Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was born on April 30, 1777. He was born in Brunswick, Duchy of Brunswick, which is now Germany. He died on February 23, 1855 in Göttingen, Hanover, which is now Germany. Gauss was always fascinated by mathematical ideas. It has been said that at the age of 3 Gauss corrected his father's computations.

When Gauss was in elementary school his teacher Master Büttner did not really like math so he did not spend a lot of time on the subject. One of the problems his teacher gave the class was "add all the whole numbers from 1 to 100". His teacher Master Büttner was amazed that Gauss could add all the whole numbers 1 to 100 in his head. Master Büttner didn’t believe Gauss could do it, so he made him show the class how he did it. Gauss showed Master Büttner how to do it and Master Büttner was amazed at what Gauss just did. The system of how he did it is add 1+100, 2+99, 3+98…49+52 and he had 50 pairs of 101 and he multiplied 101x50 to get 5050, which is the answer.

Gauss loved to work with numbers which lead to the discovery of modular arithmetic. The modulo is like looking at a clock. For example, if a clock was base ten we will have the numbers 0 to 9 on the clock. Here is an example, (10+2)|10=2|10 and (40+0)|40=0|40. The bar represents the modulo or the base you are working in. If you had to meet someone in 5 hours and it is 10a.m. the meeting is at 3p.m., not 15:00. This is an example of modular arithmetic.

If you want to figure out the modulo you will take two numbers and add them up and divide it by the modulo. For example 7|10 +5|10=2|10. To figure the answer out you add 7+5=12. Then you divide 12/10 which is 1 remainder 2. The 2 is the modulo so the answer is 2|10.

5|11+12|11 

5+12=17

17divided by 11= 1 remainder 6 so the answer is 6|11

The modular arithmetic has been used in some cryptography.  

Beside modular arithmetic, Gauss made many other important discoveries in several mathematical areas such as Number Theory, Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, Complex Numbers, and the theory of functions to name a few.

Gauss wrote a book called the Disquisitiones Arithmeticae, which means "Higher Arithmetic", in the summer of 1801. He wrote the book when he was 24 years old! Gauss also published an article about "Differential Geometry". He published many other papers on the subject.

Gauss' fame as an extraordinary mathematician was know throughout Europe. He lived a simple life and spent most of his time pursing fields and studies that interested him.