Estienne de La Roche (1470–1530) 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 ...

. Sometimes known as Estienne de Villefranche, La Roche was born in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, but his family also owned property in

Villefranche-sur-Saône Villefranche-sur-Saône (, ; frp, Velafranche) is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France. It lies 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the river Saône, and is around north of Lyon. The inhabitants of the town are called ''Caladois''. ...

, where he lived during his youth. He studied

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

with

Nicolas Chuquet Nicolas Chuquet (; born ; died ) was a French mathematician. He invented his own notation for algebraic concepts and exponentiation. He may have been the first mathematician to recognize zero and negative numbers as exponents. In 1475, Jehan A ...

. Having in his possession Chuquet's manuscripts, it is probable that La Roche was on good terms with Chuquet. He taught commercial mathematics in Lyon for 25 years. He is regarded today as a professor of

arithmetic Arithmetic () is an elementary part of mathematics that consists of the study of the properties of the traditional operations on numbers— addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, and extraction of roots. In the 19th ...

(at the time, Master of Figures). In 1520, he published ''l'Arismetique'', regarded at the time as an excellent handbook of

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 a ...

using an elegant

notation In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...

for powers,

square roots In mathematics, a square root of a number is a number such that ; in other words, a number whose ''square'' (the result of multiplying the number by itself, or  ⋅ ) is . For example, 4 and −4 are square roots of 16, because . E ...

and

roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

of a higher nature. However, in 1880,

Aristide Marre Eugène Aristide Marre (7 March 1823, Mamers (Sarthe) – 18 February 1918, aged 95, Vaucresson) was a French linguist. Works *1846"Trouver la somme de toutes les permutations d'un nombre donné"in ''Nouvelles annales de mathématiques'' *1846 ...

published the book ''Triparty'' by Chuquet, and it proved that the first part of ''L'arismetique'' was essentially a copy of the algebra of Chuquet. La Roche did try to teach significant mathematics, inaccessible at the time to a French audience, and thus was not merely a

plagiarist Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

. He was the worthy successor of several masters and experts in his art, such as

Luca Pacioli Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (sometimes ''Paccioli'' or ''Paciolo''; 1447 – 19 June 1517) was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an early contributor to the field now known as accounting ...

. La Roche may have borrowed from or been influenced by several mathematicians, including Chuquet, Pacioli and Philippe Frescobaldi, a French

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

who wrote some books of mathematics.

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:La Roche, Estienne de 1470 births 1530 deaths Scientists from Lyon 16th-century French mathematicians