Thomas Simpson (August 20, 1710 – May 14, 1761) was a British mathematician, inventor and eponym of Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals. However, this rule was also found 200 years earlier from Johannes Kepler, in the so-called de:Keplersche Fassregel. Simpson was born in Market Bosworth, Leicestershire. He taught himself mathematics, then turned to astrology. After an unfortunate "devil-raising", he and his wife had to flee to Derby [1]. They later moved to London. August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events April 10 - The worlds first copyright legislation became effective, Britains Statute of Anne Ongoing events Great Northern War (1700-1721) War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713) Births January 3 - Richard Gridley, American Revolutionary soldier (d. ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (135th in leap years). ... 1761 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Leonhard Euler is considered by many to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time A mathematician is the person whose primary area of study and research is the field of mathematics. ... For other uses, see Inventor (disambiguation). ... An eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, who has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, discovery, or other item. ... The function f(x) (in blue) is approximated by a quadratic function P(x) (in red). ... Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630) was a German Lutheran mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and a key figure in the 17th century astronomical revolution. ... Market Bosworth is a small town in Leicestershire, England and the 1988 winner of Britain in Bloom. ... Leicestershire ( IPA: (RP), IPA: (locally)), abbreviation Leics. ... Hand-coloured version of the anonymous Flammarion woodcut. ... Derby (pronounced dar-bee ) is a city in the East Midlands of England. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

From 1743, he taught mathematics at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. The Royal Military Academy was founded in 1741 in Woolwich, south-east London. ... Woolwich is a suburb in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of North Woolwich (which is now part of the London Borough of Newham) is on the north side of the river. ...

Apparently, the method that became known as Simpson's rule was well known and used earlier by Bonaventura Cavalieri (a student of Galileo) in 1639, later rediscovered by James Gregory, and was only attributed to Simpson. Coins illustrating Cavalieris principle Bonaventura Francesco Cavalieri (in Latin, Cavalerius) (1598–November 30, 1647) was an Italian mathematician best known today for Cavalieris principle, which states that the volumes of two objects are equal if the areas of corresponding cross-sections are in all cases equal. ... James Gregory For other people with the same name, see James Gregory. ...

Works

• Treatise of Fluxions (1737)
• The Nature and Laws of Chance (1740)
• The Doctrine of Annuities and Reversions (1742)
• Mathematical Dissertation on a Variety of Physical and Analytical Subjects (1743)
• A Treatise of Algebra (1745)
• Elements of Geometry (1747)
• Trigonometry, Plane and Spherical (1748)
• Select Exercises in Mathematics (1752)
• Miscellaneous Tracts on Some Curious Subjects in Mechanics, Physical Astronomy and Speculative Mathematics (1757)

See also

• Simpson's Rule

The function f(x) (in blue) is approximated by a quadratic function P(x) (in red). ...

External links

• 1911 encyclopedia entry
• O'Connor, John J.; Edmund F. Robertson "Thomas Simpson". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.