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70-958: James Gregory may refer to: James Gregory (mathematician) (1638–1675), Scottish mathematician and astronomer James Gregory (physician) (1753–1821), Scottish physician James J. H. Gregory (1827–1910), American educator, businessman, writer, politician, and philanthropist James Gregory (mineralogist) (1832–1899), Scottish mineralogist James Gregory (actor) (1911–2002), American actor James Gregory (prison officer) (1941–2003), South African prison guard, author of Goodbye Bafana James Gregory (comedian) (1946-2024), American comedian Jim Gregory (basketball) , American former college basketball standout Jim Gregory (football chairman) (1928–1998), former English football club director and chairman Jim Gregory (footballer) (1876–1949), Australian rules footballer Jim Gregory (ice hockey) (1935–2019), Canadian general manager and league executive in

140-512: A privy councillor to both Henry III and Henry IV of France. Viète was born at Fontenay-le-Comte in present-day Vendée . His grandfather was a merchant from La Rochelle . His father, Etienne Viète, was an attorney in Fontenay-le-Comte and a notary in Le Busseau . His mother was the aunt of Barnabé Brisson , a magistrate and the first president of parliament during the ascendancy of

210-510: A "Gregorian dome". The following excerpt is from the Pantologia . A new (cabinet) cyclopædia (1813) Mr. James Gregory was a man of a very acute and penetrating genius. ...The most brilliant part of his character was that of his mathematical genius as an inventor, which was of the first order; as will appear by... his inventions and discoveries [which include] quadrature of the circle and hyperbola, by an infinite converging series; his method for

280-511: A better order which was scattered and confused in early writings. In 1596, Scaliger resumed his attacks from the University of Leyden. Viète replied definitively the following year. In March that same year, Adriaan van Roomen sought the resolution, by any of Europe's top mathematicians, to a polynomial equation of degree 45. King Henri IV received a snub from the Dutch ambassador, who claimed that there

350-451: A book of two trigonometric tables ( Canon mathematicus, seu ad triangula , the "canon" referred to by the title of his Universalium inspectionum , and Canonion triangulorum laterum rationalium ). A year later, he was appointed maître des requêtes to the parliament of Paris, committed to serving the king. That same year, his success in the trial between the Duke of Nemours and Françoise de Rohan, to

420-411: A circle from the tangent, and vice versa; as also for the secant and logarithmic tangent and secant, and vice versa. These, with others, for measuring the length of the elliptic and hyperbolic curves, were sent to Mr. Collins, in return for some received from him of Newton's , in which he followed the elegant example of this author, in delivering his series in simple terms, independent of each other. In

490-515: A councillor of the Parlement of Rennes , at Rennes , and two years later, he obtained the agreement of Antoinette d'Aubeterre for the marriage of Catherine of Parthenay to Duke René de Rohan, Françoise's brother. In 1576, Henri, duc de Rohan took him under his special protection, recommending him in 1580 as " maître des requêtes ". In 1579, Viète finished the printing of his Universalium inspectionum (Mettayer publisher), published as an appendix to

560-402: A few friends and scholars in almost every country of Europe, the systematic presentation of his mathematic theory, which he called " species logistic " (from species: symbol) or art of calculation on symbols (1591). He described in three stages how to proceed for solving a problem: Among the problems addressed by Viète with this method is the complete resolution of the quadratic equations of

630-473: A genealogy of the Parthenay family and following the death of Jean V de Parthenay-Soubise in 1566 his biography. In 1568, Antoinette, Lady Soubise, married her daughter Catherine to Baron Charles de Quellenec and Viète went with Lady Soubise to La Rochelle, where he mixed with the highest Calvinist aristocracy, leaders like Coligny and Condé and Queen Jeanne d’Albret of Navarre and her son, Henry of Navarre,

700-423: A kind of "King of Times" as the historian of mathematics, Dhombres, claimed. It is true that Viète held Clavius in low esteem, as evidenced by De Thou: He said that Clavius was very clever to explain the principles of mathematics, that he heard with great clarity what the authors had invented, and wrote various treatises compiling what had been written before him without quoting its references. So, his works were in

770-464: A letter of 1671 to John Collins , Gregory gives the power series expansion of the seven functions (using modern notation) arctan ⁡ x {\textstyle \arctan x} (often called Gregory's series ), tan ⁡ x , {\textstyle \tan x,} sec ⁡ x , {\textstyle \sec x,} log sec ⁡ x , {\textstyle \log \,\sec x,}

