Leonhard Euler: His Life and

Work
Michael P. Saclolo, Ph.D.
St. Edwards University
Austin, Texas

Pronunciation

Euler = Oiler

Leonhard Euler
Lisez Euler, lisez Euler, c'est notre matre
tous.
-- Pierre-Simon Laplace

Read Euler, read Euler, hes the master (teacher)

of us all.

Images of Euler

Eulers Life in Bullets

Born: April 15, 1707, Basel, Switzerland

Died: 1783, St. Petersburg, Russia
Father: Paul Euler, Calvinist pastor
Mother: Marguerite Brucker, daughter of a
pastor
Married-Twice: 1)Katharina Gsell, 2)her
half sister
Children-Thirteen (three outlived him)

Academic Biography
Enrolled at University of Basel at age 14
Mentored by Johann Bernoulli
Studied mathematics, history, philosophy
(masters degree)

Entered divinity school, but left to pursue

more mathematics

Academic Biography
Joined Johann Bernoullis sons in St.
Russia (St. Petersburg Academy-1727)
Lured into Berlin Academy (1741)
Went back to St. Petersburg in 1766
where he remained until his death

Other facts about Eulers life

Loss of vision in his right eye 1738
By 1771 virtually blind in both eyes
(productivity did not suffer-still averaged 1
mathematical publication per week)

Religious

Mathematical Predecessors

Isaac Newton
Pierre de Fermat
Ren Descartes
Blaise Pascal
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Mathematical Successors

Pierre-Simon Laplace
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss
Augustin Louis Cauchy
Bernhard Riemann

Mathematical Contemporaries

Bernoullis-Johann, Jakob, Daniel

Alexis Clairaut
Jean le Rond DAlembert
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Christian Goldbach

Contemporaries: Non-mathematical
Voltaire
Candide
Academy of Sciences, Berlin

Benjamin Franklin
George Washington

Great Volume of Works

856 publications550 before his death
Works catalogued by Enestrom in 1904
(E-numbers)
Thousands of letters to friends and
colleagues
12 major books
Precalculus, Algebra, Calculus, Popular
Science

Contributions to Mathematics
Calculus (Analysis)
Number Theoryproperties of the natural
numbers, primes.
Logarithms
Infinite Seriesinfinite sums of numbers
Analytic Number Theoryusing infinite
series, limits, calculus, to study
properties of numbers (such as primes)

Contributions to Mathematics
Complex Numbers
Algebraroots of polynomials,
factorizations of polynomials
Geometryproperties of circles, triangles,
circles inscribed in triangles.
Combinatoricscounting methods
Graph Theorynetworks

Other Contributions--Some
highlights

Mechanics
Motion of celestial bodies
Motion of rigid bodies
Propulsion of Ships
Optics
Fluid mechanics
Theory of Machines

Named after Euler

Over 50 mathematically related items
(own estimate)

Euler Polyhedral Formula (Euler

Characteristic)
Applies to convex polyhedra

Euler Polyhedral Formula (Euler

Characteristic)
Vertex (plural Vertices)corner points
Faceflat outside surface of the
polyhedron
Edgewhere two faces meet
V-E+F=Euler characteristic
Descartes showed something similar
(earlier)

Euler Polyhedral Formula (Euler

Characteristic)
Five Platonic Solids
Tetrahedron
Hexahedron (Cube)
Octahedron
Dodecahedron
Icosahedron

#Vertices - #Edges+ #Faces = 2

Euler Polyhedral Formula (Euler

Characteristic)
What would be the Euler characteristic of
a triangular prism?

a square pyramid?

The Bridges of KnigsbergThe

Birth of Graph Theory
Present day Kaliningrad (part of but not
physically connected to mainland Russia)
Knigsberg was the name of the city when
it belonged to Prussia

The Bridges of KnigsbergThe

Birth of Graph Theory

The Bridges of KnigsbergThe

Birth of Graph Theory
Question 1Is there a way to visit each
land mass using a bridge only once?
(Eulerian path)
Question 2Is there a way to visit each
land mass using a bridge only once and
beginning and arriving at the same point?
(Eulerian circuit)

The Bridges of KnigsbergThe

Birth of Graph Theory

The Bridges of KnigsbergThe

Birth of Graph Theory
One can go from A to B via b (AaB).
Using sequences of these letters to
indicate a path, Euler counts how many
times a A (or B) occurs in the sequence

The Bridges of KnigsbergThe

Birth of Graph Theory
If there are an odd number of bridges
connected to A, then A must appear n
times where n is half of 1 more than
number of bridges connected to A

