Thomas Simpson (mathematician)

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Miscellaneous tracts , 1768

Thomas Simpson (born August 20, 1710 in Market Bosworth , Leicestershire , † May 14, 1761 ) was an English mathematician .

Life

Simpson was born the son of a simple weaver and initially worked as a weaver himself. He taught himself mathematics through self-study. Around 1725 he moved to Nuneaton, Warwickshire, to work as a math teacher until 1733, where he married in 1730. In 1733 he had to flee to Derby after he or one of his assistants scared a girl during an astrology class by disguising himself as a devil. Between 1733 and 1736 he moved to London, where his daughter Elizabeth was born in 1736 and his son Thomas in 1738.

From 1743 he taught mathematics at the Royal Military Academy in London.

He became known for his work on interpolation and numerical integration . Here Simpson's formula is named after him, which Johannes Kepler had actually set up in a simpler variant in 1615 as Kepler's barrel rule , and is also based on Newton's findings. The abstract form of Newton's method , on the other hand, comes from him and not from Newton. He also dealt with probability theory and error theory .

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SURNAME Simpson, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1710
PLACE OF BIRTH Market Bosworth , Leicestershire
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1761
Place of death Market Bosworth , Leicestershire