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Carl Friedrich Gauss

Overview

The Prince of Mathematicians.

Missing Image
(Portrait)

What is it?

German prodigy who summed the numbers 1 to 100 in seconds as a child. He revolutionized statistics and number theory.

History

1777-1855. He mapped the magnetic field of the Earth and calculated the orbit of the asteroid Ceres from just a few observations.

Key Idea

The 'Bell Curve' in statistics is named the Gaussian Distribution after him.