Abraham de Moivre
Abraham de Moivre was a
French mathematician famous for
de Moivre's formula, which links
complex numbers and
trigonometry, and for his work on the
normal distribution and probability theory. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society in 1697, and was a friend of
Isaac Newton,
Edmund Halley, and James Stirling.
The social status of his family is unclear, but de Moivre's father, a surgeon, was able to send him to the Protestant academy at
Sedan . de Moivre studied logic at
Saumur , attended the Coll?ge de Harcourt in Paris , and studied privately with Jacques Ozanam .
Encyclopedia
Abraham de Moivre was a
French mathematician famous for
de Moivre's formula, which links
complex numbers and
trigonometry, and for his work on the
normal distribution and probability theory. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society in 1697, and was a friend of
Isaac Newton,
Edmund Halley, and James Stirling.
The social status of his family is unclear, but de Moivre's father, a surgeon, was able to send him to the Protestant academy at
Sedan . de Moivre studied logic at
Saumur , attended the Collège de Harcourt in Paris , and studied privately with Jacques Ozanam . It does not appear that De Moivre received a college degree.
de Moivre was a
Calvinist. He left France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and spent the remainder of his life in England.
Throughout his life he remained poor. It is reported that he was a regular customer of Slaughter's Coffee House, St. Martin's Lane at Cranbourn Street, where he earned a little money from playing
chess.
He died in
London and was buried at
St Martin-in-the-Fields, although his body was later moved.
De Moivre wrote a book on probability theory, entitled
The Doctrine of Chances. It is said in all seriousness that De Moivre correctly predicted the day of his own death. Noting that he was sleeping 15 minutes longer each day, De Moivre surmised that he would die on the day he would sleep for 24 hours. A simple mathematical calculation quickly yielded the date, November 27,1754. He did indeed pass away on that day.
See also
References
- H. J. R. Murray. History of Chess. Oxford University Press, 1913, p 846.
External links
