George Anderson (mathematician)

George Anderson (born ca. 1720)[1] was an English[1] mathematician, about whom nothing is known beyond what is contained in eight letters addressed by him to the celebrated mathematician William Jones (father of the orientalist Sir William Jones), which were printed from the Macclesfield papers in 1841.[2] They give proof of singular ability in treating the most advanced mathematical problems of the time, and by many indications show the writer (contrary to an editorial surmise)[3] to have occupied a respectable position in life.[4] The first three are dated from Twickenham, August to October 1736; the two from 1739 were sent from Hothfield and Newbottle, respectively; the last was written 27 September 1740, at Leyden, where the writer, now aged 20 and enrolled as a law student since 12 September,[1][5] had just entered upon a "train of studies and exercises"[6] at the university. He expressed in 1739 a strong desire to be admitted to the Royal Society, but his name does not appear upon the list of its members.[7]

Letters

#	Page Range	Date	Contents[8]
CIX	293–297	July 21, 1736	Criticism of Halley's paper on logarithms.
CXII	301–305	August 28, 1736	[Samuel] Cunn's series for periphery of ellipse, and other quadratures. Equation of payments.
CXIII	306–310	October 28, 1736	Further quadratures.
CXIV	311–312	no date	Area of spherical triangle by fluxions.
CXVI	319–323	January 31, 1737 (N.S. 1738)	Demonstration of a theorem of De Moivre. Solution of Simpson's problem.
CXXII	342–346	May 10, 1739	Formulæ for approximate solution of equations.
CXXIII	346–353	September 17, 1739	Private affairs. Problems in quadratures.
CXXVI	360–366	September 16 (N.S. 27), 1740	Formulæ for logarithms. Quadrature of lunales. Leyden booksellers. Inquiry about the wedge.

References

1. Willem Nicolaas du Rieu (comp.), Album Studiosorum Academiae Lugduno Batavae MDLXXV—MDCCCLXXV, accedunt nomina curatorum et professorum per eadem secula. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1875, col. 982.
2. Stephen Peter Rigaud (ed.), Correspondence of Scientific Men of the Seventeenth Century, Including Letters of Barrow, Flamsteed, Wallis, and Newton, Printed from the Originals in the Collection of the Right Honourable the Earl of Macclesfield. In Two Volumes. Vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1841.
3. Rigaud, p. 297.
4. Augustus De Morgan, "George Anderson". In The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Volume II. Part II. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1843, p. 576.
5. Edward Peacock (comp.), Index to English Speaking Students Who Have Graduated [recte: Matriculated] at Leyden University. London: Longmans, Green & Со., 1883 (Index Society Publications, 13), p. 3.
6. Rigaud, p. 360.
7. Rigaud, pp. 352–353.
8. Augustus De Morgan (comp.), Contents of the Correspondence of Scientific Men of the Seventeenth Century, Printed at the University Press, Oxford, in Two Volumes Octavo, 1841, Under the Superintendence of the Late Professor Rigaud, from the Originals in the Collection of the Right Honourable the Earl of Macclesfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1862, pp. 12–14.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Clerke, Agnes Mary (1885). "Anderson, George (fl.1740)". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 376.