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840-504: A pencil. By the evening he had sent many other solutions to the ambassador." This suggests that the Adrien van Roomen problem is an equation of 45°, which Viète recognized immediately as a chord of an arc of 8° ( 1 45 {\displaystyle {\tfrac {1}{45}}} turn ). It was then easy to determine the following 22 positive alternatives, the only valid ones at the time. When, in 1595, Viète published his response to

910-503: A physician and inventor. About a year after assuming the Chair of Mathematics at Edinburgh , James Gregory suffered a stroke while viewing the moons of Jupiter with his students. He died a few days later at the age of 36. In the Optica Promota , published in 1663, Gregory described his design for a reflecting telescope , the " Gregorian telescope ". He also described the method for using

980-565: A reflecting telescope with a parabolic mirror would correct spherical aberration as well as the chromatic aberration seen in refracting telescopes . In his design he also placed a concave secondary mirror with an elliptical surface past the focal point of the parabolic primary mirror , reflecting the image back through a hole in the primary mirror where it could be conveniently viewed. According to his own confession, Gregory had no practical skill and he could find no optician capable of actually constructing one. The telescope design attracted

1050-406: A series of pamphlets (1600), of introducing corrections and intermediate days in an arbitrary manner, and misunderstanding the meaning of the works of his predecessor, particularly in the calculation of the lunar cycle. Viète gave a new timetable, which Clavius cleverly refuted, after Viète's death, in his Explicatio (1603). It is said that Viète was wrong. Without doubt, he believed himself to be

1120-408: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages James Gregory (mathematician) In his book Geometriae Pars Universalis (1668) Gregory gave both the first published statement and proof of the fundamental theorem of the calculus (stated from a geometric point of view, and only for a special class of the curves considered by later versions of

1190-423: Is more striking because Robert Recorde had used the present symbol for this purpose since 1557, and Guilielmus Xylander had used parallel vertical lines since 1575. Note also the use of a 'u' like symbol with a number above it for an unknown to a given power by Rafael Bombelli in 1572. Viète had neither much time, nor students able to brilliantly illustrate his method. He took years in publishing his work (he

1260-456: Is unsuitable for irregular surfaces, and Gregory devised an appropriate "adaptable wheel" using a Gregory transformation . Gregory, an enthusiastic supporter of Newton, later had much friendly correspondence with him and incorporated his ideas into his own teaching, ideas which at that time were controversial and considered quite revolutionary. The crater Gregory on the Moon is named after him. He

1330-557: The Catholic League of France . Viète went to a Franciscan school and in 1558 studied law at Poitiers , graduating as a Bachelor of Laws in 1559. A year later, he began his career as an attorney in his native town. From the outset, he was entrusted with some major cases, including the settlement of rent in Poitou for the widow of King Francis I of France and looking after the interests of Mary, Queen of Scots . In 1564, Viète entered

1400-545: The fundamental theorem of calculus and the discovery of the Taylor series can both be attributed to him." The book was reprinted in 1668 with an appendix, Geometriae Pars , in which Gregory explained how the volumes of solids of revolution could be determined. In his 1663 Optica Promota , James Gregory described his reflecting telescope which has come to be known by his name, the Gregorian telescope. Gregory pointed out that

1470-561: The transit of Venus to measure the distance of the Earth from the Sun, which was later advocated by Edmund Halley and adopted as the basis of the first effective measurement of the Astronomical Unit . Before he left Padua, Gregory published Vera Circuli et Hyperbolae Quadratura (1667) in which he approximated the areas of the circle and hyperbola with convergent series: "The first proof of

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1540-520: The Gudermannian function 2 arctan ⁡ e x − 1 2 π . {\textstyle 2\arctan e^{x}-{\tfrac {1}{2}}\pi .} There is evidence that he discovered the method of taking higher derivatives in order to compute a power series, which was not discovered by Taylor until 1715, but did not publish his results, thinking he had only rediscovered "Mr. Newton's universal method," which

1610-620: The King of Spain. The contents of this letter, read by Viète, revealed that the head of the League in France, Charles, Duke of Mayenne , planned to become king in place of Henry IV. This publication led to the settlement of the Wars of Religion . The King of Spain accused Viète of having used magical powers. In 1593, Viète published his arguments against Scaliger. Beginning in 1594, he was appointed exclusively deciphering

