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Pierre Laurent Wantzel (5 June 1814 in Paris – 21 May 1848 in Paris) was a French mathematician who proved that several ancient geometric problems were impossible to solve using only compass and straightedge. [1] In a paper from 1837, [2] Wantzel proved that the problems of. doubling the cube, and. trisecting the angle.
- 5 June 1814, Paris, France
- Solving several ancient Greek geometry problems
- 21 May 1848 (aged 33), Paris, France
- French
Biography. Pierre Wantzel's father served in the army for seven years after the birth of Pierre, then became professor of applied mathematics at the École speciale du Commerce. Pierre Wantzel attended primary school in Ecouen, near Paris, where the family lived. Even at a very young age he showed great aptitude for mathematics, and Saint ...
Nov 1, 2009 · Wantzel’s conclusion regarding the irreducibility of P (x) is obviously correct if the polynomial P (x) has only simple roots. But it is false in general. For example, if P (x) = [Q (x)] r, where Q (x) is irreducible, Theorem 4 holds, but P (x) is reducible. Wantzel provided no proof that P (x) has only simple roots.
- Jesper Lützen
- 2009
Pierre Wantzel. Today, fame that wasn't. The University of Houston presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them. When Andrew Wiles proved Fermat's last theorem he carved his name in the annals of history. After 350 years of trying but failing to find a proof, it wasn't just ...
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Pierre Laurent Wantzel. 1814-1848. French mathematician who earned fame for his work on solving equations using radicals. He also published proofs of several famous problems in geometry, verifying that certain problems could not be solved using only a ruler and compass. Wantzel excelled in other areas as well, including physics, history ...
Petersen’s knowledge of Wantzel is the more surprising because he was infamous for his neglect of the literature [cf. Lu ̈tzen et al., 1992, 38]. However, Petersen’s reference to Wantzel was overlooked by his contemporaries, probably because the doctoral thesis was written in Danish.
Jan 24, 2010 · 1. Introduction. In modern treatments of the classical construction problems it is universally acknowledged that Pierre Wantzel (1814–1848) was the first to prove that it is impossible to trisect an arbitrary angle and double the cube (or more generally construct two mean proportionals) by ruler and compass (Wantzel, 1837) and that it was Ferdinand Lindemann (1852–1939) whose proof ...
