Jean Paul de Gua de Malves (1713,
Malves-en-Minervois
Malves-en-Minervois is a Communes of France, commune in the Aude Departments of France, department in southern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Aude department
References
Communes of Aude
Aude communes articles need ...
(Aude) – June 2, 1785, Paris
[Open Site - Science: Mathematics: Mathematicians: Gua de Malves, Jean](_blank)
/ref>) was a French 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 ...
who published in 1740 a work on analytical geometry
In classical mathematics, analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. This contrasts with synthetic geometry.
Analytic geometry is used in physics and engineerin ...
in which he applied it, without the aid of differential calculus
In mathematics, differential calculus is a subfield of calculus that studies the rates at which quantities change. It is one of the two traditional divisions of calculus, the other being integral calculus—the study of the area beneath a curve. ...
, to find the tangent
In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. Leibniz defined it as the line through a pair of infinitely close points on the curve. More ...
s, asymptote
In analytic geometry, an asymptote () of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as one or both of the ''x'' or ''y'' coordinates tends to infinity. In projective geometry and related contexts, ...
s, and various singular points of an algebraic curve
In mathematics, an affine algebraic plane curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two variables. A projective algebraic plane curve is the zero set in a projective plane of a homogeneous polynomial in three variables. An affine algebraic plane c ...
.
He further showed how singular points and isolated loops were affected by conical projection
In cartography, map projection is the term used to describe a broad set of transformations employed to represent the two-dimensional curved surface of a globe on a plane. In a map projection, coordinates, often expressed as latitude and longitu ...
. He gave the proof of Descartes's rule of signs which is to be found in most modern works. It is not clear whether Descartes ever proved it strictly, and Newton
Newton most commonly refers to:
* Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist
* Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton
Newton may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film
* Newton ( ...
seems to have regarded it as obvious.
De Gua de Malves was acquainted with many of the French philosophes during the last decades of the Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
{{disambig ...
. He was an early, short-lived, participant, then editor (later replaced by Diderot) of the project that ended up as the ''Encyclopédie
''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...
''. Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal pu ...
claimed that it was in fact the de Gua who recruited Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...
to the project, though this claim has never been verified. In either case, Jean-Paul and Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''Encyclopédie ...
, also thought to have been recruited by the de Gua, first show up on the December 1746 payroll of the publishers who were backing the Encyclopédie project. Diderot was added just weeks later and took over as editor on 16 October 1747. At the funeral of the "profound geometrician", as Diderot called him, the eulogy was given by Condorcet.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1743.
See also
* De Gua's theorem
__NOTOC__
In mathematics, De Gua's theorem is a three-dimensional analog of the Pythagorean theorem named after Jean Paul de Gua de Malves. It states that if a tetrahedron has a right-angle corner (like the corner of a cube), then the square of th ...
References
Bibliography
*Arthur M. Wilson: ''Diderot''. Oxford University Press, New York, 1972, pp. 79–81.
*Nicolas de Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis of Condorcet (; 17 September 1743 – 29 March 1794), known as Nicolas de Condorcet, was a French philosopher and mathematician. His ideas, including support for a liberal economy, free and equal pu ...
, « Éloge de M. l’abbé de Gua », ''Œuvres de Condorcet'', Firmin Didot frères, 1847-1849, Paris, p. 241-58.
online copy
*Rene Taton
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 2008.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gua de Malves, Jean Paul de
1713 births
1785 deaths
People from Carcassonne
English–French translators
18th-century French mathematicians
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772)
Fellows of the Royal Society
French geometers
18th-century French translators