1680-556: The National Hockey League Jim Gregory (politician) (elected 2018), American politician from Pennsylvania James Crawford Gregory (1801–1832), Scottish physician James G. Gregory (1843–1932), Surgeon General of Connecticut and member of the Connecticut House of Representatives James Monroe Gregory (1849–1915), professor of Latin and dean at Howard University [REDACTED] Topics referred to by

1750-407: The admiration of many mathematicians over the centuries. Viète did not deal with cases (circles together, these tangents, etc.), but recognized that the number of solutions depends on the relative position of the three circles and outlined the ten resulting situations. Descartes completed (in 1643) the theorem of the three circles of Apollonius, leading to a quadratic equation in 87 terms, each of which

1820-476: The algebra of procedures ( al-Jabr and al-Muqabala ), creating the first symbolic algebra, and claiming that with it, all problems could be solved ( nullum non problema solvere ). In his dedication of the Isagoge to Catherine de Parthenay, Viète wrote: "These things which are new are wont in the beginning to be set forth rudely and formlessly and must then be polished and perfected in succeeding centuries. Behold,

1890-453: The ambassador, 'you have no mathematician, according to Adrianus Romanus, who didn't mention any in his catalog.' 'Yes, we have,' said the King. 'I have an excellent man. Go and seek Monsieur Viette,' he ordered. Vieta, who was at Fontainebleau, came at once. The ambassador sent for the book from Adrianus Romanus and showed the proposal to Vieta, who had arrived in the gallery, and before the King came out, he had already written two solutions with

1960-407: The art which I present is new, but in truth so old, so spoiled and defiled by the barbarians, that I considered it necessary, in order to introduce an entirely new form into it, to think out and publish a new vocabulary, having gotten rid of all its pseudo-technical terms..." Viète did not know "multiplied" notation (given by William Oughtred in 1631) or the symbol of equality, =, an absence which

2030-582: The attention of several people in the scientific establishment such as Robert Hooke , the Oxford physicist who eventually built the telescope 10 years later, and Sir Robert Moray , polymath and founding member of the Royal Society . The Gregorian telescope design is rarely used today, as other types of reflecting telescopes are known to be more efficient for standard applications. Gregorian optics are also used in radio telescopes such as Arecibo , which features

2100-423: The beginning, in order to get values of a symmetrical shape. Viète himself did not see that far; nevertheless, he indirectly suggested the thought. He also conceived methods for the general resolution of equations of the second, third and fourth degrees different from those of Scipione dal Ferro and Lodovico Ferrari , with which he had not been acquainted. He devised an approximate numerical solution of equations of

2170-804: The benefit of the latter, earned him the resentment of the tenacious Catholic League. Between 1583 and 1585, the League persuaded king Henry III to release Viète, Viète having been accused of sympathy with the Protestant cause. Henry of Navarre , at Rohan's instigation, addressed two letters to King Henry III of France on March 3 and April 26, 1585, in an attempt to obtain Viète's restoration to his former office, but he failed. Viète retired to Fontenay and Beauvoir-sur-Mer , with François de Rohan. He spent four years devoted to mathematics, writing his New Algebra (1591). In 1589, Henry III took refuge in Blois. He commanded

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2240-576: The center of similitude of two circles. His friend De Thou said that Adriaan van Roomen immediately left the University of Würzburg , saddled his horse and went to Fontenay-le-Comte, where Viète lived. According to De Thou, he stayed a month with him, and learned the methods of the new algebra . The two men became friends and Viète paid all van Roomen's expenses before his return to Würzburg. This resolution had an almost immediate impact in Europe and Viète earned

2310-459: The coefficients of the different powers of the unknown quantity (see Viète's formulas and their application on quadratic equations ). He discovered the formula for deriving the sine of a multiple angle , knowing that of the simple angle with due regard to the periodicity of sines. This formula must have been known to Viète in 1593. In 1593, based on geometrical considerations and through trigonometric calculations perfectly mastered, he discovered

2380-572: The end of the 16th century, mathematics was placed under the dual aegis of Greek geometry and the Arabic procedures for resolution. At the time of Viète, algebra therefore oscillated between arithmetic, which gave the appearance of a list of rules; and geometry, which seemed more rigorous. Meanwhile, Italian mathematicians Luca Pacioli , Scipione del Ferro , Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia , Gerolamo Cardano , Lodovico Ferrari , and especially Raphael Bombelli (1560) all developed techniques for solving equations of

