Frans van Schooten

Frans van Schooten (* 1615 in Leiden, The Netherlands, † May 29, 1660 in Leiden ), also Latin - Dutch. Franciscus van Schooten, niederl. - frz. Franciscus à Schooten or Latin Franciscus Schooten was a Dutch mathematician who is best known for popularizing the analytic geometry of René Descartes.

Life

Schooten read Descartes 's Geometry tools ( an appendix to his book Discours de la méthode ) before it was published. Since he found it difficult to understand, he went to study in France to the works of other mathematicians of the time such as François Viète and Pierre de Fermat. After his return to Leiden he became professor of mathematics. His comments to Geometry tools were very important because they naturally made ​​the work of wider layers of mathematicians. Thus, they were responsible for the dissemination of analytical geometry in the world. Suffering was the center of the mathematical community through Schoo Tens work for a short period in the mid-17th century.

Schooten also developed the trammel for drawing an ellipse.

His most famous pupil was probably Christiaan Huygens, whose treatise De Ratiociniis in Aleæ Ludo he published in 1657.