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Mathematical Treasure: Textbooks of Sylvestre Lacroix

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

Sylvestre Lacroix (1765-1843) was a French mathematician and Professor of Mathematics in several post-revolutionary French institutions of higher education. He spent much of his career teaching at the École Polytechnique in Paris. Lacroix was a textbook writer of wide scope who incorporated into his works the revolutionary concept that knowledge should be for public consumption. As a result of this innovation, his textbooks were adopted, sometimes after translation, throughout Europe and the early United States of America. See images of these texts at the following webpages:

Frank J. Swetz (The Pennsylvania State University), "Mathematical Treasure: Textbooks of Sylvestre Lacroix," Convergence (June 2015)