career to algebraic logic. Her dedicated work in this field led to
major contributions in theoretical computer science, and
ultimately helped set the stage for scientific work in the field
of artificial intelligence.Recorde, Robert(1510–58) English mathematician famed for giving
us the symbol = for “equals.” Like many scholars of his time,
Recorde studied a variety of topics, including theology,
medicine, and mathematics. He was the king’s physician,
controller of the British mint at Bristol, in charge of the king’s
silver mines in Ireland, and a prolific writer of textbooks for the
masses. Recorde was the first to write mathematics textbooks in
English, instead of the traditional languages of Greek or Latin,
and he deliberately wrote books that the general public could
understand. Some of his books include The Grounde of Artes,
an arithmetic book that introduces the + for “excess” and – for
“deficiency,” Pathwaie to Knowledge,explaining Euclid’s
THEOREMs, The Castle of Knowledge,which discusses
astronomy as taught by PTOLEMYand includes Copernicus’s
theory of the universe, and The Whetstone of Witte,in which he
covers such topics as QUADRATIC EQUATIONs and theory, as well
as introduces the equals symbol, explaining that “noe 2 thynges
can be moare equalle” than two parallel lines.
Regiomontanus (Johann Müller, Johann Müller of Königsberg)
(1436–76) German mathematician considered one of the
most prominent in his era for the development of the first
LOGARITHMic tables of sines, which appeared in an analysis
of the Almagest,published in 1496. His next work was on
astrology, and included another table, this time of tangents,
published in 1490. He wrote De Triangulisin 1464, which is
considered to be the earliest example of PLANEand spherical
trigonometry, but this set of five volumes was not published
until 1533. All of his trigonometry is known for including
the use of algebra. As an early Renaissance man, he helped
set the tone for a varied field of interests, and went on to
create an observatory, set up a printing press, and invent
machines of all sorts. His final work was to revise the
calendar, but upon arriving in Rome to begin this task, he
died under suspicious circumstances, and it is believed that
he was actually murdered.
Recorde – Regiomontanus BIOGRAPHIES
Recorde – Regiomontanus BIOGRAPHIES