Solve This!

My name is Carl Friedrich Gauss and they say I am a very important person in the history of math. I was born in Brunswick, Germany on April 30, 1777 and died in 1855 peacefully in bed. At the age of two I knew the alphabet and had taught myself how to read aloud. I was called “Wonder Child” by my parents and neighbors, even though my father wanted me to follow the family business, brick laying. When I was three I was smart enough to correct my father’s arithmetic errors, and in third grade I invented a formula for finding the sum of any arithmetic progression.For example see my 1 to 100 problem and its solution.

When I was ten I was allowed to attend an arithmetic discussion. When presented with a problem I immediately invented the shortcut that the teacher was planning to tell the class after they had solved the problem. I wrote down the correct answer before the teacher had presented the whole lesson. The teacher was awed and he recommended me to the Duke of Brunswick who granted me the finances to continue my education. Then in 1788 I learned High German and Latin. When I was 18, I discovered a way to construct a regular polygon that had 17 sides using only a straightedge and compass. I was so proud of myself because it had been thought impossible until then. In one book, I told about a kind of algebra I had developed called modular arithmetic. I became known as an astronomer when I discovered a way to calculate the path of a planet using minimum known data. I was the first person to invent the telegraph and, with a friend, I constructed one.

Click Here to test your knowledge of Gauss.

Click here to see Two Dice Sums (Gaussian Curve).