Great Mathematicians
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By: Vinnie Boettcher, Joe
Burbach, Peter Dziewiontkoski,
and Jesse Lucas
Johann Kepler
1571-1630
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0100 1011
Kepler
was a1101
German
mathematician
and
astronomer who discovered that the Earth
and planets travel around the sun in
elliptical orbits
• Gave 3 fundamental laws of planetary
motion
• Discovered 2 new polyhedra
• Studied orbit of Mars
• His father was a mercenary soldier and his
mother the daughter of an innkeeper
• Father left when he was five, so he lived at
his grandmother’s inn
• His mother charged with witchcraft
•
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“Some of what these pamphlets [of
astrological forecasts] say will turn out to
be true, but most of it time and experience
will expose as empty and worthless. The
latter part will be forgotten [literally:
written on the winds] while the former will
be carefully entered in people's memories,
as is usual with the crowd”
4
Leonhard Euler
1707 - 1783
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0001of0100
He went
to the
University
Basel 1011
at 14 to
study the ministry
• In 1723 he completed his Master’s in
philosophy
• 1727 won 2nd place in the Grand Prize of
the Paris Academy
• 1727- 1730 served in the Russian Navy as
a medical lt.
• In 1738 and 1740 Euler won the Grand
Prize of the Paris Academy
• In 1744 he became the math director at the
Berlin Academy
• 1744-1766 Euler wrote 380 articles, and
wrote books on calculus and other math
• 1772 he wrote a 775 page work on the
motion of the moon
• Throughout his life he introduced
• Beta, Gamma functions and
integrating factors
1
2
“Now I will have less distraction.” after losing
sight in one of his eyes
4
Felix Klein
1849-1925
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1010
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German
Mathematician
• He was born on 25/4/1849 and delighted
in pointing out that each of the day (52),
month (22), and year (432) was the square
of a prime.
• He is best known for his work in nonEuclidean geometry, for his work on the
connections between geometry and group
theory, and for results in function theory
• Attended the Gymnasium in Düsseldorf
• Was appointed professor at Erlangen, in
Bavaria in southern Germany, in 1872
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“Every one who understands the subject will
agree that even the basis on which the
scientific explanation of nature rests is
intelligible only to those who have learned
at least the elements of the differential and
integral calculus, as well as analytical
geometry”
4
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
1646-1716
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1010
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1011
German
mathematician
who0100
developed
the
present day notation for the differential
and integral calculus
• Attended the Nicolai School in Leipzig at
age seven
•
In 1661, at the age of fourteen, Leibniz
entered the University of Leipzig.
• Work was to be published in 1666 as
Dissertatio de arte combinatoria
(Dissertation on the combinatorial art). In
this work Leibniz aimed to reduce all
reasoning and discovery to a combination
of basic elements such as numbers, letters,
sounds and colors.
1
2
“Nothing is more important than to see the
sources of invention which are, in my
opinion more interesting than the
inventions themselves”
4
Pierre de Fermat
1601 - 1665
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0100 1011
1629 1010
he gave1101
a copy0001
of his restoration
of
Apollonius’s Plane loci to a mathmatician
• He went to Orleans to study law
• 1631 He became a civil lawyer and a
government official in Toulouse
• Changed his name to Pierre de Fermat
• He worked on maxima, minima, and
tangents
• He worked on spirals
• However, he is most known for his
number theory, Fermat’s Last Theorem
1
2
“And perhaps, posterity will thank me for
having shown it that the ancients did not
know everything”
4
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky
1792-1856
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1010
1101 0001
Russian
mathematician
that0100
studied1011
nonEuclidean geometry
• Graduated from Gymnasium in 1807 and
entered Kazan University as a free student.
• Lobachevsky received a Master's Degree
in physics and mathematics in 1811.
• In 1814 he was appointed to a lectureship
and in 1816 he became an extraordinary
professor.
• In 1822 he was appointed as a full
professor
• Taught a wide range of topics including
mathematics, physics and astronomy.
1
2
“There is no branch of mathematics, however
abstract, which may not some day be
applied to phenomena of the real world”
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Marin Mersenne
1588-1648
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1101 0001
0100in1011
Born 1010
into a working
class family
the
small town of Oizé in the province of
Maine.
• His first posting was in 1614 to the
monastery in Nevers where he taught
philosophy and theology to the younger
members of the community.
• After Mersenne's death, letters in his cell
were found from 78 different
correspondents including Fermat,
Huygens, Pell, Galileo and Torricelli.
