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Blaise Pascal: Geometry
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Pascal was a mathematician of the first order. He helped create two major new areas of research. He wrote a significant treatise on the subject of projective geometry at the age of sixteen, and later corresponded with Pierre de Fermat on probability theory, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science.
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In 1640, at age sixteen, Pascal wrote a book, Essay on Conics. It deals with the geometry of cones. He gave the mystic hexagram central importance in this book. At the age of nineteen, Pascal invented a calculating machine. It was able to add and subtract by having a person move a series of gears and cylinders. This was an early form of a computer.
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This 5-page, 3-source paper examines the life of French mathematician Blaise Pascal. Pascal was a philosopher, writer, physicist, and Christian apologist. The author discusses how Pascal's study of mathematics and geometry helped lead to the invention of hydraulics, resulting is such modern innovations as the hydraulic press and medical syringe. Also, the author discusses Pascal's discoveries on probability, which resulted in gambling methodology and laid the foundation for statistics and insurance analysis. The author finishes the piece by analyzing Pascal's growing religious convictions later in his short life, which included an attempt to strengthen traditional faith by applying the rational thought of modern science. 5 pgs.
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The young Pascal quickly learned most of what was known about geometry at the time, and at the age of fourteen, was admitted to the meetings of French geometricians, a very exclusive and prestigious affair. By the time he was sixteen, Pascal has begun work on conics and even published several papers on geometry.
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In 1640 Pascal wrote an essay on conics extending the work of Desargues in projective geometry. This essay was meant to be the outline of a much larger work, but it was never published. Only a few scholars like Leibniz and de la Hire saw the manuscript.
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