Gilles Wilfried Bassole Math 263-001 Fall 2011

Bio sketch of a Mathematician: CARL FRIEDRICH GAUSS (1777-1855)

Fascinated by the story of Gausss first exploit in class, I decided to prepare a bio sketch of the eminent mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. Considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of the 19th century, Gauss was born in Brunswick, Germany on April 30, 1777. His father, a gardener, was the only one that discouraged him from getting educated, but with the support of an uncle and his mother who both saw his potential; Gauss was attended school. Gauss exploits starts at age 10 when in arithmetic class, the teacher gives an assignment to keep the pupil occupied. The assignment was the following: Write down all the whole numbers from 1 to 100 and add up their sum. And it took about a few minutes for Gauss to figure out the solution and turn it in at the teacher consternation. The other students submitted their work as well but very much later. 5,050 was the result. Carl had found it and even figured out a clever approach to the solution that is described next. In fact, the young boy then, found the result because he could see that, 1 + 100 =101, 2 + 99 =101, 3 + 98 =101, as so that adding up the 50 pairs from 1 to 100, it would yield to a result of 101 each. And of course 50 (number of pairs added up) times 101 (their common result) equals 5,050.

Gilles Wilfried Bassole Math 263-001 Fall 2011 Eventually and financially supported by Carl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, Gauss, 14 years old, was able to pursue his education at Caroline College earning as such his reputation of Prince of Mathematics. At 18, he invented the least square methods before proving that a 17 sided polygon could be constructed by using only a compass and a straight edge. Later on, while pursuing his studies at the University of Gottingen, he proved the fundamental theorem of algebra as his Doctoral thesis. Gauss also made substantial contributions with complex functions and potential theory beside his landmark work on differential geometry. However, his unpublished work covered two major fields such as elliptic function theory and non-Euclidean geometry. Also interested in astronomy or generally in physical science, Gauss held a post of Director of the Gottingen observatory for about 50 years after helping to solve the mystery of a planet position, namely planet Ceres discovered in 1801. His numerous unpublished as well as his published work, particularly Theory of Motion of the Heavenly Bodies published in 1809 and its various research and experiment left his name to be remembered in posterity.

Contributed by Gilles Wilfried Bassole

Source 1: Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) (http://www.math.twsu.edu/history/Men/gauss.html) Source 2: Textbook: Thomas Calculus- Early transcendental(Media Upgrade) Mathematician in history: Carl Friedrich Gauss