Alexander Anderson ( in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
– in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
) was a
Scottish mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
.
Life
He was born in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, possibly in 1582, according to a print which suggests he was aged 35 in 1617.
[ Wikisource:Anderson, Alexander (1582-1619?) (DNB00)] It is unknown where he was educated, but it is likely that he initially studied writing and philosophy (the "belles lettres") in his home city of Aberdeen.
He then went to the
continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...
, and was a professor of mathematics in Paris by the start of the seventeenth century.
[ There he published or edited, between the years 1612 and 1619, various geometric and ]algebra
Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics.
Elementary ...
ic tracts. He described himself as having "more wisdom than riches" in the dedication of ''Vindiciae Archimedis'' (1616).[
He was first cousin of David Anderson of Finshaugh, a celebrated mathematician, and David Anderson's daughter was the mother of mathematician James Gregory.]
Work
He was selected by the executors of François Viète
François Viète, Seigneur de la Bigotière ( la, Franciscus Vieta; 1540 – 23 February 1603), commonly know by his mononym, Vieta, was a French mathematician whose work on new algebra was an important step towards modern algebra, due to i ...
to revise and edit Viète's manuscript works. Viète died in 1603, and it is unclear if Anderson knew him, but his eminence was sufficient to attract the attention of the dead man's executors.[
]
Publications
The known works of Anderson amount to six thin quarto volumes, and as the last of them was published in 1619, it is probable that the author died soon after that year, but the precise date is unknown. He wrote other works that have since been lost.[ From his last work it appears he wrote another piece, "A Treatise on the Mensuration of Solids,"][
*1612: ''Supplementum Apollonii Redivivi'']
See also
* Marin Getaldić
* Denis Henrion
Denis (sometimes Didier) Henrion, was a French people, French mathematician born at the end of the 16th century in France. He co-edited the works of Viète. He died around 1632 in Paris.
Contributions
Henrion wrote a tract concerning logarithm ...
* Frans van Schooten
References
Attribution:
*
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Alexander
1580s births
1620 deaths
People from Aberdeen
Algebraists
British geometers
Scottish mathematicians
17th-century Scottish people
Scottish scholars and academics
University of Paris faculty
17th-century Scottish scientists
17th-century Scottish mathematicians