- Édouard Lucas
François Édouard Anatole Lucas (
April 4 ,1842 inAmiens -October 3 ,1891 ) was a Frenchmathematician . Lucas is known for his study of theFibonacci sequence . The relatedLucas sequence is named after him. He gave a formula for finding the nth term of the Fibonacci sequence.Lucas was educated at the
École Normale Supérieure . He worked in the Paris observatory and later became a professor of mathematics in Paris. In the meantime he served in the army.Lucas posed a challenge to prove that the only solution of the
Diophantine equation ::
with "N" > 1 is when "N"=24 and "M"=70. It was not until 1918 that a proof (using
hyperelliptic function s) was found for this remarkable fact, which has relevance to the bosonicstring theory in 26-dimensions [http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/week95.html] .He devised methods for testing the primality of numbers. In 1857, at age 15, Lucas began testing the primality of 2127-1 by hand, using Lucas Sequences. In 1876, after 19 years of testing [http://primes.utm.edu/curios/page.php?number_id=135] , he finally proved that 2127−1 was prime; this would remain the largest known
Mersenne prime for three-quarters of a century. This may stand forever as the largest prime number proven by hand. LaterDerrick Henry Lehmer refined Lucas' primality tests and obtained theLucas-Lehmer test for Mersenne numbers .He worked on the development of the
umbral calculus .Lucas was also interested in
recreational mathematics ; He discovered an elegant binary solution to theBaguenaudier puzzle. He also more notably invented theTower of Hanoi puzzle, which he marketed under the nickname "N. Claus de Siam", ananagram of "Lucas d'Amiens".Lucas died in unusual circumstances. At the banquet of the annual congress of the "Association française pour l'avancement des sciences" a waiter dropped some crockery and a piece of broken plate cut Lucas on the cheek. He died a few days later of a severe skin inflammation probably caused by
septicemia . Lucas was only 49 years old when he died.ee also
*
Lucas-Lehmer test
*Tower of Hanoi
*Lucas prime
*Gauss-Lucas theorem
*Lucas' theorem External links
*
* [http://www.cs.wm.edu/~pkstoc/toh.html Scans of Lucas's original Tower of Hanoi puzzle in French, with translations]
* [http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/lucas.html Édouard Lucas] , by Clark Kimberling
* [http://edouardlucas.free.fr/ Édouard Lucas]Persondata
NAME= Lucas, Édouard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=French mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH=April 4 ,1842
PLACE OF BIRTH=Amiens ,France
DATE OF DEATH=October 3 ,1891
PLACE OF DEATH=
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.