Everyone knows the French scientist who gave the world symbolic algebra - mathematician Francois Viet. Let's take a closer look at his discoveries and achievements.
Childhood, studies and early career
The future mathematician was born in 1540 in the small town of Fontenay-le-Comte. The scientist's parents were we althy people. Father was a prosecutor. The mathematician received his primary education at the local Franciscan monastery.
However, following the traditions, Francois Viet chooses to study the Faculty of Law and at the age of twenty successfully graduates from the university (Poitou). Gets a bachelor's degree. He returns to his hometown, where he becomes popular in the legal field. In 1567, the list of French civil servants was replenished with a new name - Francois Viet. Interesting facts were found in his work on trigonometry "Mathematical Canon", which was published in 1579, although written nine years earlier. The future father of algebra realized at an early age that he was interested in mathematics.
Teaching activities and important acquaintances
The mathematician did not stay long as a civil servant. Francois Viet was invited to the post of teacher for the daughter of a noble family dePartners. Teaching the girl various sciences, he felt a strong interest in astronomy and trigonometry.
In 1571, the future father of algebra Francois Viet moved to Paris. In the capital, he meets prominent mathematicians of that time - Professor Ramus and Rafael Bombelli.
Meeting the future King of France Henry IV (of Navarre) helps to get the position of Privy Councilor at court.
In 1580 he was appointed to the important post of Rocketmaster, which allowed him to control the execution of orders and orders of the royal family.
Clearing the code
One of the few mathematicians who was awarded the royal award was François Viet. The biography mentions that the father of algebra was able to solve the secret cipher in just two weeks, over which prominent French scientists fought for years.
The sixteenth century is the era of clashes with militant Spain. The enemies of France received information in the form of an encrypted code, the most advanced at that time.
More than five hundred constantly changing symbols helped the agents of the Spanish crown to plan their attacks without fear of being caught. The information contained in the letters, falling into the hands of the French, was unreadable.
Deciphering the code made it possible to win several serious victories over the Spaniards, block trade and cash flows. France received a serious advantage.
Representatives of the Spanish crown were shocked by what was happening. Not without a traitor who denouncedmath to the Spanish king.
The first thing that was done was a letter sent to the Pope about Vieta's connections with the devil and involvement in black magic. This meant the trial of the Inquisition, with no chance of life for the scientist.
Of course, the French king did not extradite Vieta at the request of the Vatican.
Expulsion from Paris
In 1584, the Guise family succeeded in removing Vieta from office.
Surprisingly, the scientist was even happy with this turn of events. For him, this meant that now he can devote all his free time to his favorite mathematics.
Contemporaries mention his extraordinary ability to work - up to three days without sleep. Time spent in constant research.
It took four years to solve the set tasks. The main goal was to derive a formula that allows you to solve any equation. This is how alphabetic algebra was born. In 1591, the collection "Introduction to Analytical Art" was published (squares, cubes, roots, variables folded into a single system). Symbolism based on Latin letters was introduced. Unknown data were indicated by vowels. Variables are consonants.
In 1589, relations between the Guise family and the king went wrong. As a result, Francois Viet was fully reinstated in public service. The mathematician returns to Paris.
Why are Vieta's discoveries so important?
Before François, mathematics was a cumbersome task written down in words. Often the description stretched over severalpages. Sometimes, finishing reading what was written, they forgot what was discussed at the beginning. Solutions also had to be written down in words.
This approach made complex calculations impossible.
Thanks to Vieta, the law of multiplication was proved, the first formulas were derived. Decimals are now used.
Of course, François's equations still contained the words “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, Viet was proud of his discovery.
Trigonometry and Astronomy
One of the main goals of mathematics 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, has been mentioned in the works of mathematicians since the first century.
Viet derived expressions for the sines and cosines of square arcs. He deepened his knowledge of circles and the polygons inscribed in them. Brought up to 18 digits the number "pi".
With the help of only a compass and a ruler, I was able to solve the problem about a circle touching the arcs of three others, compiled back in Ancient Greece. The most prominent mathematicians fought over it for several centuries.
Viet and van Roumen
Another interesting story is connected with the French mathematician.
Andrian van Roumen, one of the most prominent mathematicians in Holland, announced a competition to solve the equation fortyfifth degree. The assignment was not even sent to the French colleagues. It was believed that in this country there are no scientists, even theoretically capable of solving such a complex equation. Only the personal influence of the French king made it possible to receive the task.
In just two days, Viet was able to present twenty-three solutions. The indefatigable genius of the scientist allowed him to become the first winner of the award of the best mathematicians. This brought Vieta even more fame, a cash prize and van Roumen's personal deep sympathy.
Family and children
Unfortunately, there is very little data about this side of the life of the great mathematician.
Scarce information indicates that Viet was married. And his daughter became the sole heir to her father's estate.
Memory
Francois Viet left our world on February 13, 1603, at the age of nearly sixty-three. The last city the great mathematician saw was Paris.
According to one version, he was killed by envious people or enemies.
Already after the death of the scientist (in 1646), another algebraic collection was published. Such a long period of time was required to decipher the complex and peculiar language that the scientist used in the development.
Of course, over the past four centuries, mathematics has gone far ahead, and many of François's findings today seem naive and somewhat primitive. But in the memory of grateful descendants, Viet will remain the founder of modern mathematics. Without the discovery of literal calculus, its further development would beimpossible.
François Viet did a lot for science. The 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 the mathematician. Thanks to them, we have the opportunity to see the person who gave us algebra. Judging by the portraits, François wore a beard and dressed very stylishly for that time. A crater on the Moon is named after Vieta.