The Bridges of KnigsbergThe

Birth of Graph Theory
Determined that the sequence of bridges
(small letters) necessary was bigger than
the current seven bridges (keeping their
locations)

The Bridges of KnigsbergThe

Birth of Graph Theory
Nowadays we use graph theory to solve
problem (see ACTIVITIES)

Molecular Biology: Terminology

DNA Double Helix

Watson-Crick Complements: AT, G C, T A, C

G
RNA: Single-Stranded, T Replaced by U
Helix Denaturation (Ambient Temperature Governed)
DNA Oligonucleotide Sequences
DNA Hybridization
DNA Enzymes: Functional Proteins Operating on
DNA

DNA Computing: Adlemans Experiment

(1994)
The Problem: An Unremarkable Instance
of the Directed Traveling Salesmen Problem
on a Graph with Seven Nodes
Figures from Adleman, SA 1998

The Method: Remarkable Oligonucleotide

DNA Hybridization Technique
Miami (CTACGG)
NY
(ATGCCG)
Route (Edge): Second Half of Codeword for
Miami (CGG) and First Half of Codeword for NY
(ATG):

DNA Computing: The Benefits

Not a von Neumann Architecture: Stochastic Mechanism
with Massive Parallelism: 1/50th of Teaspoon, 1014paths/1s
Extremely Low Power Consumption: 1 Joule for 2 10 19
Operations
Storage Capacity: Vol(1g of DNA)=1cm3 , Information=1
trillion CDs
18Mb/inch of Length (0.35nm Between Base Pairs)
Versatility of Applications, Only Plausible Option in Many
Cases
Drawbacks: First Implementations not Interactive
3-Day Processing Delay
VERY LOW RELIABILITY OF COMPUTATION

Knights Tour (on a Chessboard)

Knights Tour (on a Chessboard)

Problem proposed to Euler during a chess
game

Knights Tour (on a Chessboard)

Knights Tour (on a Chessboard)

Euler proposed ways to complete a
knights tour
Showed ways to close an open tour
Showed ways to make new tours out of
old

Knights Tour (on a Chessboard)

Basel Problem
First posed in 1644 (Mengoli)
An example of an INFINITE SERIES
(infinite sum) that CONVERGES (has a
particular sum)

1 1 1
1

...

...

2
2
2
2
1 2 3
k
6

Euler and Primes

If

Then

p 4n 1

p a b
2

In a unique way
Example

5 4(1) 1 2 1
2

Euler and Primes

This infinite series has no sum
Infinitely many primes

1 1 1 1 1
1
1 ... ...
2 3 5 7 11
p

Euler and Complex Numbers

Recall

i 1

Euler and Complex Numbers

Eulers Formula:

Euler and Complex Numbers

Euler offered several proofs
Cotes proved a similar result earlier
One of Eulers proofs uses infinite series

Euler and Complex Numbers

2
3
4
5
x
x
x
x
x
e 1 x

...
1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5
2
3
4
5
(
ix
)
(
ix
)
(
ix
)
(
ix
)
ix
e 1 ix

...
1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5

2
3
4
5
x
ix
x
ix
ix
e 1 ix

...
1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5

Euler and Complex Numbers

2

x
x
cos 1

...
1 2 1 2 3 4
3

x
x
sin x x

...
1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5
3

ix
ix
i sin x ix

...
1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5

Euler and Complex Numbers

2

x
ix
x
ix
e 1 ix

...
1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5
ix

2
4
3
5
x
x
ix
ix
e ix 1

... ix

...
1 2 1 2 3 4
1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5

Euler and Complex Numbers

Eulers Identity:

e 1 0

e 1 (cos i sin ) 1
i

e 1 1 i 0 1
i
e 1 0

How to learn more about Euler

How Euler did it. by Ed Sandifer
http://www.maa.org/news/howeulerdidit.html
Monthly online column

Euler Archive
http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~euler/
Eulers works in the original language (and
some translations)

The Euler Society

http://www.eulersociety.org/

How to learn more about Euler

Books
Dunhamm, W., Euler: the Master of Us All, Dolciani
Mathematical Expositions, the Mathematical
Association of America, 1999
Dunhamm, W (Ed.), The Genius of Euler:
Reflections on His Life and Work, Spectrum, the
Mathematical Association of America, 2007
Sandifer, C. E., The Early Mathematics of Leonhard
Euler, Spectrum, the Mathematical Associatin of
America, 2007