• Mersenne's name is best remembered
today for Mersenne primes
•
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[Animals] do not so much act as be put
into action, and that objects make an
impression on their senses such that it is
necessary for them to follow it just as it is
necessary for the wheels of a clock to
follow the weights and the spring that
pulls them.
John Napier
1550 - 1617
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1010
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Scottish
scholar
who0001
is best0100
known1011
for his
invention of logarithms
• Mathematical contributions include a
mnemonic for formulas used in solving
spherical triangles
• Constructed two formulas known as
Napier's analogies
• His family had owned the Merchiston
estate from the 1430s when one of his
ancestors acquired the estate, becoming
the first Napare of Merchiston
• Archibald Napier(father) was a justicedepute and was knighted in 1565
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“Seeing there is nothing that is so troublesome
to mathematical practice, nor that doth
more molest and hinder calculators, than
the multiplications, divisions, square and
cubical extractions of great numbers ... I
began therefore to consider in my mind by
what certain and ready art I might remove
those hindrances”
4
Sir Isaac Newton
1643 - 1727
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1011
Isaac1010
Newton1101
was the
greatest
English
mathematician of his generation
• Laid the foundation for differential and
integral calculus
• Born in the manor house of Woolsthorpe,
near Grantham in Lincolnshire
• Was Lucasian professor at Cambridge
• Upon the death of his stepfather in 1653,
Newton lived in an extended family
consisting of his mother, his grandmother,
one half-brother, and two half-sisters
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“To explain all nature is too difficult a task for
any one man or even for any one age. `Tis
much better to do a little with certainty,
and leave the rest for others that come
after you, than to explain all things.”
4
Fibonacci of Pisa
1170 - 1250
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0001
0100
1011
Lived1010
mainly1101
in North
Africa
during
childhood
• Father was a diplomat
• Traveled a lot
• 1202 writes his famous book Liber abaci
• Wrote many books, however most are lost
• Known books include Flos (1220) and
Liber quadratorum (1225)
• He also wrote a commentary on Euclid’s
Elements
• Created a sequence of numbers which
each number is the sum of the 2 preceding
numbers
1
2
“And perhaps, posterity will thank me for
having shown it that the ancients did not
know everything”
4
Blaise Pascal
1623 - 1662
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0100 1011
Pascal
was a1101
French0001
Mathematician
and
Philosopher
• Pascal made many accomplishments in
conic sections and projective geometry
• He also laid the foundations for the theory
of probability
• Pascal was one of four children and the
only male. His father educated Blaise
himself as a young child
1
2
“We are usually convinced more easily by
reasons we have found ourselves than by
those which have occurred to others”
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Srinivasa Ramanujan
1887 - 1920
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He was
one of
India’s
greatest
Mathematicians
• He made substantial contributions to the
analytical theory of numbers
• He also worked on elliptic functions,
continued fractions, and infinite series
• He was elected to the Cambridge
Philosophical Society and to the Royal
Society of London
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2
“An equation means nothing to me unless it
expresses a thought of God”
4
Evariste Galois
1811 - 1832
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0001
1011
1826 1010
he was 1101
asked to
repeat0100
his year
of
school because of his grades
• 1827 he enrolled in 1st math course
• 1829 his 1st math paper was published on
continued fractions
• His father committed suicide on July 2
1829
• Passed his Ecole Polytechnique on
December 29 1829 after failing twice
• He worked on the elliptic functions and
abelian integrals
• May 9, 1831 he was arrested for
conspiracy to overthrow the government
• He was again arrested on July 14, 1831
• He was wounded in a duel and died from
the wounds
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“Unfortunately what is little recognized is that
the most worthwhile…”
4
GF Bernhard Riemann
1826 - 1866
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Riemann
was1101
a German
mathematician
worked on ideas concerning geometry of
space
– This had a profound effect on the
development of modern theoretical
physics.
• He also clarified the notion of integral
– Now called the Riemann integral
• He was the second of 6 children
• His father taught him until he was 10 years
old when he went to school
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“If only I had the theorems! Then I should find
the proofs easily enough”
4
Thales Of Miletus
624 BC – 547 BC
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Thales
was the
first 0001
known 0100
Greek 1011
philosopher, scientist and mathematician
• He is credited with five theorems of
elementary geometry.
