Leonhard Euler (1707-1783)

The Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler spent most of his life in Germany and Russia. He published more than any other mathematician has ever done, his work filling 60 to 80 volumes. He worked in many fields, making significant breakthroughs not just in analysis, but in graph theory, number theory, calculus, logic and several branches of physics. He established much of the notation used now, including f(x) for a function of x, the notation for the trigonometric functions, the use of the symbols e (e sometimes is called Euler's number) and i and Σ (for summations). He also popularized (but did not originate) the use of the Greek letter π. One of his most startling discoveries was Euler's identity: e^iπ + 1 = 0.

Vocabulary:

breakthrough - avance

graph theory - teoría de grafos (una rama de las matemáticas)

number theory - teoría de números (una rama de las matemáticas)

calculus - cálculo infinitesimal, también llamado análisis matemático o análisis infinitesimal (una rama de las matemáticas)

summations - sumatorios (operación matemática, una suma resumida de muchos términos)

startling - asombroso

El presente texto ha sido extraído del libro The Story of Mathematics, escrito por Anne Rooney.