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The Life and Faith of Blaise Pascal

The Life and Faith of Blaise Pascal George W. Benthien September 14, 2018 Contents Introduction 2 Brief Biography 4 Contributions to Science 9 Pascal and Mathematics 14 Contributions to Lierature 16 The Faith of Blaise Pascal 18 References 21 Apendix A: Pascal’s Triangle 22 Appendix B: Analysis of Unfinished Game Problem 25 1 Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) Introduction Who was Blaise Pascal? Was he a mathematician, an inventor, a scientist, an engineer, a literary giant, a philosopher, a theologian? The answer to all these is yes. In his short lifetime (39 years) he made important contributions in all these areas. In mathematics his biggest contribution was probably his collaboration with Pierre de Fermat to form the beginnings of probability theory. Most students of mathematics are familiar with an arrangement of numbers called Pascal’s triangle. Pascal didn’t actually invent this triangle, but he made extensive use of it in the combinatorial problems associated with probability and was the first to publish a scientific paper dedicated solely to

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Blaise Pascal

(1623-1662)

Who Was Blaise Pascal?

In the 1640s mathematician Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline, an early calculator, and further validated Evangelista Torricelli's theory concerning the cause of barometrical variations. In the 1650s, Pascal laid the foundation of probability theory with Pierre de Fermat and published the theological work Les Provinciales, a groundbreaking series of letters that defended his Jansenist faith. Pascal is also widely known for his body of notes posthumously released as the Pensées.

Early Life

Pascal, born on June 19, 1623, in Clermont-Ferrand, France, was the third of four children and only son to Etienne and Antoinette Pascal. His mother passed away when Pascal was just a toddler and he became exceptionally close to his two sisters Gilberte and Jacqueline. His father, Etienne, was a tax collector and talented mathematician.

Etienne moved the family to Paris in 1631. He had decided to educate Pascal — a child prodigy — at home so he could design an unorthodox curriculum and make sure that Pascal was able to express his

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Quick Info

Born

19 June 1623
Clermont (now Clermont-Ferrand), Auvergne, France

Died

19 August 1662
Paris, France

Summary

Blaise Pascal was a very influential French mathematician and philosopher who contributed to many areas of mathematics. He worked on conic sections and projective geometry and in correspondence with Fermat he laid the foundations for the theory of probability.

Biography

Blaise Pascal was the third of Étienne Pascal's children and his only son. Blaise's mother died when he was only three years old. In 1632 the Pascal family, Étienne and his four children, left Clermont and settled in Paris. Blaise Pascal's father had unorthodox educational views and decided to teach his son himself. Étienne Pascal decided that Blaise was not to study mathematics before the age of 15 and all mathematics texts were removed from their house. Blaise however, his curiosity raised by this, started to work on geometry himself at the age of 12. He discovered that the sum of the angles of a triangle are two right angles and, when his father found out, he relented