John Wallis

Among the leading English mathematicians contemporary to Isaac Newton was John Wallis (November 23, 1 1 ! "ctober 2#, 1$%3&' (e deserves at least partial credit )or the development o) modern calc*l*s' +athematician, logician, grammarian, s,illed ling*ist, and -ivine, Wallis wrote brilliantly and vol*mino*sly, demonstrating a geni*s )or mathematics' (is wor, wo*ld be more esteemed had it not been overshadowed by that o) Newton' Wallis was one o) the )irst to recogni.e the signi)icance o) the generali.ation o) e/ponents to incl*de negative and )ractional as well as positive and integral n*mber' (e proved the laws o) e/ponents, which led to de)ining x%, x01, x02, 1 to mean 1, 12x, 12x2 respectively3 x122 to represent the s4*are root o) x, x223 to mean the c*be root o) x2, and generally x-n 5 12xn (where n 6 %&, and xp/q 5 the qth root o) xp (q 6 %&' (e was one o) the )irst to disc*ss conics as c*rves o) second0degree polynomials rather than as sections o) a cone' (is most important wor, was Arithmetica Infinitorum (1 7, The Arithmetic of Infinitesimals&, which stim*lated

Newton8s wor, on calc*l*s and the binomial theorem' In the Arithmetica Wallis was among the )irst to accept negative n*mbers and to recogni.e them as roots o) e4*ations' (owever, he wrongly tho*ght negative n*mbers to be not less than .ero, b*t greater than 9, the symbol he is credited with introd*cing to represent in)inity'

:orn at Ash)ord in ;ent, o*r s*b<ect was the third o) )ive children )rom the *nion o) the =everend John Wallis and his second wi)e, Joanna >hapman' (e attended James +ovat8s grammar school at ?enterden and then the school o) +artin (olbreach at @elsted, where he was instr*cted in Aatin, Bree, and

(ebrew' At that time mathematics was not considered important eno*gh to be part o) the c*rric*l*m, so Wallis did not enco*nter the s*b<ect *ntil the >hristmas holidays o) 1 31 when his elder brother ta*ght him arithmetic' Wallis was captivated and read every mathematics boo, he co*ld )ind' At Emman*el >ollege, >ambridge Wallis st*died ethics, metaphysics, geography, astronomy, medicine and anatomy, b*t no mathematics' (e received his +'A' in 1 C%, the same year he was ordained by the :ishop o) Winchester' @or the ne/t )ew years he held positions as a chaplain in ?or,shire, Esse/ and in Aondon'

Dhe co*rse o) Wallis8 li)e was changed d*ring the English >ivil War when he p*t his almost mirac*lo*s s,ills to wor, deciphering coded =oyalist messages )or the Earliamentarians, and encrypting messages )or the E*ritan army' (is loyalty was rewarded when he was made rector o) Ft' Babriel >h*rch in Aondon and in 1 CC secretary to the Westminster Assembly o) -ivines' Dhat same year he married F*sanna Blyde' -espite his adherence to the E*ritan party, Wallis <oined the moderate Eresbyterians in signing the remonstrance against the e/ec*tion o) >harles I' "liver >romwell appointed Wallis the Favilian pro)essor o) geometry at "/)ord over the ob<ections o) the *niversity comm*nity who regarded a royalist to be the right)*l appointment' A)ter the =estoration o) the monarchy >harles II con)irmed Wallis in his position (which he held )rom 1 CG to his death&, appointed him royal chaplain, and nominated him to be a member o) the committee )ormed to revise the prayer boo,'

Erobably no other scholar o) the period became embroiled in more heated intellect*al disp*tes than did the remar,ably 4*arrelsome Wallis' "ne o) the most bitter p*blic disp*tes was with Dhomas (obbes, which )or some 27 years generated an avalanche o) polemical treatises not only )rom the two combatants, b*t also )rom other :ritish and continental mathematicians' Wallis maintained that he wo*ld not have ta,en the time to re)*te (obbes8 mathematical writings had it not been that his rep*tation in philosophy was a danger to religion' Wallis8s real aim in discrediting (obbes8 mathematics was to *ndermine the epistemological basis o) (obbes8 materialist philosophy, which

maintained that h*man action was motivated entirely by sel)ish concerns, most notably )ear o) death'

