Carol Causs

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for brilliance was recognized immediately. Gauss's teacher Herr Buttner, had assigned the class a difficult problem of addition in which the students were to find the sum of the integers from one to one hundred. While his classmates toiled over the addition, Carl sat and pondered the question. He invented the shortcut formula on the spot, and wrote down the correct answer. Carl came to the conclusion that the sum of the integers was 50 pairs of numbers each pair summing to one hundred and one, thus simple multiplication followed and the answer could be found.
This act of sheer genius was so astounding to Herr Buttner that the teacher took the young Gauss under his wing and taught him fervently on the subject of arithmetic. He paid for the best textbooks obtainable out of his own pocket and presented them to Gauss, who reportedly flashed through them.
In 1788 Gauss began his education at the Gymnasium, with the assistance of his past teacher Buttner, where he learned High German ...

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1801, Zach an astronomer whom Gauss had come to know two or three years before, published the orbital positions of, Ceres, a new "small planet", otherwise know as an asteroid. Part of Zach's publication included Gauss's prediction for the orbit of this celestial body, which greatly differed from those predictions made by others. When Ceres was rediscovered it was almost exactly where Gauss had predicted it to be.

Although Gauss did not disclose his methods at the time, it was found that he had used his least squares approximation method. This successful prediction started off Gauss's long involvement with the field of astronomy.On October ninth, 1805 Gauss was married to Johana ...

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