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Ibn al-Haytham

(Encyclopedia)Ibn al-Haytham ălhəzĕnˈ [key], 965–c.1040, Arab mathematician. Ibn al-Haytham was born in Basra, but made his career in Cairo, where he supported himself copying scientific manuscripts. Among hi...

Cantor, Georg

(Encyclopedia)Cantor, Georg gāˈôrkh känˈtôr [key], 1845–1918, German mathematician, b. St. Petersburg. He studied under Karl Weierstrass and taught (1869–1913) at the Univ. of Halle. He is known for his w...

Jungius, Joachim

(Encyclopedia)Jungius, Joachim yōˈäkhĭm yo͝ongˈēo͝os [key], 1587–1657, German mathematician, logician, and systematizer of natural history. In 1608 he made his inaugural dissertation at the Univ. of Giess...

Debreu, Gerard

(Encyclopedia)Debreu, Gerard dəbro͞oˈ [key], 1921–2005, French-American economist, b. Calais, France. He studied mathematics in France before coming to the United States in 1950, where he worked with the Chica...

Euler, Leonhard

(Encyclopedia)Euler, Leonhard lāˈônhärt oiˈlər [key], 1707–83, Swiss mathematician. Born and educated at Basel, where he knew the Bernoullis, he went to St. Petersburg (1727) at the invitation of Catherine ...

Painlevé, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Painlevé, Paul pōl păNləvāˈ [key], 1863–1933, French statesman and mathematician. A mathematical prodigy when a child, he entered on a career devoted to science. He was a professor at the Sorb...

Banneker, Benjamin

(Encyclopedia)Banneker, Benjamin, 1731–1806, African-American inventor, astronomer, and mathematician, b. Baltimore co., Md., at what is now Ellicott's Mills. A free black, Banneker was essentially self-taught. H...

Newcomb, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Newcomb, Simon no͞oˈkəm, nyo͞oˈ– [key], 1835–1909, American astronomer, b. Nova Scotia, grad. Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard, 1858. Living in the United States from 1853, he was appointe...

pi

(Encyclopedia)pi, in mathematics, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The symbol for pi is π. The ratio is the same for all circles and is approximately 3.1416. It is of great importance in...

chaos theory

(Encyclopedia)chaos theory, in mathematics, physics, and other fields, a set of ideas that attempts to reveal structure in aperiodic, unpredictable dynamic systems such as cloud formation or the fluctuation of biol...