Blaise Pascal
was born at Clermont, Auvergne, France on June 19, 1628.
He was the son of Étienne Pascal, his father, and Antoinette Bégone, his mother
who died when Blaise was only four years old. After her death, his only family
was his father and his two sisters, Gilberte, and Jacqueline, both of whom
played key roles in Pascal's life. When Blaise was seven he moved from
Clermont with his father and sisters to Paris. It was at this time that his
father began to school his son. Though being strong intellectually, Blaise had
a pathetic physique.
Things went quite well at first for Blaise concerning his schooling.
His father was amazed at the ease his son was able to absorb the classical
education ...
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going and during his play times in this
room he figured out ways to draw geometric figures such as perfect circles, and
equilateral triangles, all of this he accomplished. Due to the fact that É
tienne took such painstaking measures to hide mathematics from Blaise, to the
point where he told his friends not to mention math at all around him, Blaise
did not know the names to these figures. So he created his own vocab for them,
calling a circle a "round" and lines he named "bars". "After these definitions
he made himself axioms, and finally made perfect demonstrations." (P 39,Cole)
His progression was far enough that he reached the 32nd proposition of Euclid's
Book one. Deeply enthralled in this task his father entered the room un-noticed
only to observe his son, inventing mathematics. At the age of 13 Étienne began
taking Blaise to meetings of mathematicians and scientists which gave Blaise the
opportunity to meet with such minds as Descartes and Hobbes. Three years later
at the ...
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‘Side by side in an oblong box were places six small drums, round
the upper and lower halves chich the numbers 0 to 9 were written, in decending
and ascending orders respectively. According to whichever aritchmatical process
was currently in use, one half of each drum was shut off from outside view by a
sliding metal bar: the upper row of figures was for subtraction, the lower for
addition. Below each drum was a wheel consisting of ten (or twenty of twelve)
movable spokes inside a fixed rim numbered in ten (or more) equal sections from
0 to 9 etc, rather like a clockface. Wheels and rims were all visible on the
box lid, and indeed the numbers to be added or subtracted were fed ...
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Blaise Pascal. (2006, May 5). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blaise-Pascal/45471
"Blaise Pascal." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 5 May. 2006. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blaise-Pascal/45471>
"Blaise Pascal." Essayworld.com. May 5, 2006. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blaise-Pascal/45471.
"Blaise Pascal." Essayworld.com. May 5, 2006. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Blaise-Pascal/45471.
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