Among Wallis8 many mathematical wor,s was his treatise Tractatus de sectionibus conics (1 77&, in which he de)ined conic sections analytically, ma,ing -escartes8 obsc*re methods more comprehensible' Wallis *sed >avalieri8s method o) indivisibles to )ind the areas between c*rves o) the )orm y 5 xn, the x0a/is and the vertical line x 5 h )or some h H %' Dhis is e4*ivalent to eval*ating the de)inite integral h

I x dx 5 h
n

nJ1

K (n J 1&, where n 6 %'

Wallis8 De Algebra Tractatus; Historicus & racticus (1 #7, Algebra! History and ractice& was the )irst serio*s e))ort to write a history o) mathematics' (e also wrote on proportion, mechanics, grammar, logic, decipherment, theology, and the teaching o) the dea), and edited ancient mathematical man*scripts' Dhe meetings o) mathematicians and astronomers, which he hosted at his 4*arters at Bresham >ollege, Aondon, led to the establishment o) the =oyal Fociety o) Aondon )or the Eromotion o) Nat*ral ;nowledge, which >harles II )ormal chartered in 1 2' Wallis demonstrated his deep

respect )or tradition, e/plaining in his a*tobiographyL MI made it my b*siness to e/amine things to the bottom3 and red*ce e))ects to their )irst principles and original ca*ses' Dhereby the better to *nderstand the tr*e gro*nd o) what hath been delivered to *s )rom the Ancients, and to ma,e )*rther improvements o) it'N

Even tho*gh he was aware o) the inacc*racies o) the J*lian calendar, especially in determining the yearly date )or Easter, Wallis opposed the introd*ction o) the Bregorian calendar' Onwilling to adopt the creation o) Eopish >o*ncils, he o))ered and alternate means o) )inding Easter witho*t changing the

civil calendar, b*t co*ldn8t win its approval' Wallis )o*nd a method )or calc*lating the val*e o) " by )inding the area *nder a 4*adrant o) a *nit circle (a circle with radi*s one& (@ig*re 1%'1#&' Osing the )orm*la A 5 Pr2, the area o) a *nit circle is ", so the area o) the 4*adrant o) the *nit circle is "2C' Dhro*gh a long series o) interpolations and ind*ctions, he derived what is now ,nown as Wallis8 Erod*ctL

"22 5 221 Q 223 Q C23 Q C27 Q 27 Q 2$ Q 1 2#2(2#01& Q 2#2(2#J1& Q 1 5 R (2#&22(2# ! 1&(2# J 1&
#51

Dhe advantage o) the )orm*la is it doesn8t involve irrational n*mbers and the calc*lations are relatively easy' Dhe disadvantage is that the appro/imation is not very acc*rate' @or e/ample, with # 5 3%, P S 3'117G7'
1

@ig*re 1%'1

Dhro*gho*t his li)e, Wallis )o*ght )or the priority claims o) Englishmen against )oreigners' It has been said that beca*se o) his /enophobia, he o))ended every )oreign mathematician he ever met' When it seemed possible that Newton8s priority in the 4*estion o) the calc*l*s might be endangered by the claims )or Aeibni., Wallis eagerly <*mped into the )ray' In 1 G7 he p*blished his $athematical %or#s, with Tol*me II his Algebra with an essay on )l*/ional calc*l*s' In it Wallis claimed that he learned the method in letters )rom Newton in 1 $ ' @rom this those who wished to do so co*ld imply that it was possible that Newton had comm*nicated his methods o) )l*/ions to Aeibni. in 1 $ prior to the latter8s p*blication o) his calc*l*s'

In his hilosophers at %ar, =*pert (all writes, MInadvertently, there)ore, Wallis was beginning a process o) p*blic deception'N It8s not too great a stretch to cast Wallis in the part o) Iago to Newton8s "thello and Aeibni.8s -esdemona' Newton and Aeibni.8s relationship was cordial and m*t*ally respect)*l, *ntil Wallis stirred the pot by )ig*ratively whispering in Newton8s ear that in (ollandL M?o*r notions are ,nown as Aeibni.8s &alculus Differentialis,N and *rged his )riend to ta,e steps to protect his rep*tation' Dh*s, Wallis poisoned the atmosphere, leading to a bitter <ingoistic disp*te that damaged :ritish mathematics'

Quotation of the Day: MWallis8 own role in the slow warming o) the calc*l*s disp*te had been to
act as an *ncritical mo*thpiece )or Newton 1 Wallis was there (Algebra& writing ! as so many Newtonians were to write ! *nder Newton8s instr*ctions'N ! =*pert (all