2450-553: The enemy's secret codes. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII published his bull Inter gravissimas and ordered Catholic kings to comply with the change from the Julian calendar, based on the calculations of the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius , aka Luigi Lilio or Luigi Giglio. His work was resumed, after his death, by the scientific adviser to the Pope, Christopher Clavius . Viète accused Clavius, in

2520-480: The first Regius Professor of Mathematics at the University of St Andrews , a position created for him by Charles II , probably upon the request of Robert Moray. There at the University of St Andrews , he laid the first meridian line across the floor of his lab in 1673, which was 200 years prior to the Greenwich Meridian being established, and thus "arguably making St Andrews the place where time began". He

2590-495: The first infinite product in the history of mathematics by giving an expression of π , now known as Viète's formula : He provides 10 decimal places of π by applying the Archimedes method to a polygon with 6 × 2 = 393,216 sides. This famous controversy is told by Tallemant des Réaux in these terms (46th story from the first volume of Les Historiettes. Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire du XVIIe siècle ): "In

2660-459: The first letters of the alphabet to designate the parameters and the latter for the unknowns. Viète also remained a prisoner of his time in several respects. First, he was heir of Ramus and did not address the lengths as numbers. His writing kept track of homogeneity, which did not simplify their reading. He failed to recognize the complex numbers of Bombelli and needed to double-check his algebraic answers through geometrical construction. Although he

2730-399: The form X 2 + X b = c {\displaystyle X^{2}+Xb=c} and third-degree equations of the form X 3 + a X = b {\displaystyle X^{3}+aX=b} (Viète reduced it to quadratic equations). He knew the connection between the positive roots of an equation (which, in his day, were alone thought of as roots) and

2800-577: The founders of the Royal Society . In 1664 he departed for the University of Padua , in the Venetian Republic , passing through Flanders , Paris and Rome on his way. At Padua he lived in the house of his countryman James Caddenhead , the professor of philosophy, and he was taught by Stefano Angeli . Upon his return to London in 1668 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society , before travelling to St Andrews in late 1668 to take up his post as

2870-775: The future Henry IV of France . In 1570, he refused to represent the Soubise ladies in their infamous lawsuit against the Baron De Quellenec, where they claimed the Baron was unable (or unwilling) to provide an heir. In 1571, he enrolled as an attorney in Paris, and continued to visit his student Catherine. He regularly lived in Fontenay-le-Comte, where he took on some municipal functions. He began publishing his Universalium inspectionum ad Canonem mathematicum liber singularis and wrote new mathematical research by night or during periods of leisure. He

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2940-502: The greatest didactic importance, the principle of homogeneity, first enunciated by Viète, was so far in advance of his times that most readers seem to have passed it over. That principle had been made use of by the Greek authors of the classic age; but of later mathematicians only Hero , Diophantus , etc., ventured to regard lines and surfaces as mere numbers that could be joined to give a new number, their sum. The study of such sums, found in

3010-445: The inverse Gudermannian function log tan ⁡ 1 2 ( x + 1 2 π ) {\textstyle \log \,\tan {\tfrac {1}{2}}{\bigl (}x+{\tfrac {1}{2}}\pi {\bigr )}} , arcsec ⁡ ( 2 e x ) , {\textstyle \operatorname {arcsec} {\bigl (}{\sqrt {2}}e^{x}{\bigr )},} and

3080-404: The letters and the results can be obtained at the end of the calculations by a simple replacement. This approach, which is the heart of contemporary algebraic method, was a fundamental step in the development of mathematics. With this, Viète marked the end of medieval algebra (from Al-Khwarizmi to Stevin) and opened the modern period. Being wealthy, Viète began to publish at his own expense, for

3150-428: The other 22 problems to the ambassador. "Ut legit, ut solvit," he later said. Further, he sent a new problem back to Van Roomen, for resolution by Euclidean tools (rule and compass) of the lost answer to the problem first set by Apollonius of Perga . Van Roomen could not overcome that problem without resorting to a trick (see detail below). In 1598, Viète was granted special leave. Henry IV, however, charged him to end

