Carl Friedrich Gauss

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (b. 30 April 1777 - 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician. Friedrich died on the 23rd of February 1855.

Biography

Gauss married Johanna Ostoff in 1805. She died after giving birth to their son. The next year Gauss got married a second time to Johanna's best friend named Minna. Gauss was a perfectionist. He was a very hard worker. He was the prince of mathematicians. Moreover, Gauss was famous because he did complex mathematics problems. Gauss had a very good photographic memory.

His student life

At 7, he started elementary school. In 1788, he began his education at the gymnasium (it's a school for the best students). He had a diploma.

1792: he entered in Brunswick Collegium Carrolinum.

He discover the prime number theorem. He found that a regular polygon with 17 sides could be drawn using just a compass and a straight edge, he was 19 years old.

Anecdotes

The first is when he had the age of 3 years. He put right a mistake who's do his father in his copybook of account. He put right it mentally.

Another story when he was in primary school after the young Gauss misbehaved, his teacher, gave him a task: add a list of integers in arithmetic progression; he do this in 1 minute Gauss would calculate 1+2+3+4+5...+97+98+99+100 He decided to write them in disorder : 100+99+98…..+3+2+1 He add the numbers increase it's equal to do 2times with number decrease 100+1 =101 99+2=101 And he see all equal 101 so he calculate 101*100 and he divided by 2 to equal the solution and he find 50*101=5050

One day he was intercepted in the middle of a maths-problem because his wife was dying and he said : “Tell to her to wait few moments I finish this!”

For him mathematics is such as “the queen of sciences”.

Mathematician life's

In the age of 24, he wrote a book “Disquisitiones Arithmeticae” Today it's still the most influential mathematicians book. Gauss also retained a strong interest in theoretical astrononomy and he held the post of Director of the astronomical observatory in Göttingen for many years

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