Argand

Jean Robert Argand


Born: 18 July 1768 in Geneva, Switzerland
Died: 13 Aug 1822 in Paris, France

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Argand was an accountant who was only an amateur mathematician. He is famed for his geometrical interpretation of the complex numbers where i is interpreted as a rotation through 90degrees.

The concept of the modulus of a complex number is due to him. He also gave a beautiful proof (with some gaps) of the fundamental theorem of algebra in 1814.

References (2 books/articles)

A page from a work by Argand:

A translation of a page of Essai sur une manié,re de reprènter les quantitiés imaginaires dans les constructions gèomètriques (1806)

References elsewhere in this archive:

Tell me about Argand's work on abstract linear spaces and on the fundamental theorem of algebra

There is a Dorsa Argand on the moon. You can see a list of lunar features named after mathematicians.


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JOC/EFR December 1996