Episode 2 of 2
Diary and early number-theoretic work
- When
- 1796–1814
- Where
- Gauss's mathematical diary, 1796–1814
Gauss's mathematical diary ran from 1796 to 1814, and he dated the beginning of his number-theory work to 1795.
Gauss kept a mathematical diary of short remarks on his results from 1796 until 1814; it shows that many ideas for his magnum opus Disquisitiones Arithmeticae (1801) date from this time. In the preface to the Disquisitiones, Gauss himself dated the beginning of his work on number theory to 1795. This documentary context frames the 1796 triangular-number discovery within his earliest number-theoretic period.
Sources
- Carl Friedrich Gauss Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26
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