Who put the ``C'' in A.-T. Vandermonde ?
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Who put the ``C'' in A.-T. Vandermonde ?
zbMATH Open document ID: 0662.01009
DOI: 10.1016/0315-0860(88)90027-4
author: James J. Tattersall
published in: Historia Mathematica
publication date: 1988-01-01T00:00:00Z
review text: Vandermonde (1735-1796) was appointed to the French Royal Academy of Sciences in 1771 as a geometer, and in the years prior to the Revolution was one of its most active members. His musical theory received the approbation of composers. Among the mathematicians of his day he was considered a great musician and among the musicians a great mathematician. Vandermonde's mathematical output was relatively small, consisting of only four papers presented before the Academy of Sciences. Kronecker, who had a very high regard for Vandermonde's work, claimed that the study of modern algebra began with the publication of Vandermonde's ``Mémoire sur la résolution des équations'' in 1771. Vandermonde in 1772 introduced the first factorial notation and used it to establish several basic combinatorial results. The author also discusses the problem of Vandermonde's first name and comes to the conclusion that it was Alexandre-Théophile, and that it is wrong to put a ``C'' into his forename as some authors have done. There is a biliography of 43 items.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A50
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 05-03
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 15-03
zbMATH DE Number: 4081493
zbMATH Keywords: musical theory
zbMATH Keywords: Kronecker
zbMATH Keywords: modern algebra
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: 0315-0860(88)90027-4
OpenAlex ID: W2005162900
cites work: Vandermonde nets
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description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 4081493