Pietro Cataldi
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Pietro Antonio Cataldi (15 April 1548, Bologna – 11 February 1626, Bologna) was an Italian mathematician. A citizen of Bologna, he taught mathematics and astronomy and also worked on military problems. His work included the development of continued fractions and a method for their representation. He was one of many mathematicians who attempted to prove Euclid's fifth postulate. Cataldi discovered the sixth and seventh Mersenne primes by 1588.[1] He held the record for the largest known prime for almost two centuries, until Leonhard Euler discovered that 231 - 1 was the eighth Mersenne prime.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Caldwell, Chris. The largest known prime by year.
[edit] External links
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Pietro Cataldi", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Cataldi.html.
- Galileo Project
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