1754. The paper described an analogy between the binomial theorem and the successive derivatives of the product of functions (O'Connor). After this, Lagrange began working on the tautochrone, the curve on which a weighted particle will always arrive at a fixed point in the same time independent of its initial position (O'Connor). He discovered a method of maximizing and minimizing functionals in a way similar to finding extrema of functions (Mathematical Thought). These discoveries would be major contributions to the new subject of the calculus of variations. This subject was beginning to be studied by mathematicians, but it was not called 'calculus of variations' until Leonhard Euler gave it the name. He se...
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...ry mathematics (O'Connor).
Near the end of his life, he published two more volumes of calculus lectures, one in 1797 and the other in 1800. Lagrange was named to the Legion of Honor and Count of the Empire in 1808 by Napoleon (Seikali). He received the Grand Croix of the Ordre Imperial de la Renuion award in April 3, 1813. (O'Connor). He died in Paris on April 10, 1813.
Joseph-Louis Lagrange was considered one of the greatest mathematicians of his time. By 1761, he was considered and described as the foremost mathematician living (Ball). He helped to advance a variety of branches of mathematics. He contributed to the fields of differential equations, number theory, and the calculus of variations. He also applied problems in dynamics, mechanics, astronomy, and sound. Lagrange was a very accomplished mathematicians, and he greatly influenced mathematics.
Michael Guillen, the author of Five Equations that Changed the World, choose five famous mathematician to describe. Each of these mathematicians came up with a significant formula that deals with Physics. One could argue that others could be added to the list but there is no question that these are certainly all contenders for the top five. The book is divided into five sections, one for each of the mathematicians. Each section then has five parts, the prologue, the Veni, the Vidi, the Vici, and the epilogue. The Veni talks about the scientists as a person and their personal life. The Vidi talks about the history of the subject that the scientist talks about. The Vici talks about how the mathematician came up with their most famous formula.
of variations, but withheld his work in deference to J. L. Lagrange. He was a
...st important scientists in history. It is said that they both shaped the sciences and mathematics that we use and study today. Euclid’s postulates and Archimedes’ calculus are both important fundamentals and tools in mathematics, while discoveries, such Archimedes’ method of using water to measure the volume of an irregularly shaped object, helped shaped all of today’s physics and scientific principles. It is for these reasons that they are remembered for their contributions to the world of mathematics and sciences today, and will continue to be remembered for years to come.
No other scholar has affected more fields of learning than Blaise Pascal. Born in 1623 in Clermont, France, he was born into a family of respected mathematicians. Being the childhood prodigy that he was, he came up with a theory at the age of three that was Euclid’s book on the sum of the interior of triangles. At the age of sixteen, he was brought by his father Etienne to discuss about math with the greatest minds at the time. He spent his life working with math but also came up with a plethora of new discoveries in the physical sciences, religion, computers, and in math. He died at the ripe age of thirty nine in 1662(). Blaise Pascal has contributed to the fields of mathematics, physical science and computers in countless ways.
Giovanni Battista Lulli was born on November 28, 1632. His father, Lorenzo di Maldo, was a miller and his mother, Caterina del Sera, was a miller’s daughter. Lully was born in Florence, Italy and lived there until age 11. While in Italy he studied dance and music; he played violin and guitar. In March of 1646 he moved to France to tutor Mlle de Montpensier in Italian. There he studied composition and harpsichord. Lully was able to hear the King’s grande bande perform, witness balls where the best French dance music was played.
However, his greatest contribution to mathematics is considered to be logic, for without logic there would be no reasoning and therefore no true valid rules to the science of mathematics.
Furthermore, during 1619 he invented analytic geometry which was a method of solving geometric problems and algebraic geometrically problems. After, Rene worked on his method of Discourse of Mindand Rules for the Directions of th...
Born in the Netherlands, Daniel Bernoulli was one of the most well-known Bernoulli mathematicians. He contributed plenty to mathematics and advanced it, ahead of its time. His father, Johann, made him study medicine at first, as there was little money in mathematics, but eventually, Johann gave in and tutored Daniel in mathematics. Johann treated his son’s desire to lea...
If you have ever heard the phrase, “I think; therefore I am.” Then you might not know who said that famous quote. The author behind those famous words is none other than Rene Descartes. He was a 17th century philosopher, mathematician, and writer. As a mathematician, he is credited with being the creator of techniques for algebraic geometry. As a philosopher, he created views of the world that is still seen as fact today. Such as how the world is made of matter and some fundamental properties for matter. Descartes is also a co-creator of the law of refraction, which is used for rainbows. In his day, Descartes was an innovative mathematician who developed many theories and properties for math and science. He was a writer who had many works that explained his ideas. His most famous work was Meditations on First Philosophy. This book was mostly about his ideas about science, but he had books about mathematics too. Descartes’ Dream: The World According to Mathematics is a collection of essays talking about his views of algebra and geometry.