• Although he worked in math and science,
he was also an engineer
• He is believed to have been the teacher
of Anaximander
• Thales believed that the Earth floats on
water and all things come to be from water
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“I will be sufficiently rewarded if when telling
it to others you will not claim the
discovery as your own, but will say it was
mine”
4
John Von Neumann
1903 - 1957
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1011
Von Neumann
built 0001
a solid 0100
framework
for
quantum mechanics
• He also worked in game theory
– Now called von Neumann Algebras
• He also was one of the pioneers of
computer science
• His father, Max Neumann, was a top
banker
• Although the family as Jewish, Max did
not observe the strict practices
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“In mathematics you don't understand things.
You just get used to them”
4
Karl Friedrich Gauss
1777 - 1855
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1101 Brunswick
0001 0100
1011
In 1792
he entered
Collegium
Carolinum where he learned Bode’s law
by himself
• 1798 he discovered the construction of a
regular 17-gon by ruler and compasses
• Received Brunswick degree in 1799
• 1801 he published the book Disquisitiones
Arthmeticae
• Within 3 years he lost his father, wife, and
his 2nd son
• 1809 he published another book Theoria
motus corporum coelestium in sectionibus
conicis Solem ambientium, has differential
equations, conic sections, and elliptic
orbits
• He introduced the hypergeometric
function
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2
“Life stands before me like an eternal spring
with new and brilliant clothes”
4
Andrew Wiles
1953 0011• 0010
1010Fermat's
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0100 1011
He proved
Last Theorem
in 1995
• His father, Maurice Frank Wiles, was the
Regius Professor of Divinity at the
University of Oxford
• At age 10, Wiles understood complex
math theories and problems
• He studied at Oxford
• Wiles was awarded a Guggenheim
Fellowship
• In 1994 Wiles was appointed Eugene
Higgins Professor of Mathematics at
Princeton
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“...Mathematics... is a bit like discovering oil.
... But mathematics has one great
advantage over oil, in that no one has yet
... found a way that you can keep using the
same oil forever”
4
Zeno Of Elea
490 BC - 425 BC
0011• 0010
1101philosopher
0001 0100
1011
Zeno1010
was a Greek
famous
for
proposing “paradoxes” which challenged
mathematicians' view of the real world
• Zeno was a pupil and friend of the
philosopher Parmenides
• Zeno is believed to have written one book
on philosophy, however, it has not
survived
• Most information on Zeno comes from
Plato
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“Zeno's challenge to simple pluralism is
successful, in that he forces antiParmenideans to go beyond common
sense”
4
Maria Gaetana Agnesi
1718 - 1799
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•
She was one of 21 Children
•
She was an Italian Mathematician
•
She published many books including:
– Propositiones Philosophicae
– Traité analytique des section
coniques
– Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della
gioventù italiana
– A book on calculus
•
She also accepted the Chair of
Mathematics at the University of Bologna
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"It is marvelous to see a person of (Agnesi's)
age so conversant with such abstract
subjects."
---Author C. De Brosses
Hypatia
370 - 415
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0100 1011
First 1010
woman1101
to make0001
a substantial
contribution to math
• Helped her father write his eleven part
comentary on Ptolemy’s Alagest
• She also helped her father write a newer
version of Euclid’s Elements
• She wrote documentaries on Diophantus’s
Arithmetica
• Also Appolonius’s Conics
• Ptolemy’s astronomical writings, however,
this is doubted
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“Reserve your right to think, for even to think
wrongly is better than not to think at all”
4
Mohammed Al-Khowarizmi
780 - 850
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0001 0100 1011
He was
an Iraqi
Mathematician,
Astronomer, and somewhat Philosopher
•
He was a scholar at the House of Wisdom
in Baghdad
•
Translated Greek scientific manuscripts
•
Gave us the word “algebra”
•
Wrote a treatise on algebra, Hisab al-jabr
w'al-muqabala, which is one of the most
important books on algebra
•
Wrote a treatise on astronomy
•
Wrote a book about political history
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“It is impossible to overstress the originality
of the conception and style of alKhwarizmi's algebra...”
---Rashed
4
Charles Babbage
1791 - 1871
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• English
• He suffered illness while he was a child
• His father was wealthy and sent him to a
private school
•
He published Memoirs of the Analytical
Society
•
Translated La Croix’s Sur le calcul
différentiel et intégral
•
He published a book on calculus
•
He tried to invent a engine that would
compute mathematical tables
•
Invented the concepts behind a modern
day computer
•
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Perhaps it would be better for science,
that all criticism should be avowed.
