William Jones (mathematician)
William Jones (* 1675 in Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd, Anglesey, Wales; † July 1, 1749 in London) was a Welsh mathematician who in 1706 was among the first (after William Oughtred ) the Greek symbol π (Pi ) for the circuit number used it. However, this designation sat until 1737 with the writings of the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler ( 1707-1783 ) in science by.
Life
Jones came from a poor family from Anglesey, where his father had a farm Siôn SIOR. He visits a charity school in Llanbabo where his mathematical talent noticed. A landowner of the area gave Jones a position with a merchant in London. From 1695 to 1702 he went to sea on ships and gave lessons in mathematics and navigation. With the Royal Navy, he also took part in the Battle of Vigo.
In 1702 he left the Navy to work as a private tutor for mathematics. In the same year he published his first book on navigation A New Compendium of the Whole Art of Navigation. Among his pupils was Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, who later became Lord Chancellor of England. An application to the Royal Mathematical School at Christ's Hospital in 1709 failed, although Jones could make recommendations of Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley. This school trained boys from 11 years of mathematics and navigation for the service in the Navy.
A later student of Jones was George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield. Parker and Jones Yorke helped when he lost his fortune by the bankruptcy of a bank. Jones also lived temporarily in the castle of the Parker family in Shirburn. Parker Jones bequeathed his extensive mathematical library.
Jones was married twice, first with the widow of a businessman, for whom he had worked. In 1731 he married a second time. From this marriage with Mary Nix had three children: Mary (* 1736) and William (* 1746 ), who became famous as an Indologist. Another child died in infancy.
Work
Although Jones had attended no university and no contributions to mathematical research yielded, he stood with some outstanding mathematicians of his time in contact, especially with Isaac Newton. Since 1711, Jones was a member of the Royal Society. For this he became in 1713 a member of a commission to clarify the priority dispute between Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Jones also released a book by Newton's notes Analysis by quantitatum series, fluxiones, ac differentias: cum enumeratione linearum tertii Ordinis, London 1711th
In his textbook Synopsis palmariorum matheseos: or, A new introduction to the mathematics, London in 1706, he used the symbol π (derived from engl Perimeter " scope .").