Mathematician:Paolo Ruffini

Mathematician

Italian mathematician and philosopher.

Most famous for his incomplete proof of what is now known as the Abel-Ruffini Theorem proving the insolubility of the general quintic with radicals.

Nationality

Italian

History

• Born: 22 Sept 1765 in Valentano, Papal States (now Italy)
• Died: 10 May 1822 in Modena, Duchy of Modena (now Italy)

Theorems and Definitions

• Abel-Ruffini Theorem (with Niels Henrik Abel)
• Ruffini's Rule

• Ruffini-Horner Method (independently of William George Horner) (also known as Horner's Method)

Results named for Paolo Ruffini can be found here.

Definitions of concepts named for Paolo Ruffini can be found here.

Publications

• 1799: La teoria generale delle equazioni (2 volumes)
• 1802: Riflessioni intorno alla rettificazione ed alla quadratura del circulo (on squaring the circle)
• 1802: Della soluzione delle equazioni algebraiche determinata partocolari di grado sup. al 4º (The solution of particular equations whose order is greater than 4)
• 1804: Sopra la determinazione delle radici nelle equazioni numeriche di qualunque grado
• 1806: Della immortalità dell'anima (On the immortality of the soul)
• 1807: Algebra elementare (Elementary algebra)
• 1820: Memoria sul tifo contagioso (Memoir on contagious typhus)
• 1821: Riflessioni critiche sopra il saggio filosofico intorno alle probabilità del signor conte Laplace (Critical review on the philosophical writing of Laplace on probability)

This page needs proofreading. In particular: grammar If you believe all issues are dealt with, please remove {{Proofread}} from the code. To discuss this page in more detail, feel free to use the talk page. When this work has been completed, you may remove this instance of {{Proofread}} from the code.

My Italian is not good - I may have mistranslated or misinterpreted some of the above.

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Paolo Ruffini": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1971: Allan Clark: Elements of Abstract Algebra ... (previous) ... (next): Introduction
• 1986: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
• 1997: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Numbers (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): A List of Mathematicians in Chronological Sequence
• 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Horner's method: 2.
• 2004: Ian Stewart: Galois Theory (3rd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Historical Introduction: Polynomial Equations
• 2008: David Joyner: Adventures in Group Theory (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Where to begin...
• 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Horner's method: 2.