Everyone knows the French scientist who presented the world with symbolic algebra - the mathematician Francois Viet. Let us consider in more detail its discoveries and achievements.
Childhood, study and career start
The future mathematician was born in 1540 in the small town of Fontenay-le-Comte. The scientist's parents were wealthy people. Father was a prosecutor. The mathematician received primary education in a local Franciscan monastery.
However, following the traditions, François Viet selects a law faculty for studies and at the age of twenty successfully graduates from the University of Poitou. Gets undergraduate level. 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 - François Viet. Interesting facts were found in his work on the trigonometry "Mathematical Canon", which was published in 1579, although it was written nine years earlier. The future father of algebra at an early age realized that he was interested in mathematics.
Teaching and important dating
He did not stay for a long time as a mathematician civil servant. Francois Viet was invited to the post of teacher for the daughter of a noble family de Partheni. 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 met with prominent mathematicians of the time - Professor Ramus and Rafael Bombelli.
A meeting with the future king of France, Henry IV (of Navarre), helps to obtain the post of Privy Councilor at court.
In 1580 he was appointed to the important post of rocket master, who allowed to control the implementation of orders and orders of the royal family.
Code Unraveling
One of the few mathematicians who received the royal award was Francois Viet. The biography mentions that the father of algebra was able to solve the secret code 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 perfect at that time.
More than five hundred ever-changing characters helped agents of the Spanish crown to freely plan attacks, without fear of being caught. The information indicated in the letters, falling into the hands of the French, was unreadable.
Decryption of the code allowed us to gain some serious victories over the Spaniards, to block trade and cash flows. France gained a significant advantage.
Representatives of the Spanish crown were shocked by what was happening. Not without a traitor who reported to the mathematician to the Spanish king.
The first thing that was done was a letter was sent to the Pope about the relations of Vieta with the devil and involvement in black magic. This implied a trial of the Inquisition, with no chance of life for the scientist.
Of course, the French king did not extradite Vieta upon request from the Vatican.
Expulsion from Paris
In 1584, the Guise family secured the removal of Viet from office.
Surprisingly, the scientist was even glad of this turn of events. For him, this meant that now he could devote all his free time to his beloved mathematics.
Contemporaries mention his extraordinary ability to work - up to three days without sleep. Time was spent in constant research.
Four years were spent on solving the tasks. The main goal was to derive a formula that allows you to solve any equation. So there was a literal algebra. In 1591, the collection “Introduction to Analytical Art” (squares, cubes, roots, variables) folded into a single system was published. Symbols based on Latin letters were introduced. Unknown data was indicated by vowels. Variables are consonants.
In 1589, the relations of the Giza family and the king went wrong. As a result, Francois Viet was completely restored to public service. The mathematician returns to Paris.
Why are Vieta's discoveries so important?
Before Francois, mathematics was a cumbersome task, written down in words. Often the description is stretched over several pages. Sometimes, finishing reading what was written, they forgot what was discussed at the beginning. Decisions also needed to be written down in words.
This approach made complex calculations impossible.
Thanks to Viet, the law of multiplication was proved, the first formulas were derived. Decimal fractions began to be used.
Of course, the words remained in the equations of Francois - “cubing”, “equal”, etc. But even with such a reduction, it was possible to save a huge amount of the most important resource - time.
In 1591, a theorem was presented to the world, named after the great scientist. Why 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 deriving the cosine theorem in a generalized form, which, one way or another, was mentioned in the writings of mathematicians from the first century.
By Vietnam, expressions for the sines and cosines of square arcs were derived. He deepened his knowledge of circles and the polygons inscribed in them. Withdrew the number "pi" to 18 characters.
With the help of only the compass and the ruler, I was able to solve the problem of the circle concerning the arcs of the other three, drawn up in ancient Greece. For several centuries, the most prominent mathematicians fought over it.
Viet and van Rowman
Another interesting story is associated with the French mathematician.
Andrian van Rowman, one of the most outstanding mathematical figures in Holland, announced a competition for solving the equation of the forty-fifth degree. The French colleagues were not even sent a task. 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 allowed 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 prize of the competition of the best mathematicians. This brought Vietnam even greater fame, a cash prize, and Van Rowman's personal deep sympathy.
Family and Children
Unfortunately, there is very little data about this side of the life of the great mathematician.
Scanty reports indicate that Viet was married. And his daughter became the only heiress of the estate of his father.
