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Pafnuty Chebyshev
Pafnuty Chebyshev (born May 4 [May 16, New Style],
1821, Okatovo, Russia—died November 26 [December 8],
1894, St. Petersburg) was the founder of the St. Petersburg
mathematical school (sometimes called the Chebyshev
school), who is remembered primarily for his work on the
Pafnuty Lvovich Chebyshev.
theory of prime numbers and on the approximation of
functions.

Chebyshev became assistant professor of mathematics at the University of St. Petersburg (now
St. Petersburg State University) in 1847. In 1860 he became a correspondent and in 1874 a
foreign associate of the Institut de France. He developed a basic inequality of probability
theory called Chebyshev’s inequality, a generalized form of the Bienaymé-Chebyshev
inequality, and used the latter inequality to give a very simple and precise demonstration of the
generalized law of large numbers—i.e., the average value for a large sample of identically
distributed random variables converges to the average for individual variables. (See probability
theory: The law of large numbers.)

Chebyshev proved Joseph Bertrand’s conjecture that for any n > 3 there must exist a prime
between n and 2n. He also contributed to the proof of the prime number theorem (see number
theory: prime number theorem), a formula for determining the number of primes below a
given number. He studied theoretical mechanics and devoted much attention to the problem of
obtaining rectilinear motion from rotary motion by mechanical linkage. The Chebyshev
parallel motion is a three-bar linkage that gives a very close approximation to exact rectilinear
motion. His mathematical writings covered a wide range of subjects, including the theory of
probabilities, quadratic forms, orthogonal functions, the theory of integrals, gearings, the
construction of geographic maps, and formulas for the computation of volumes. His important
work on the approximation of functions by means of Chebyshev polynomials advanced
applied mathematics. His Teoria sravneny (1849; “Theory of Congruences”) made him widely
known in the mathematical world and was used as a textbook in Russian universities for many
years.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.

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Citation Information
Article Title: Pafnuty Chebyshev
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 22 February 2024
URL: https://www.britannica.comhttps://www.britannica.com/biography/Pafnuty-Lvovich-Chebyshev
Access Date: March 03, 2024

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