Analytic Geometry Essay

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Analytic geometry combines algebra and geometry in a way that allows for the visualization of algebraic functions. Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, and Pierre de Fermat, a French lawyer, independently founded analytic geometry in the early 1600s. Analytic geometry subsequently paved the way for calculus and physics. Fermat was born in 1601 in Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France and initially studied mathematics in Bordeaux with some of the disciples of Viete, a French algebraist (Katz 2009). He went on to earn a law degree and become a successful counselor. Mathematics was merely a hobby to him, so he never published because he did not want to thoroughly explain his discoveries in detail. He died in 1665 and his son later published his manuscripts and correspondence. Fermat adapted Viète’s algebra to the study of geometric loci and used letters to represent variable distances. He discovered that the study of loci, or sets of points with certain characteristics, could be made easier by applying algebra to geometry through a coordinate system (Katz 2009). Basically any relation between ...

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