3220-415: The problem set by Adriaan van Roomen, he proposed finding the resolution of the old problem of Apollonius , namely to find a circle tangent to three given circles. Van Roomen proposed a solution using a hyperbola , with which Viète did not agree, as he was hoping for a solution using Euclidean tools . Viète published his own solution in 1600 in his work Apollonius Gallus . In this paper, Viète made use of

3290-565: The revolt of the Notaries, whom the King had ordered to pay back their fees. Sick and exhausted by work, he left the King's service in December 1602 and received 20,000 écus , which were found at his bedside after his death. A few weeks before his death, he wrote a final thesis on issues of cryptography, which essay made obsolete all encryption methods of the time. He died on 23 February 1603, as De Thou wrote, leaving two daughters, Jeanne, whose mother

3360-479: The royal officials to be at Tours before 15 April 1589. Viète was one of the first who came back to Tours. He deciphered the secret letters of the Catholic League and other enemies of the king. Later, he had arguments with the classical scholar Joseph Juste Scaliger . Viète triumphed against him in 1590. After the death of Henry III, Viète became a privy councillor to Henry of Navarre, now Henry IV of France. He

3430-407: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Gregory&oldid=1259735303 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

3500-451: The second and third degrees, wherein Leonardo of Pisa must have preceded him, but by a method which was completely lost. Above all, Viète was the first mathematician who introduced notations for the problem (and not just for the unknowns). As a result, his algebra was no longer limited to the statement of rules, but relied on an efficient computational algebra, in which the operations act on

3570-462: The service of Antoinette d'Aubeterre , Lady Soubise, wife of Jean V de Parthenay-Soubise , one of the main Huguenot military leaders and accompanied him to Lyon to collect documents about his heroic defence of that city against the troops of Jacques of Savoy, 2nd Duke of Nemours just the year before. The same year, at Parc-Soubise, in the commune of Mouchamps in present-day Vendée , Viète became

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3640-406: The solution of the famous Keplerian problem by an infinite series; he discovered a method of drawing Tangents to curves geometrically, without any previous calculations; a rule for the direct and inverse method of tangents, which stands upon the same principle (of exhaustions ) with that of fluxions , and differs not much from it in the manner of application; a series for the length of the arc of

3710-415: The substitution of new quantities having a certain connection with the primitive unknown quantities. Another of his works, Recensio canonica effectionum geometricarum , bears a modern stamp, being what was later called an algebraic geometry —a collection of precepts how to construct algebraic expressions with the use of ruler and compass only. While these writings were generally intelligible, and therefore of

3780-431: The theorem), for which he was acknowledged by Isaac Barrow . Gregory was born in 1638. His mother Janet was the daughter of Jean and David Anderson and his father was John Gregory, an Episcopalian Church of Scotland minister , James was youngest of their three children and he was born in the manse at Drumoak , Aberdeenshire , and was initially educated at home by his mother, Janet Anderson (~1600–1668). It

3850-644: The third degree, which heralded a new era. On the other hand, from the German school of Coss, the Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde (1550) and the Dutchman Simon Stevin (1581) brought an early algebraic notation: the use of decimals and exponents. However, complex numbers remained at best a philosophical way of thinking. Descartes , almost a century after their invention, used them as imaginary numbers. Only positive solutions were considered and using geometrical proof

3920-463: The times of Henri the fourth, a Dutchman called Adrianus Romanus , a learned mathematician, but not so good as he believed, published a treatise in which he proposed a question to all the mathematicians of Europe, but did not ask any Frenchman. Shortly after, a state ambassador came to the King at Fontainebleau. The King took pleasure in showing him all the sights, and he said people there were excellent in every profession in his kingdom. 'But, Sire,' said

3990-401: The transformation of curves; a geometrical demonstration of Lord Brouncker's series for squaring the hyperbola—his demonstration that the meridian line is analogous to a scale of logarithmic tangents of the half complements of the latitude; he also invented and demonstrated geometrically, by help of the hyperbola, a very simple converging series for making the logarithms; he sent to Mr. Collins

4060-511: The tutor of Catherine de Parthenay , Soubise's twelve-year-old daughter. He taught her science and mathematics and wrote for her numerous treatises on astronomy and trigonometry , some of which have survived. In these treatises, Viète used decimal numbers (twenty years before Stevin 's paper) and he also noted the elliptic orbit of the planets, forty years before Kepler and twenty years before Giordano Bruno 's death. John V de Parthenay presented him to King Charles IX of France . Viète wrote

