W. W. Rouse Ball

Walter William Rouse Ball ( born August 14, 1850 in Hampstead ( London), † April 4, 1925 in Elmstead, Cambridge ) is an English mathematician and historian of mathematics, known for a book on recreational mathematics.

Life and work

Ball attended schools in London and studied mathematics, logic, and moral philosophy at University College London, where he received the gold medal in Mathematics. From 1871, he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he served as Wrangler sections in the Mathematical Tripos of 1874 (second behind the Senior Wrangler ). In 1874 he received the Smith Prize and in 1875 he became a Fellow of Trinity College. He then suggested short legal career, and in 1876 Barrister at the Inner Temple in London (where he immediately wrote a guide for aspiring lawyers ), but returned in 1877 returned to the University and supported the ailing William Kingdon Clifford at University College London in the mathematics lectures. In 1878 he was a lecturer at Trinity College in 1880 and Assistant Tutor. In 1891, he was Director of Mathematical Studies at Trinity in 1898 and Senior Tutor. He also had administrative positions in the University of Cambridge took this. Various corporations and sat in the council of Trinity College He was also in the Steering Committee of Westminster School and the Perse School.

Ball is still known for his popular history of mathematics, which was in 1960 reprint, and especially for his " Mathematical Recreations and Essays ," which first appeared in 1892. He also wrote a book on the history of mathematics at Cambridge and dealt specifically with Isaac Newton.

To his memory ball professorships in 1927, both in Cambridge and in Oxford WW Rouse set for mathematics.

Among his pupils was Ernest William Barnes.

Writings

• A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, 1st Edition 1888, 4th edition 1908, Dover 1960
• Mathematical Recreations and Essays, 1st Edition 1892, later editions edited by HSM Coxeter (some chapters like the were dropped via mechanical gadgets and themes such as string figures and honeycomb ), Dover, 1987, ISBN 0-486-25357-0
• A history of the mathematical studies at Cambridge
• An Essay on Newton's Principia, Macmillan 1893, Johnson Reprint 1972
• A History of the First Trinity Boat Club, 1908
• A students guide to the bar, Macmillan 1879
• String figures, Cambridge 1921, Reprint Chelsea in 1960, as new Fun with string figures, Dover 1971