You Gotta Know These Mathematicians

Question 1

generalized the binomial theorem

Answer 1

Isaac Newton

Question 2

did the first rigorous manipulation with power series

Answer 2

Isaac Newton

Question 3

created his Namesake method for finding roots of differentiable functions

Answer 3

Isaac Newton

Question 4

it is debated whether he or Gottfried Leibniz invented calculus (whose differential aspect this man called the method of fluxions)

Answer 4

Isaac Newton

Question 5

known for the Elements, a textbook on geometry and number theory

Answer 5

Euclid

Question 6

established five postulates

Answer 6

Euclid

Question 7

his fifth postulate — also called the parallel postulate — can be broken to create spherical and hyperbolic geometries, which are collectively called non-Namesake geometries

Answer 7

Euclid

Question 8

proved that there are infinitely many prime numbers

Answer 8

Euclid

Question 9

considered the “Prince of Mathematicians”

Answer 9

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Question 10

His Disquisitiones Arithmeticae systematized number theory and stated the fundamental theorem of arithmetic (every integer greater than 1 has a prime factorization that is unique notwithstanding the order of the factors)

Answer 10

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Question 11

he proved the fundamental theorem of algebra (every non-constant polynomial has at least one root in the complex numbers)

Answer 11

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Question 12

proved the law of quadratic reciprocity, and the prime number theorem

Answer 12

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Question 13

intuited the formula for the summation of an arithmetic sequence when his primary-school teacher gave him the task — designed to waste his time — of adding the first 100 positive integers.

Answer 13

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Question 14

best known for his “eureka” moment, in which he realized he could use density considerations to determine the purity of a gold crown

Answer 14

Archimedes

Question 15

found the ratios between the surface areas and volumes of a sphere and a circumscribed cylinder

Answer 15

Archimedes

Question 16

accurately estimated pi

Answer 16

Archimedes

Question 17

developed a calculus-like technique to find the area of a circle, his method of exhaustion

Answer 17

Archimedes

Question 18

known for his independent invention of calculus and the ensuing priority dispute with Isaac Newton

Answer 18

Gottfried Leibniz

Question 19

Most modern calculus notation, including the integral sign and the use of d to indicate a differential, originated with him

Answer 19

Gottfried Leibniz

Question 20

did work with the binary number system

Answer 20

Gottfried Leibniz

Question 21

did fundamental work in establishing boolean algebra and symbolic logic

Answer 21

Gottfried Leibniz

Question 22

remembered for his contributions to number theory including his little theorem

Answer 22

Pierre de Fermat

Question 23

studied Namesake primes, which are prime numbers that can be written as 22n + 1 for some integer n

Answer 23

Pierre de Fermat

Question 24

famous for his “last theorem,” which he wrote in the margin of Arithmetica by the ancient Greek mathematician Diophantus with a note that “I have discovered a marvelous proof of this theorem that this margin is too small to contain.”

Answer 24

Pierre de Fermat

Question 25

Andrew Wiles proved his “last theorem” in 1995

Answer 25

Pierre de Fermat

Question 26

He and Blaise Pascal corresponded about probability theory

Answer 26

Pierre de Fermat

Question 27

known for his prolific output and the fact that he continued to produce seminal results even after going blind

Answer 27

Leonhard Euler

Question 28

invented graph theory by solving the Seven Bridges of Königsberg problem

Answer 28

Leonhard Euler

Question 29

introduced the modern notation for e, an irrational number about equal to 2.718, which is now called his Namesake number in his honor (but don’t confuse it for his Namesake constant, which is different)

Answer 29

Leonhard Euler

Question 30

proved his Namesake formula which Richard Feynman called “the most beautiful equation in mathematics”

Answer 30

Leonhard Euler

Question 31

best known for his two incompleteness theorems

Answer 31

Kurt Gödel

Question 32

developed paranoia late in life and eventually refused to eat because he feared his food had been poisoned; he died of starvation

Answer 32

Kurt Gödel

Question 33

best known for proving the Taniyama-Shimura conjecture that all rational semi-stable elliptic curves are modular forms

Answer 33

Andrew Wiles

Question 34

proved Fermat’s last theorem

Answer 34

Andrew Wiles

Question 35

known for a four-dimensional extension of complex numbers called the quaternions

Answer 35

William Rowan Hamilton