Willem Abraham Wythoff
Willem Abraham Wythoff | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Willem Abraham Wijthoff 6 October 1865 |
| Died | 21 May 1939 (aged 73) Amsterdam |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Alma mater | University of Amsterdam |
| Known for | Wythoff's game, Wythoff construction, Wythoff symbol |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Doctoral advisor | Diederik Korteweg |
Willem Abraham Wythoff, born Wijthoff (Dutch pronunciation: [ʋɛithɔf]), (6 October 1865 – 21 May 1939) was a Dutch mathematician.
Biography
[edit]Wythoff was born in Amsterdam to Anna C. F. Kerkhoven and Abraham Willem Wijthoff,[1] who worked in a sugar refinery.[2] He studied at the University of Amsterdam, and earned his Ph.D. in 1898 under the supervision of Diederik Korteweg.[3]
Contributions
[edit]Wythoff is known in combinatorial game theory and number theory for his study of Wythoff's game, whose solution involves the Fibonacci numbers.[2] The Wythoff array, a two-dimensional array of numbers related to this game and to the Fibonacci sequence, is also named after him.[4][5]
In geometry, Wythoff is known for the Wythoff construction of uniform tilings and uniform polyhedra and for the Wythoff symbol used as a notation for these geometric objects.
Personal life
[edit]Willem Abraham Wythoff was the youngest of four children born into the wealthy family of Abraham Willem Wijthoff and Anna Catharina Frederika Kerkhoven. His father was a Lutheran and son of the Amsterdam sugar refinery family Wijthoff & Son. His older sisters were: mathematician Geertruida (Truida) Wijthoff, writer Henriëtte Wijthoff and illustrator Anna Catharina Frederika Wijthoff.[6]
Selected publications
[edit]- Wythoff, W. A. (1905–1907), "A modification of the game of nim", Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde, 2: 199–202.
- Wythoff, W. A. (1918), "A relation between the polytopes of the C600-family", Proceedings of the Section of Sciences, 20, Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam: 966–970, Bibcode:1918KNAB...20..966W.
References
[edit]- ^ "Gezinsblad van Willem Abraham Wijthoff". www.humanitarisme.nl. Retrieved Oct 12, 2022.
- ^ a b Stakhov, Alexey; Stakhov, Alekseĭ Petrovich; Olsen, Scott Anthony (2009), The Mathematics of Harmony: From Euclid to Contemporary Mathematics and Computer Science, K & E Series on Knots and Everything, vol. 22, World Scientific, pp. 129–130, ISBN 9789812775825.
- ^ Willem Abraham Wythoff at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ Kimberling, Clark (1995), "The Zeckendorf array equals the Wythoff array" (PDF), Fibonacci Quarterly, 33 (1): 3–8.
- ^ Morrison, D. R. (1980), "A Stolarsky array of Wythoff pairs", A Collection of Manuscripts Related to the Fibonacci Sequence (PDF), Santa Clara, Calif: The Fibonacci Association, pp. 134–136.
- ^ Fokkink, Robbert (2017). "Wie weet wie Willem Wijthoff was". Researchgate. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Willem Wijthoff at Wikimedia Commons
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