You do not need anyone's permission to become a great mathematician.             Nira Chamberlain
Ian STEWART
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DISCWORLD MATHEMATICIANS


PURE MATHEMATICIANS

The greatest living mathematician is the camel You Bastard [Pyramids]. One of his theorems is recorded:

An automorphic resonance field has a semi-infinite number of irresolute prime ideals.
He is an expert complex analyst, attributed with the deduction*:
           Let z = eiθ. Then dz = ieiθ dθ = iz dθ. Therefore dθ =dz/iz.
    *Though not in quite that notation.

 
The greatest mathematician of all time was the camel Evil Smelling Bugger, who invented a maths of eight-dimensional space while lying down with his nostrils closed in a violent sandstorm. He is also credited with inventing a differential tensor domain with four imaginary spin coefficients.

Other camel mathematicians include You Vicious Brute, creator of the theory of transient integrals. And possibly Bloody Stupid, who lives over in Tsort.

“Numbers” Riktor, aka Riktor the Tinkerer. Wizard at UU who was convinced that the universe was numbers. Inventor of the Mouse Counter.

Pthagonal is an Ephebian philosopher, which is much the same as ‘mathematician’, especially in his case. Attributed with:
•    Pthagonal’s Theorem a^2+b^2=c^2.
•    The diameter divides into the circumference…It ought to be three times. But does it? No. Three point one four and lots of other figures. There’s no end to the buggers.
    This is called the irrationality of pie.
•    Length is height and height is breadth and breadth is width and width is (burp!) time.

Xeno. Another Ephebian philosopher who proved by logic alone that an arrow cannot hit a running man. Also that the tortoise is the fastest animal on the Disc**. Combined both in one experiment***.
    **Provided it is fired by someone who has been in the pub since lunchtime.
    ***Actually this is the Ambiguous Puzuma.


Isaac Newton featured in The Science of Discworld II: The Globe, but is otherwise unimportant.

APPLIED MATHEMATICIANS

Big Al Onestone
is (a) apocryphal and (b) a mathematical physicist, which is not the same thing at all.


Ptaclusp IIa, Ptaclusp IIa, Ptaclusp IIa, and Ptaclusp IIa are accountants, which is also not the same thing at all, but they have studied algebra and calculus. And quantum accountancy. Then there’s Ptaclusp IIb, Ptaclusp IIb, Ptaclusp IIb, Ptaclusp IIb, and Ptaclusp IIb…

Reforgule of Krull who theorized that the Disc revolves once every 800 days to distribute the weight fairly upon its supporting elephants.

Didactylos. Ephebian philosopher who calculated that the sun travels twice as fast as light, making it a tachyon.

Leonard of Quirm scrapes in here because of his evident mastery of celestial mechanics when putting the Kite into orbit around Discworld en route to Cori Celesti [THE LAST HERO]
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