Franciscus Vieta
French mathematician and algebra pioneer
Born
1540
485 years ago
Died
Category
Thinkers & Philosophers
Country
France
Links & References
A significant figure in the development of algebra, contributions to the field included the introduction of letters to represent known and unknown quantities in equations. Vieta's formulas provided connections between coefficients and roots of polynomials. His work laid groundwork for modern algebraic notation. Vieta published several influential works, among them 'In Artem Analyticam Isagoge'. His techniques were key in moving from rhetorical algebra to symbolic algebra.
Introduced algebraic notation using letters
Developed Vieta's formulas for polynomials
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