Mathematician:Xenocrates of Chalcedon
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Mathematician
Greek philosopher and mathematician born in what is now Turkey.
Leader of Plato's Academy between 339/8 and 314/3 BCE.
The originator of the first result on record in the field of combinatorics, when (as reported by Plutarch he attempted to find the total number of syllables that could be made from the letters of the alphabet.
An early supporter of atomism, he supported the idea of "indivisible lines" (and magnitudes) in order to counter Zeno's Paradoxes.
Nationality
Greek, of Turkish origin.
History
- Born: c. 396 BC in Chalcedon (now Kadiköy, near Istanbul), Bithynia (now Turkey)
- Died: c. 314 BC in Athens, Greece
Publications (all now lost)
- On Numbers
- The Theory of Numbers
- Some works on geometry
Sources
- John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Xenocrates of Chalcedon": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
- 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
- 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence