Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1789— 1857) was born in 1789, in Paris, France. He received his first education from his father. He was a neighbor of Laplace and Berthollet. Cauchy became acquainted with famous scientists at a young age. Lagrange is said to have warned his father not to show Cauchy any mathematics book before the age of seventeen.
At the age of fifteen, he completed his classic studies with distinction. He became an engineer in 1810, in the Napoleon army. In 1813, he returned to Paris.
In 1811, Cauchy started his mathematical career by solving a problem sent to him by Lagrange on convex polygons. In 1812, he solved Fermat’s famous classical problem on polygon numbers. His treatise on the definite integral, which he submitted in 1814 to the French Academy, later became a basis of the theory of complex functions.
In 1816, he was appointed full professor at the École Polytechnique. More theorems and concepts have been named for Cauchy than for any other mathematician. There are sixteen concepts and theorems named for Cauchy in elasticity alone.
He worked on mathematics, mathematical physics, and celestial mechanics. In mathematics, he worked on several areas, such as calculus, complex functions, algebra, differential equations, geometry, and analysis. The notion of continuity used today was invented by Cauchy. He also proved that a continuous function has a zero between two points where the function changes its signs, a result also proved by Bolzano. The first adequate definitions of indefinite integral and definite improper integral are due to Cauchy.
In algebra, the notion of the order of an element, a subgroup, and conjugates are found in his papers. He proved the famous Cauchy’s theorem for finite groups, that is, if the order of a finite group is divisible by a prime p, then the group has a subgroup of order p. Cauchy’s role in shaping the theory of permutation groups is central. He is regarded by some to be the founder of finite group theory. The two-row notation for permutations was introduced by Cauchy. He also defined the product of permutations, inverse permutations, transpositions, and the cyclic notation. He wrote his first paper on this subject in 1815, but did not return to it for nearly thirty years. In 1844, he proved that every permutation is a product of disjoint cycles.
He also did work of fundamental importance in the theory of determinants. His treatise on determinants, published in 1812, contains important results concerning product theorems and the inverse of a matrix.
Cauchy enjoyed teaching. He published more than 800 papers and eight books. He died in 1857.
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