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MacLaurin, Colin, 1698-1746 (mathematician)

 Person

Staff Only

Dates

  • Existence: 1698 - 1746

Biography

Colin Maclaurin, born in Kilmodan, Argyll, was a Scottish mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and algebra. The 'Maclaurin series', a special case of the 'Taylor series', is named after him.

At the age of eleven, Colin Maclaurin entered the University of Glasgow, graduating with the degree of MA three years later with a thesis on the Power of Gravity. He remained at Glasgow to study divinity until he was 19, when he was elected Professor of Mathematics at the Marischal College in the University of Aberdeen.

Maclaurin taught a 3-year course from elementary to advanced mathematics, beginning with arithmetic and Euclid, and working up to the Principia and the method of fluxions. He also taught experimental philosophy, surveying, fortification, geography, theory of gunnery, astronomy, and optics. He wrote his A Treatise of Algebra at this time and for use in his courses, although it did not appear in print until after his death.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Autograph letter signed from Colin Maclaurin on the dispute with Campbell, undated [probably 1729]

 Item
Identifier: Coll-2911/2
Scope and Contents

Autograph letter signed from Colin Maclaurin to James Stirling, undated [probably 1729], on the dispute with George Campbell regarding impossible roots ("I send you with this letter my answer to Mr George Campbell which I publish with regret being so far from delighting in such a difference that I have the greatest dislike at a publick dispute of this Nature"), also mentioning a debt of six guineas to Abraham de Moivre.

Dates: undated [probably 1729]
Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Autograph letters from Colin Maclaurin to James Stirling

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  • Subject: Debt X