The father of algebra mathematician François Viet

Everyone knows the French scientist, who gave the world a symbolic algebra - a mathematician François Viet. Let us consider in more detail its discoveries and achievements.

Childhood, study and career

A future mathematician was born in 1540 in the small town of Fontenay-le-Comte. The scientist's parents were wealthy people. My father was a prosecutor. Primary education mathematician received in the local Franciscan monastery.

However, further, following the traditions, Francois Viiet chooses the law faculty for studies and at the age of twenty successfully graduates from the university (Poitou). Gets the bachelor's level. Returns to his native city, where he becomes popular in the legal profession. In 1567 the list of French civil servants was replenished with a new name - Francois Viet. Interesting facts were in his work on trigonometry "Mathematical Canon", which was published in 1579, although it was written nine years earlier. The future father of algebra at an early age realized that he was interested in mathematics.

Teaching and Important Dating

A mathematician did not stay for a long time as a civil servant. François Viet was invited to the position of teacher for the daughter of the noble family de Parthenay. Teaching the girl to various sciences, he felt a strong interest in astronomy and trigonometry.

In 1571 the future father of the algebra François Vieth moved to Paris. In the capital, he met with prominent mathematicians of that time - Professor Ramus and Raphael Bombelli.

Meeting with the future King of France Henry IV (Navarre) helps to get the post of secret counselor at the court.

In 1580, Mr .. appointed to an important position as a rocket-master, which allowed to monitor the execution of orders and orders of the royal family.

The code snippet

One of the few mathematicians who was awarded the royal award was François Viet. Biography mentions that the father of algebra could in just two weeks unravel the secret code, over which prominent French scientists fought for years.

The sixteenth century is the era of encounters with militant Spain. Foes of France received information in the form of an encrypted code, the most perfect at the time.

More than five hundred permanently changing symbols helped the agents of the Spanish crown to make unimpeded plans for the attack without fear of being caught. Information indicated in the letters, getting into the hands of the French, was unreadable.

Deciphering the code allowed to win several serious victories over the Spaniards, to cut off trade and cash flows. France got a serious advantage.

Representatives of the Spanish crown were in shock from what was happening. There was a traitor, who reported on mathematics to the Spanish king.

The first thing that was done - sent a letter to the Pope about the connections of Viet and the devil and involvement in black magic. This implied the court of the Inquisition, without any chance of life for the scientist.

Of course, the French king did not extradite Vieta on request from the Vatican.

Expulsion from Paris

In 1584, the family of Guise succeeded in removing Viiet from office.

Surprisingly, the scientist was even pleased with this turn of events. For him it meant that now all the free time he could devote to his favorite mathematics.

Contemporaries mention his extraordinary ability to work - up to three days without sleep. Time was spent in constant research.

Four years went to solve the tasks. The main goal was to derive a formula that allows solving any equation. So there was alphabetic algebra. In 1591 the collection "Introduction to Analytical Art" (combined squares, cubes, roots, variables) was published. Symbols based on Latin letters were introduced. Unknown data were indicated by vowels. The variables are consonants.

In 1589 the relationship between the family of Gizov and the King went wrong. As a result, François Viet was fully restored in the civil service. The mathematician returns to Paris.

Why are the discoveries of Vieta so important?

Before François, mathematics was a cumbersome task, written down in words. Often the description was stretched for several pages. Sometimes, when I finished reading the written, I forgot what was at issue in the beginning. Decisions also had to be written down in words.

This approach made difficult calculations impossible.

Thanks to Viet, the multiplication law was proved, the first formulas were derived. Decimals were used.

Of course, in the equations of Francois there were words - "erection in the cube", "equal", etc. But even with such a reduction it was possible to save a huge amount of the most important resource - time.

In 1591 the world was presented with a theorem, named after the great scientist. What to hide, he was proud of his discovery.

Trigonometry and astronomy

One of the main goals of the mathematician was astronomy and its development. For this, it was necessary to develop trigonometry. Numerous studies have brought the scientist closer to the derivation of the cosine theorem in a generalized form, which, one way or another, was mentioned in the writings of mathematicians since the first century.

The expressions for the sines and cosines of the square arcs were derived by Viet. He deepened his knowledge of circles and polygons inscribed in them. Output to 18 digits the number "pi".

With the help of only the compass and ruler, I was able to solve the problem of a circle touching the arcs of the other three, compiled already in Ancient Greece. Over the course of several centuries the most prominent mathematicians fought.

Wieth and van Rouman

Another interesting story is connected with the French mathematician.

Andrian van Rowman, one of the most prominent mathematicians of Holland, announced a competition for solving the equation of the forty-fifth degree. The French colleagues were not even sent an assignment. It was believed that in this country there are no scientists, even theoretically able to solve such a complex equation. Only the personal influence of the French king allowed to receive the task.

In just two days, Viet succeeded in presenting twenty-three solutions. The irrepressible genius of the scientist allowed him to become the first laureate of the competition of the best mathematicians. This brought Vieta even greater fame, a cash prize and a personal deep sympathy for Van Romen.

Family and Children

About this side of the life of the great mathematician, unfortunately, there is very little data.

Scant information indicates that Viet was married. And his daughter became the only heir to his father's estate.

Memory

Francois Viet disappeared on February 13, 1603, at the age of almost sixty-three. The last city that the great mathematician saw was Paris.

According to one version, he was killed by envious persons or enemies.

Even after the death of the scientist (in 1646) another algebraic collection was published. Such a long period of time was required to decipher a complex and peculiar language, which the scientist used during development.

Of course, over the past four centuries, mathematics has gone far ahead, and many of Francois's research to date seem naive and somewhat primitive. But in memory of grateful descendants, Viet remains the ancestor of modern mathematics. Without opening the letter calculus, further development of it would be impossible.

He did much for the science of François Viet. Photo of the scientist, of course, does not exist. The first similarity of the camera will appear only half a century after his death. But contemporary artists often painted portraits of mathematicians. Thanks to them we have the opportunity to see the person who gave us algebra. Judging by the portraits, Francois wore a beard and dressed very stylishly for that time. In the name of Viet, the crater on the Moon is named.