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theorem
theorem in mathematics and logic, statement in words or symbols that can be established by means of deductive logic; it differs from an axiom in that a proof is required for its acceptance. A lemma is a theorem that is demonstrated as an intermediate step in the proof of another, more basic the...
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Alexis Claude Clairaut
Alexis Claude Clairaut , 1713-65, French mathematician. He assisted P. L. M. de Maupertuis in measuring (1736) a degree of an arc of a meridian in Lapland. He is noted for his work on differential equations and on curves and for formulating Clairaut's theorem dealing with geodesic lines on the surfa...
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number theory
number theory branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of the integers (the numbers 0, 1, -1, 2, -2, 3, -3, …). An important area in number theory is the analysis of prime numbers. A prime number is an integer p >1 divisible only by 1 and p ; the first few primes are 2...
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Pierre de Fermat
Pierre de Fermat , 1601-65, French mathematician. A magistrate whose avocation was mathematics, Fermat is known as a founder of modern number theory and probability theory. He also did much to establish coordinate geometry (see Cartesian coordinates ) and invented a number of methods for determ...
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Niels Henrik Abel
Niels Henrik Abel , 1802-29, Norwegian mathematician. While a student at the Univ. of Christiania (Oslo) he did fundamental work on the integration of functional expressions and proved the impossiblity of representing a solution of a general equation of fifth degree or higher by a radical expression...
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binomial
binomial , polynomial expression (see polynomial ) containing two terms, for example, x + y. The binomial theorem, or binomial formula, gives the expansion of the n th power of a binomial ( x + y ) for n= 1, 2, 3, … , as follows:
where the ellipsis (…) indicates a...
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Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, Baron
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, Baron 1768-1830, French mathematician and physicist. He was noted for his researches on heat and on numerical equations. He originated Fourier's theorem on vibratory motion and the Fourier series, which provided a method for representing discontinuous functions by a tr...
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Walther Hermann Nernst
Walther Hermann Nernst , 1864-1941, German physicist and chemist, a founder of modern physical chemistry. After doing outstanding research on osmotic pressure and electrochemistry, he turned to thermodynamics , establishing in 1906 a new tenet (often called the third law of thermodynamics) that dea...
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Kurt Gödel
Kurt Gödel , 1906-78, American mathematician and logician, b. Brünn (now Brno, Czech Republic), grad. Univ. of Vienna (Ph.D., 1930). He came to the United States in 1940 and was naturalized in 1948. He was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, until 1953, when he became ...
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algebra
algebra branch of mathematics concerned with operations on sets of numbers or other elements that are often represented by symbols. Algebra is a generalization of arithmetic and gains much of its power from dealing symbolically with elements and operations (such as addition and multiplication) ...
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