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Pascal never went to elementary school. Instead, he was taught by his father. He did not begin to study math until age of twelve, but by age fourteen he had begun to participate in meetings with the eminent mathematicians of the time. In 1639, Pascal published his first paper, which was on geometry. In 1645, Pascal became the first person to invent the digital calculator. The strange number systems in vogue at the time made this more difficult than it would have been with a base ten system, and the demand for these calculators was not great. In 1652, production of these calculators had ceased after selling only about fifty prototypes. In 1647, Pascal began studying in earnest atmospheric physics. He discovered that atmospheric pressure decreases with height, the existence of a vacuum, and that a vacuum exists above the atmosphere. Pascal presented his most important work in 1653, in the book Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids. This work was Pascal's principle, which states that pressure applied at one point in a fluid is transmitted undiminished to all other points in the fluid. Unlike his work on vacuums and atmospheric pressure, this principle was accepted immediately and heralded as a great advance in hydraulics. Pascal is also famous for his discovery of Pascal's triangle, a sequence that can be used in binomial expansion. After this, Pascal became sickly and was confined to bed. He died at age 39, in extreme pain from a stomach growth. |