4130-471: The works of Diophantus, may have prompted Viète to lay down the principle that quantities occurring in an equation ought to be homogeneous, all of them lines, or surfaces, or solids, or supersolids — an equation between mere numbers being inadmissible. During the centuries that have elapsed between Viète's day and the present, several changes of opinion have taken place on this subject. Modern mathematicians like to make homogeneous such equations as are not so from

4200-472: Was Barbe Cottereau, and Suzanne, whose mother was Julienne Leclerc. Jeanne, the eldest, died in 1628, having married Jean Gabriau, a councillor of the parliament of Brittany . Suzanne died in January 1618 in Paris. The cause of Viète's death is unknown. Alexander Anderson , student of Viète and publisher of his scientific writings, speaks of a "praeceps et immaturum autoris fatum" (meeting an untimely end). At

4270-450: Was appreciated by the king, who admired his mathematical talents. Viète was given the position of councillor of the parlement at Tours . In 1590, Viète broke the key to a Spanish cipher , consisting of more than 500 characters, and this meant that all dispatches in that language which fell into the hands of the French could be easily read. Henry IV published a letter from Commander Moreo to

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4340-400: Was based on a different technique. James Gregory discovered the diffraction grating by passing sunlight through a bird feather and observing the diffraction pattern produced. In particular he observed the splitting of sunlight into its component colours – this occurred a year after Newton had done the same with a prism and the phenomenon was still highly controversial. A round wheel

4410-425: Was common. The mathematician's task was in fact twofold. It was necessary to produce algebra in a more geometrical way (i.e. to give it a rigorous foundation), and it was also necessary to make geometry more algebraic, allowing for analytical calculation in the plane. Viète and Descartes solved this dual task in a double revolution. Firstly, Viète gave algebra a foundation as strong as that of geometry. He then ended

4480-423: Was fully aware that his new algebra was sufficient to give a solution, this concession tainted his reputation. However, Viète created many innovations: the binomial formula , which would be taken by Pascal and Newton, and the coefficients of a polynomial to sums and products of its roots , called Viète's formula . Viète was well skilled in most modern artifices, aiming at the simplification of equations by

4550-479: Was his mother who endowed Gregory with his appetite for geometry , her uncle – Alexander Anderson (1582–1619) – having been a pupil and editor of French mathematician Viète . After his father's death in 1651 his elder brother David took over responsibility for his education. He attended Aberdeen Grammar School , and then Marischal College from 1653–1657, graduating AM in 1657. In 1663 he went to London, meeting John Collins and fellow Scot Robert Moray , one of

4620-541: Was known to dwell on any one question for up to three days, his elbow on the desk, feeding himself without changing position (according to his friend, Jacques de Thou ). In 1572, Viète was in Paris during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre . That night, Baron De Quellenec was killed after having tried to save Admiral Coligny the previous night. The same year, Viète met Françoise de Rohan, Lady of Garnache, and became her adviser against Jacques, Duke of Nemours . In 1573, he became

4690-413: Was no mathematician in France. He said it was simply because some Dutch mathematician, Adriaan van Roomen, had not asked any Frenchman to solve his problem. Viète came, saw the problem, and, after leaning on a window for a few minutes, solved it. It was the equation between sin (x) and sin(x/45). He resolved this at once, and said he was able to give at the same time (actually the next day) the solution to

4760-409: Was successively professor at the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh . He had married Mary, daughter of George Jameson , painter, and widow of John Burnet of Elrick, Aberdeen; their son James was Professor of Physics at King's College, Aberdeen . He was the grandfather of John Gregory (FRS 1756); uncle of David Gregorie (FRS 1692) and brother of David Gregory (1627–1720),

4830-457: Was the uncle of mathematician David Gregory . Vi%C3%A8te François Viète ( French: [fʁɑ̃swa vjɛt] ; 1540 – 23 February 1603), known in Latin as Franciscus Vieta , was a French mathematician whose work on new algebra was an important step towards modern algebra, due to his innovative use of letters as parameters in equations. He was a lawyer by trade, and served as

4900-483: Was very meticulous), and most importantly, he made a very specific choice to separate the unknown variables, using consonants for parameters and vowels for unknowns. In this notation he perhaps followed some older contemporaries, such as Petrus Ramus , who designated the points in geometrical figures by vowels, making use of consonants, R, S, T, etc., only when these were exhausted. This choice proved unpopular with future mathematicians and Descartes, among others, preferred

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