What is the importance of Blaise Pascal's work?

Blaise Pascal was a 17th century French philosopher and scientist who made important contributions to maths, science, and philosophy. While he was still a teenager, Pascal became one of only two people who had developed and constructed a working mechanical calculator.

As a mathematician, Pascal developed two separate fields of maths - projective geometry, and probability theory. This probability theory was born out of Pascal's study of gambling problems, and had an important impact on the deveiopment of modern day economics.

In projective geometry, he developed what became known as Pascal's triangle, in which the sums of successive numbers built on themselves to form the numerical row beneath.

Pascal's scientific theories were important to understanding the properties and volume of solids using cycloids. Pascal was also an expert in various languages, and a well-versed religious philosopher.

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What is Eratosthenes famous for?

He was famous as a mathematician and geographer. Eratosthenes produced a reliable, logical method to discover prime numbers. It's known as the sieve of Eratosthenes, and is still important in modern number theory in an updated form. Assuming that the Earth was a sphere, Eratosthenes calculated its size with good accuracy. He also calculated the tilt of Earth's axis fairly accurately. Eratosthenes produced the first map of the world which used meridian lines and parallel lines. These were similar to our modern lines of latitude and longitude. This great scientist can be said to have invented geography. In fact, today we still use the word he invented for this new discipline. Geo' was Greek for Earth' and 'graphy' meant 'field of study." Eratosthenes also wrote books on philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, history, comedy, and poetry. His all-round knowledge made him the ideal choice for the most prestigious job an academic could en

Why is Euclid called the father of geometry'?

Euclid, who was born in Alexandria in Egypt, lived more than 300 years before Christ. He is renowned to this day for his book Elements'. For centuries, this book was one of the main texts for teaching geometry. Elements' is divided into thirteen books, which cover plain geometry, arithmetic and number theory, irrational numbers, and solid geometry. His books begin with basic defi nitions, and then go on to prove different mathematical theories. So, it is only natural that Euclid is called the father of geometry. He stressed the importance of logic and reason in teaching and under- standing maths. Though some of his books are lost, at least five of them are still in existence, and are proof of his remarkable gift for mathematics.

What are the major contributions made by Archimedes?

Archimedes is best remembered as an ancient Greek scientist who made legendary contributions to mathematics, physics, engineering, and astronomy. Archimedes, who lived about 300 years before Christ, is also remembered for his discovery of the relation between the surface and volume of a sphere, and its circumscribing cylinder. He played a major role in developing calculus and analysis. This scientist explained how levers worked, andbuiltwar machines. But, Archimedes is most famous for the Archimedes Principle which explains how to measure the volume of an irregular object. Archimedes discovered his principle quite by accident. He noticed that the water level of the bathtub rose when he got in, and he realised that you could measure volume by putting it on water, and measuring how much the water level rose. Supposedly, the scientist got so excited by this discovery that he ran through the streets naked, yelling Eureka!' which is Greek for 'I figured it out!

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