Monday, February 17, 2014

Pascal's Triangle

      In the 10th century, hundreds of years before the birth of Blaise Pascal, Indian mathematicians utilized the triangle in addition to Middle Eastern.  Following the Iranian mathematician, Omar Khayyam, a Chinese mathematician used it and discovered how the triangle provided coefficients for expanding (a+b) to a certain degree which is an imperative fact to be aware of when in high-school math class.


       There is a plethora of different patterns which can be made by shading in specific numbers on Pascal's Triangle.  Whether you shade in odd numbers, even numbers, multiples of 6, or multiples of 11, you are bound to see  a trend within the patterns. Blaise Pascal, who was a French mathematician, was a sickly child and lived from 1623-1662, and obviously, the triangle was named after him.  Even though Pascal receives the majority of credit for this mathematical gem (for it is named after him), other people from other nations such as China, India, Western countries, and Iran discovered it long before.
     Aside from Pascal's triangle, Blaise discovered the first digital calculator, the Pascaline.  His calculator was not very popular amongst the people, for it could only perform addition.  He created this device in order to make his father's job involving finances to be easier. His father was a major influence on his life considering he was home-schooled by him and grew up with no mother.  Not only was Pascal a math guru, but he was a philosopher as well and he laid the foundations for theories of probability.
"Small minds are concerned with the extraordinary, great minds the ordinary"- B.P.