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Gibbs, Josiah Willard

(Encyclopedia)Gibbs, Josiah Willard, 1839–1903, American mathematical physicist, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Yale, 1858. He studied abroad and was professor of mathematical physics at Yale from 1871. His great con...

inequality

(Encyclopedia)inequality, in mathematics, statement that a mathematical expression is less than or greater than some other expression; an inequality is not as specific as an equation, but it does contain informatio...

Anderssen, Adolf

(Encyclopedia)Anderssen, Adolf (Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen), 1818–79, German chess player, b. Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). He graduated (1847) from Breslau Univ. and later was a mathematics professor there. An...

Whiston, William

(Encyclopedia)Whiston, William, 1667–1752, English clergyman and mathematician. He won favor through his New Theory of the Earth (1696) and in 1701 was made deputy to Sir Isaac Newton, whom he succeeded (1703) as...

Atanasoff, John Vincent

(Encyclopedia)Atanasoff, John Vincent, 1903–1995, inventor of the digital computer, b. Hamilton, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Florida (B.S., 1925), Iowa State College (M.S., 1926), Univ. of Wisconsin (Ph.D., 1930). While...

Comte, Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Comte, Auguste ōgüstˈ kôNt [key], 1798–1857, French philosopher, founder of the school of philosophy known as positivism, educated in Paris. From 1818 to 1824 he contributed to the publications ...

Rockefeller University

(Encyclopedia)Rockefeller University, philanthropic organization in New York City, founded 1901 as the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research by John D. Rockefeller for furthering medical science and its allied...

matrix

(Encyclopedia)matrix, in mathematics, a rectangular array of elements (e.g., numbers) considered as a single entity. A matrix is distinguished by the number of rows and columns it contains. The matrix CE5 is a 2...

Wolff, Christian von

(Encyclopedia)Wolff or Wolf, Christian von krĭsˈtyän fən vôlf [key], 1679–1754, German philosopher. One of the first to use the German language instead of Latin, he systematized and popularized the doctrines...

arithmetic

(Encyclopedia)arithmetic, branch of mathematics commonly considered a separate branch but in actuality a part of algebra. Conventionally the term has been most widely applied to simple teaching of the skills of dea...