Article ID: CBB001213656

Polylogarithms, Functional Equations and More: The Elusive Essays of William Spence (1777--1815) (2013)

unapi

The little-known Scottish mathematician William Spence was an able analyst, one of the first in Britain to be conversant with recent continental advances, and having original views. His major work on logarithmic transcendents gives the first detailed account of polylogarithms and related functions. A theory of algebraic equations was published just after his early death; and further essays, edited by John Herschel, were published posthumously. The most substantial of these concern an extension of his work on logarithmic transcendents, and the general solution of linear differential and difference equations. But awareness of Spence's works was long delayed by their supposed unavailability. Spence's life, the story of his lost publications, and a summary of all his essays are here described.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001213656/

Similar Citations

Article Craik, Alex D. D.; (2003)
The Logarithmic Tables of Edward Sang and His Daughters (/isis/citation/CBB000340646/)

Article Fischer, Joachim; Ruess, Bärbel; (2014)
Napier Revisited or a New Look at the Computation of His Logarithms (/isis/citation/CBB001451420/)

Book Gladstone-Millar, Lynne; (2003)
John Napier: Logarithm John (/isis/citation/CBB000320403/)

Article Sørensen, Henrik Kragh; (2013)
What's Abelian about Abelian Groups? (/isis/citation/CBB001212298/)

Article Ferraro, Giovanni; (2007)
The Foundational Aspects of Gauss's Work on the Hypergeometric, Factorial and Digamma Functions (/isis/citation/CBB000720349/)

Article Whiteside, D. T.; (2014)
“And John Napier created logarithms...” (/isis/citation/CBB001451419/)

Book Riehm, Elaine McKinnon; Hoffman, Frances; (2011)
Turbulent Times in Mathematics: The Life of J. C. Fields and the History of the Fields Medal (/isis/citation/CBB001213651/)

Article Craik, Alex D. D.; (2013)
In Search of Thomas Knight: Part 2 (/isis/citation/CBB001213291/)

Article Guo, Jinhai; (2014)
William Fogg Osgood and the Dissemination of Theories of Functions in China (/isis/citation/CBB001214103/)

Book Robin Wilson; Amirouche Moktefi; (2019)
The Mathematical World of Charles L. Dodgson (/isis/citation/CBB549238387/)

Article Brigitte Stenhouse; (2020)
Mary Somerville's Early Contributions to the Circulation of Differential Calculus (/isis/citation/CBB260946769/)

Article Simmons, Charlotte; (2008)
William Rowan Hamilton and George Boole (/isis/citation/CBB000931920/)

Thesis Ping-Ying Chang; (2015)
Chinese Hereditary Mathematician Families of the Astronomical Bureau, 1620–1850 (/isis/citation/CBB621834765/)

Book Alexander, Amir; (2010)
Duel at Dawn: Heroes, Martyrs, and the Rise of Modern Mathematics (/isis/citation/CBB001020030/)

Book Ehrhardt, Caroline; (2011)
Évariste Galois: La fabrication d'une icône mathématique (/isis/citation/CBB001221115/)

Book Allen, David Elliston; (2001)
Naturalists and Society: The Culture of Natural History in Britain, 1700-1900 (/isis/citation/CBB000100994/)

Article Grünbaum, Branko; (2012)
Is Napoleon's Theorem Really Napoleon's Theorem? (/isis/citation/CBB001211025/)

Authors & Contributors
Craik, Alex D. D.
Stenhouse, Brigitte
Chang, Ping-Ying
Ayşe Kökcü
Dauben, Joseph W.
Gauss, Carl Friedrich
Concepts
Mathematics
Mathematicians
Biographies
Logarithms
Functions (mathematics)
Group theory
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
17th century
20th century, early
Qing dynasty (China, 1644-1912)
Renaissance
Places
Scotland
China
Great Britain
England
Edinburgh
Turkey
Institutions
Astronomical Bureau (China)
Imperial University of Peking
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment