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Mathematical Treasure: Jean Prestet’s Elemens des mathematiques

Author(s): 
Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University)

Elemens des mathematiques was a popular text for the teaching of mathematics in French schools during the 17th century. Abraham de Moivre studied from it as a student. Little is known of its author, Jean Prestet, other than that he was a Catholic priest. This is the title page for the 1675 first printing.

Title page from Jean Prestet's 1675 Elemens de mathematiques.

A foldout table provides: multiplication and division facts, powers of the basic numbers through powers of \(10,\) and listings of coefficients for the binominal expansion of \((a+b).\)

Foldout table from Jean Prestet's 1675 Elemens de mathematiques.

The images above are presented courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

Index to Mathematical Treasures

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasure: Jean Prestet’s Elemens des mathematiques," Convergence (October 2016)