--Charles Babbage
Bernoulli Family
• A Swiss family that had 7 mathematicians
in it. 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
0011 0010
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
•
Daniel: 1700-1782
Jacob: 1654-1705
Jacob II: 1759-1789
Johann: 1667-1748
Johann II: 1710-1790
Johann III: 1744-1807
Nicolaus: 1687-1759
Nicolaus II: 1695-1726
Achievements of them all Combined
•
Found the Bernoulli principle which
states an increase in speed results in a
decrease in pressure
•
First to use the word “integral”
•
Studied the refraction of light
•
Worked on probability and Heat of
Light,
•
Studied curves and equations
1
Daniel Bernoulli
2
4
It would be better for the true physics if there
were no mathematicians on earth.
--Daniel Bernoulli
Rene Descarte
1596 - 1650
0011• 0010
1101 philosopher
0001 0100 1011
Rene1010
was a French
• He worked on La géométrie which
includes his application of algebra to
geometry from which we now have
Cartesian geometry.
• His work had a great influence on both
mathematicians and philosophers.
• As a child, he had some trouble in school,
but Math always made sense to him
• Descartes' Meditations on First
Philosophy, was published in 1641
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“Of all things, good sense is the most fairly
distributed: everyone thinks he is so well
supplied with it that even those who are
the hardest to satisfy in every other
respect never desire more of it than they
already have”
4
Janos Boylai
1802 - 1860
0011• 0010
1010Mathematician
1101 0001who’s
0100father
1011
Romanian
wanted him to be one
•
Made his own definition of parallel
•
Tried to develop all of mathematics on an
axiom system—it failed
•
Developed a geometric concept of
complex numbers as ordered pairs of real
numbers
•
His work was published in an appendix in
a textbook of his father’s work
•
Only published a few pages of his
work but there were more than
20,000 when he died that went
unpublished
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2
4
Mathematical discoveries, like springtime
violets in the woods, have their season
which no man can hasten or retard.
--Janos Bolyai
George Boole
1815 - 1864
• He was an Irish Mathematician
0011• 0010
1010
1101On0001
0100
1011
He wrote
a paper
a general
method
of
analysis which used algebra to solve
differential equations
•
He was appointed to the chair of
mathematics at Queens College
•
He published many mathematical books
•
He published An Investigation into the
Laws of Thought, on Which are founded
the Mathematical Theories of Logic and
Probabilities
•
•
Looked at logic in a new way using
simple algebra
Invented Boolean Algebra which is used
in computers and circuits
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4
It is not of the essence of mathematics to be
conversant with the ideas of number and
quantity.
--George Boole
Brahma-gupta
598 - 670
0011• 0010
1010
1101Mathematician
0001 0100and
1011
He was
an Indian
Astronomer
• His father was Jisnugupta, who studied
mathematics and astronomy
•
Head of the foremost Ancient Indian
Observatory
•
Published Brahmasphutasiddhanta
•
•
Was a work on math and astronomy
•
Included longitude and latitude of
planets, lunar and solar eclipses,
rising and settings, lunar orbit, moons
shadow, etc.
Gave arithmetical rules on using positive
and negative numbers
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2
“As the sun eclipses the stars by its brilliancy,
so the man of knowledge will eclipse the
fame of others in assemblies of the people
if he proposes algebraic problems, and
still more if he solves them”
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Click to see the Answer
QUIZ
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1. Who created an algebra that is used in computers
even today? (Hint: Truth Tables)
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A. Boylai, Janos
B. Agnesi, Maria Gaetana
C. Boole, George
D. Kepler, John
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2
4
2. Which mathematician first used the word
“algebra”?
