Mathematicians
Adrien-Marie Legendre
French: [adrien mari le-ZHAHN-druh] (IPA: [adʁiɛ̃ maʁi ləʒɑ̃dʁ])
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Adrien-Marie Legendre (1752-1833) was a French mathematician who made foundational contributions to number theory, statistics and elliptic functions. He first communicated the method of least squares in 1806, conjectured the law of quadratic reciprocity later proved by Gauss, proved Fermat's Last Theorem for the exponent five in 1830, and authored Elements de geometrie (1794), the leading elementary geometry textbook for roughly a century. In 1808 he conjectured that a prime always lies between consecutive perfect squares, a claim still unproven and now known as Legendre's Conjecture.
Facts
Nationality / Culture Defining ContributionAuthored Elements de geometrie (1794), which stood as the leading elementary geometry textbook for around a century. 1 Defining ContributionConjectured in 1808 that a prime number always lies between two consecutive perfect squares, now called Legendre's Conjecture; it remains unproven. 2 Defining ContributionFirst communicated the method of least squares to his contemporaries before Gauss, publishing it in 1806 as an appendix to his book on the paths of comets; it is now central to regression, signal processing and curve fitting. 1 AwardBerlin Academy prize for research on the trajectories of projectiles (1782). 3 Cross-Tradition Connections
Conjectures Posed
Legendre proposed the conjecture in 1808 in his Essai sur la Theorie des Nombres.
Sources
1. Adrien-Marie Legendre (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
Adrien-Marie Legendre (18 September 1752 - 9 January 1833) was a French mathematician who made numerous contributions to mathematics.
1. Adrien-Marie Legendre (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationInfoboxQuote, Infobox
French mathematician (1752-1833)
1. Adrien-Marie Legendre (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, pronunciation guideQuote, Lead section, pronunciation guide
/ləˈʒɑːndər, -ˈʒɑːnd/; French: [adʁiɛ̃ maʁi ləʒɑ̃dʁ]
1. Adrien-Marie Legendre (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationMathematical work sectionQuote, Mathematical work section
Legendre is best known as the author of Elements de geometrie, which was published in 1794 and was the leading elementary text on the topic for around 100 years.
2. Legendre's Conjecture (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationStatement, opening paragraphQuote, Statement, opening paragraph
there is a prime number between n squared and (n+1) squared for every positive integer n; proposed by Adrien-Marie Legendre
2. Legendre's Conjecture (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationConjectures Posed: Legendre's Conjecture, Opening paragraphQuote, Conjectures Posed: Legendre's Conjecture, Opening paragraph
proposed by Adrien-Marie Legendre
3. Adrien-Marie Legendre, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St AndrewsEarly career sectionQuote, Early career section
won the Berlin Academy prize for projectile trajectory research in 1782
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