The argument in this paper that even though the onus of the discovery of calculus lies with Isaac Newton, the credit goes to Leibniz for the simple fact that he was the one who published his works first. Appending to this is the fact that the calculus wars that ensue was merely and egotistic battle between humans succumbing to their bare primal instincts. To commence, a brief historical explanation must be given about both individuals prior to stating their cases.
Carl Friedrich Gauss is revered as a very important man in the world of mathematicians. The discoveries he completed while he was alive contributed to many areas of mathematics like geometry, statistics, number theory, statistics, and more. Gauss was an extremely brilliant mathematician and that is precisely why he is remembered all through today. Although Gauss left many contributions in each of the aforementioned fields, two of his discoveries in the fields of mathematics and astronomy seem to have had the most tremendous effect on modern day mathematics.
Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1956, in Touraine, France. Although frail in health throughout his entire life, he studied fervently his entire life. He entered into Jesuit College at the age of eight, in which he studied the classics, logic, and philosophy. Descartes used a few more years in Paris contemplating mathematics with companions, for example, Mersenne. By then in time, a man that held that sort of training either joined the armed force or the congregation. Descartes decided to join the armed force of an aristocrat in 1617. While serving, Descartes went over a certain geometrical issue that had been acted like a test to the whole world to understand. After tackling the issue in just a couple of hours, he had met a man named Isaac Beeckman, a Dutch researcher. This would end up being a long fellowship. Since getting mindful of his scientific capabilities, the life of the armed force was inadmissible to Descartes. Notwithstanding, he remained a warrior upon the impact of his family and convention. In 1621, Descartes surrendered from the armed force and voyaged broadly for five years. Throughout this period, he ke...
Calculus, the mathematical study of change, can be separated into two departments: differential calculus, and integral calculus. Both are concerned with infinite sequences and series to define a limit. In order to produce this study, inventors and innovators throughout history have been present and necessary. The ancient Greeks, Indians, and Enlightenment thinkers developed the basic elements of calculus by forming ideas and theories, but it was not until the late 17th century that the theories and concepts were being specified. Originally called infinitesimal calculus, meaning to create a solution for calculating objects smaller than any feasible measurement previously known through the use of symbolic manipulation of expressions. Generally accepted, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz were recognized as the two major inventors and innovators of calculus, but the controversy appeared when both wanted sole credit of the invention of calculus. This paper will display the typical reason of why Newton was the inventor of calculus and Leibniz was the innovator, while both contributed an immense amount of knowledge to the system.
Ever wonder how scientists figure out how long it takes for the radiation from a nuclear weapon to decay? This dilemma can be solved by calculus, which helps determine the rate of decay of the radioactive material. Calculus can aid people in many everyday situations, such as deciding how much fencing is needed to encompass a designated area. Finding how gravity affects certain objects is how calculus aids people who study Physics. Mechanics find calculus useful to determine rates of flow of fluids in a car. Numerous developments in mathematics by Ancient Greeks to Europeans led to the discovery of integral calculus, which is still expanding. The first mathematicians came from Egypt, where they discovered the rule for the volume of a pyramid and approximation of the area of a circle. Later, Greeks made tremendous discoveries. Archimedes extended the method of inscribed and circumscribed figures by means of heuristic, which are rules that are specific to a given problem and can therefore help guide the search. These arguments involved parallel slices of figures and the laws of the lever, the idea of a surface as made up of lines. Finding areas and volumes of figures by using conic section (a circle, point, hyperbola, etc.) and weighing infinitely thin slices of figures, an idea used in integral calculus today was also a discovery of Archimedes. One of Archimedes's major crucial discoveries for integral calculus was a limit that allows the "slices" of a figure to be infinitely thin. Another Greek, Euclid, developed ideas supporting the theory of calculus, but the logic basis was not sustained since infinity and continuity weren't established yet (Boyer 47). His one mistake in finding a definite integral was that it is not found by the sums of an infinite number of points, lines, or surfaces but by the limit of an infinite sequence (Boyer 47). These early discoveries aided Newton and Leibniz in the development of calculus. In the 17th century, people from all over Europe made numerous mathematics discoveries in the integral calculus field. Johannes Kepler "anticipat(ed) results found… in the integral calculus" (Boyer 109) with his summations. For instance, in his Astronomia nova, he formed a summation similar to integral calculus dealing with sine and cosine. F. B. Cavalieri expanded on Johannes Kepler's work on measuring volumes. Also, he "investigate[d] areas under the curve" ("Calculus (mathematics)") with what he called "indivisible magnitudes.
The 17th Century saw Napier, Briggs and others greatly extend the power of mathematics as a calculator science with his discovery of logarithms. Cavalieri made progress towards the calculus with his infinitesimal methods and Descartes added the power of algebraic methods to geometry. Euclid, who lived around 300 BC in Alexandria, first stated his five postulates in his book The Elements that forms the base for all of his later Abu Abd-Allah ibn Musa al’Khwarizmi, was born abo...