View source for Carl Friedrich Gauss

[[File:Carl Friedrich Gauss.jpg|thumb|200px|Gauss]]
[[File:Gauss Statue.jpg|100px|thumb|Statue of Gauss in Brunswick]]
'''Carl Friedrich Gauss''' (pronunciation: {{Audio|De-carlfriedrichgauss.ogg|Carl Friedrich Gauss (Gauß)}}, [[Latin]]: '''Carolus Fridericus Gauss''') (30 April 1777 – 23 February 1855) was a famous [[mathematician]] from [[Göttingen]], [[Germany]]. Gauss contributed to many areas of learning. Most of his work was about [[number theory]] and [[astronomy]].

== Biography ==
=== Childhood ===
He was born in [[Braunschweig]]. That city was then part of the [[duchy]] of Braunschweig-Lüneburg. Today the city is part of [[Niedersachsen|Lower Saxony]]. As a child, he was a [[child prodigy|prodigy]], meaning he was very clever.  When he was 3 years old, he told his father that he had incorrectly measured something on his complicated payroll.  Gauss was correct.  Gauss also taught himself to read. 

When he was in [[elementary school]], his teacher once tried to keep the children busy, telling them to add up all the [[number]]s from 1 to 100. Gauss did it quickly, like this: 1 + 100 = 101, 2 + 99 = 101, 3 + 98 = 101, and so on. There were a total of 50 pairs, so 50 × 101 = 5,050. The formula is <math>\frac 1 2 * (n*(n+1))</math>. According to [http://mathforum.org/social/articles/ross.html this website], the problem given to Gauss was actually more difficult to do.

The [[Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg|Duke of Brunswick]] gave Gauss a [[fellowship]] to the Collegium Carolinum, where he attended from 1792 to 1795. This meant that the Duke paid for the [[education]] of Carl Friedrich Gauss at the Collegium. After this, Gauss went to the [[University of Göttingen]], from 1795 to 1798.

==Adulthood==
When Gauss was 23, scientists spotted the [[asteroid]] [[Ceres]] but they did not see it for long enough to know its [[orbit]]. Gauss made calculations that let them locate it.

Later in life Gauss stopped working on pure math and turned to [[physics]]. He did work in [[electromagnetism]].

== Work ==
{{Electromagnetism}}

Gauss wrote [[Disquisitiones Arithmeticae]] which is a book about number theory. In that book he proved the law of [[Quadratic reciprocity]]. He also was the first mathematician to explain [[Modular arithmetic]] in a very detailed way. Before Gauss, mathematicians had used modular arithmetic in some cases but did not know much about using it broadly. 

== Related pages ==
* [[Heptadecagon]]
* [[Gauss's law]]
* [[Normal distribution]]

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[[Category:1777 births]]
[[Category:1855 deaths]]
[[Category:German mathematicians|Gauss, Karl]]
[[Category:Child prodigies|Gauss, Karl]]