William Jones (mathematician)

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William Jones (mathematician) bigraphy, stories - Welsh mathematician

William Jones (mathematician) : biography

1675 – 3 July 1749

William Jones pi

Biography

William Jones was born the son of Siôn Siôr (John George Jones) and Elizabeth Rowland in the village of Llanfihangel Tre’r Beirdd, on the Isle of Anglesey. He attended a local charity school at Llanfechell, where his mathematical talents were spotted by the local landowner who arranged for him to be given a job in London working in a merchant’s counting-house. He owed his successful career partly to the patronage of the distinguished Bulkeley family of north Wales, and later to the Earl of Macclesfield.

Jones initially served at sea, teaching mathematics on board Navy ships between 1695 and 1702 where he became very interested in navigation and published A New Compendium of the Whole Art of Navigation in 1702 dedicated to a benefactor John Harris.

In this work he applied mathematics to navigation, studying methods to calculate position at sea. After his voyages were over he became a mathematics teacher in London, both in coffee houses and as a private tutor to the son of the future Earl of Macclesfield and also the future Baron Hardwicke. He also held a number of undemanding posts in government offices with the help of his former pupils. 

Jones published Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos in 1706, a work which was intended for beginners and which included theorems on differential calculus and infinite series. This used π as an abbreviation for perimeter. His 1711 work Analysis per quantitatum series, fluxiones ac differentias introduced the dot notation for differentiation in calculus.

In 1731 he published Discourses of the Natural Philosophy of the Elements. 

He married twice, firstly the widow of his counting-house employer, whose property he inherited on her death, and secondly, in 1731, Mary, the 22 year old daughter of cabinet-maker George Nix with whom he had two surviving children. His son, also named William Jones born in 1746, was a renowned philologist who first recognised the existence of the Indo-European language group.