Jacques Ozanam

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Traité de la construction des equations pour la solution des problemes indeterminez , 1687

Jacques Ozanam (born June 16, 1640 in Sainte-Olive (today in the Ain department ), † April 3, 1718 in Paris ) was a French mathematician.

Ozanam came from a wealthy Jewish family who converted long before he was born. The better known Frédéric Ozanam comes from the same family . At first he studied theology at the request of his father, but was more attracted to mathematics, which he mastered in self-study. At the age of 15 he published his first mathematical work. After his father's death, he gave up his theology studies and began giving free private math classes in Lyon . Later, when the family goods were given to his older brother, he was forced to charge fees for these lessons, especially since he was a keen player and lost a lot of money.

In 1670 he published trigonometric and logarithmic number tables, which were more precise than those of Adriaan Vlacq (1628, also written Ulacq), Bartholomäus Pitiscus and Henry Briggs . Since he was so generous as to lend money to two men who were unknown to him, he was noticed by Mr. d'Aguesseau (the father of the French Chancellor), who invited him to Paris. There he married, had a large family with twelve children (most of whom died early, however) and made a good living from teaching mathematics to private students, mostly foreigners.

Ozanam published numerous books, many of which sold well and were reprinted several times, in particular Récréations mathématiques et physiques , which was later translated into English. With this work of entertainment mathematics, he contributed to the spread of mathematics (it had a forerunner in France in the work of Jean Leurechon , on which it is based). Les six livres de l'Arithmétique de Diophante augmentés et à la reduits spécieuse was of Leibniz praised. In 1707 he received the status of a pupil ( élève ) at the Académie royale des sciences and in 1711 that of a partner. He was deeply saddened by the death of his wife, and impoverished by the loss of his private students due to the War of the Spanish Succession . He died in Paris on April 3, 1718 (often 1717, but this is an error in the dating).

Ozanam was honored more abroad than at home. He was devout and helpful.

Fonts

  • Table des sinus, tangentes, et sécantes (1670)
  • Method générale pour tracer des cadrans (1673)
  • Geometry pratique (1684)
  • Traité des lignes du premier genre (1687)
  • De l'usage du compas (1688)
  • Dictionnaire mathématique (1691)
  • Cours de mathématiques (Paris 1693, 5 volumes; English translation: London 1712)
  • Traité de la fortification "(Paris 1694)
  • Récréations mathématiques et physiques (1694, 2 volumes, rev. Von Montucla 1778, 4 volumes)
  • Nouvelle Trigonometry (1698)
  • Facile method for arpenter (1699)
  • Nouveaux Éléments d'Algèbre (1702)
  • La Géographie et Cosmographie (1711)
  • La Perspective (1711)
  • Traité de l'arpentage et du toisé (nouvelle édition, 1803, digitized )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter O. Académie des sciences, accessed on January 30, 2020 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Ozanam, Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1640
PLACE OF BIRTH Sainte-Olive , now the Ain department
DATE OF DEATH April 3, 1718
Place of death Paris