Mathematician:François Viète

Mathematician

French amateur mathematician, trained in law, who became a privy councillor under Henry IV of France.

Contributed to many of the early developments of trigonometry and algebra.

Pioneered the use of letters in algebraic equations.

One of the first to use decimal fractions as a matter of course in his published works.

Nationality

French

History

• Born: 1540, Fontenay-le-Comte, Poitou (now Vendée), France
• Died: 13 Dec 1603 in Paris, France

Theorems

• Viète's Formulas
• Vieta's Formula for Pi

Results named for François Viète can be found here.

Publications

• Ad harmonicon coeleste (never published)

• 1571+: Francisci Vietœi universalium inspectionum ad canonem mathematicum liber singularis
• 1579: Canon Mathematicus seu ad Triangula ("The Mathematical Canon Applied to Triangles")
• 1589: Deschiffrement escription of a letter by the Commander Moreo at Roy Espaigne of his master
• 1591: In Artem Analyticam Isagoge ("Introduction to the Analytical Arts")
• 1593: Supplementum Geometriae
• 1595: Ad Mathematics Problema quod Omnibus Totius Orbis Construendum Proposuit Adrianus Romanus, Vietae responsum Francisci
• 1600: Numbers Potestatum ad Exegesim Resolutioner
• 1602: Francisci Vietae Fontenaeensis libellorum supplicum Regia magistri in relatio Kalendarii Gregorian vere ad ecclesiasticos doctores exhibits Pontifici Maximi Clementi VIII
• 1615: De Aequationem Recognitione et Emendatione ("On the Recognition and Emendation of Equations")

Also known as

François Viète is also known by the Latin form of his name Franciscus Vieta.

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "François Viète": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1946: Alfred Tarski: Introduction to Logic and to the Methodology of Deductive Sciences (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $\S 1.5$: The Importance of Variables in Mathematics (footnote)
• 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
• 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): $10$
• 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {B}.9$: A proof of Vieta's Formula: Footnote 1
• 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
• 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $10$
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Viète, François (Franciscus Vieta) (1540-1603)
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Viète, François (Franciscus Vieta) (1540-1603)
• 2008: Ian Stewart: Taming the Infinite ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $4$: Lure of the Unknown: Algebraic symbolism
• 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Viète, François (Franciscus Vieta) (1540-1603)