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A. Al-Khowarizmi, Mohammed
B. Zeno Of Elea
C. Newton, Sir Isaac
D. Mohammed Al-Khowarizmi
1
2
4
3. Who laid the foundations for the theory of
probability?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Pascal, Blaise
B. Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich
C. Fermat, Pierre de
D. Babbage, Charles
1
2
4
4. Who was the greatest English mathematician of
his generation? (Hint: He worked better at knight)
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Klein, Felix
B. Descarte, Rene
C. Newton, Sir Isaac
D. Thales Of Miletus
1
2
4
5. Who discovered that the Earth and planets travel
around the sun in elliptical orbits?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Kepler, Johann
B. Gauss, Karl Friedrich
C. Wiles, Andrew
D. Bernoulli Family
1
2
4
6. Who constructed two formulas known as Napier's
analogies? (Hint: Don’t think too hard about this)
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Klein, Felix
B. Babbage, Charles
C. Napier, John
D. Newton, Sir Isaac
1
2
4
7. Which mathematician tried to invent an engine
that would compute mathematical tables?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Euler, Leonhard
B. Riemann, GF Bernhard
C. Leibniz, Gotfried Wilhelm
D. Babbage, Charles
1
2
4
8. Who is the mathematician that gave arithmetical
rules on positive and negative numbers?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Fermat, Pierre de
B. Brahma-gupta
C. Zeno Of Elea
D. Napier, John
1
2
4
9. Who was a Russian mathematician that studied
non-Euclidean geometry?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich
B. Klein, Felix
C. Bernoulli Family
D. Galois, Evariste
1
2
4
10. What is the name of the family that had many
mathematicians in it?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Descarte, Rene
B. Leibniz, Gotfried Wilhelm
C. Beroulli Family
D. Von Neumann, John
1
2
4
11. Which mathematician was one of 21 children?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Klein, Felix
B. Agnesi, Maria Gaetana
C. Newton, Sir Isaac
D. Zeno Of Elea
1
2
4
12. Who was the mathematician whose father
wanted him to become one?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Gauss, Karl Friedrich
B. Pascal, Blaise
C. Descarte, Rene
D. Bolyai, Janos
1
2
4
13. Who worked on non- Euclidian Geometry and
had a Perfect Square Birthday?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Klein, Felix
B. Thales Of Miletus
C. Mersenne, Marin
D. Babbage, Charles
1
2
4
14. Who developed the present day notation for the
differential and integral calculus?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Hypatia
B. Brahma-gupta
C. Leibniz, Gotfried Wilhelm
D. Wiles, Andrew
1
2
4
15. After whose death were 78 letters found in his
cell?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Fibonacci of Pisa
B. Mersenne, Marin
C. Ramanujan, Srinivasa
D. Bernoulli Family
1
2
4
16. What Indian scholar made substantial
contributions to the analytical theory of numbers?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Al-Khowarizmi, Mohammed
B. Brahma-gupta
C. Hypatia
D. Ramanujan, Srinivasa
1
2
4
17. Who worked on ideas concerning geometry of
space?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Riemann, GF Bernhard
B. Gauss, Karl Friedrich
C. Boole, George
D. Euler, Leonhard
1
2
4
18. Who was famous for proposing “paradoxes”?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Fibonacci of Pisa
B. Zeno Of Elea
C. Bolyai, Janos
D. Agnesi, Maria Gaetana
1
2
4
19. Who understood complex math from a very
young age?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Brahma-gupta
B. Galois, Evariste
C. Wiles, Andrew
D. Pascal, Blaise
1
2
4
20. Who is credited with five theorems of elementary
geometry?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Thales Of Miletus
B. Kepler, Johann
C. Descarte, Rene
D. Bernoulli Family
1
2
4
21. Who built a solid framework for quantum
mechanics?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Babbage, Charles
B. Hypatia
C. Gauss, Karl Friedrich
D. Von Neumann, John
1
2
4
22. Who wrote 380 articles, and wrote books on
calculus and other math?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Euler, Leonhard
B. Mersenne, Marin
C. Galois, Evariste
D. Wiles, Andrew
1
2
4
23. Who worked on La géométrie?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Ramanujan, Srinivasa
B. Al-Khowarizmi, Mohammed
C. Zeno Of Elea
D. Descarte, Rene
1
2
4
24. Who helped her father write a newer version of
Euclid’s Elements?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Agnesi, Maria Gaetana
B. Hypatia
C. Pascal, Blaise
D. Brahma-gupta
1
2
4
25. Who introduced the hyper geometric function?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Gauss, Karl Friedrich
B. Wiles, Andrew
C. Galois, Evariste
D. Riemann, GF Bernhard
1
2
4
26. Who is most known for his number theory,
Fermat’s Last Theorem? (Hint: … Really?)
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Newton, Sir Isaac
B. Fermat, Pierre de
C. Bolyai, Janos
D. Lobachevsky, Nikolai Ivanovich
1
2
4
27. Who had trouble in school as a young child?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Hypatia
B. Riemann, GF Bernhard
C. Boole, George
D. Galois, Evariste
1
2
4
28. Who created a sequence of numbers which each
number is the sum of the 2 preceding numbers?
0011 0010 1010 1101 0001 0100 1011
A. Euler, Leonhard
B. Von Neumann, John
C. Fibonacci of Pisa
D. Babbage, Charles
1
2
4