One of the foremost mathematicians of modern times, Euler was born
in Basel, Switzerland, and studied under Johann Bernoulli, soon
outstripping his teacher. Well versed in languages, physiology,
medicine, geography and the physical sciences, he has had an
enormous influence in the teaching of mathematics. It is said
that all texbooks in Calculus are essentially copies of his
three books on the subject.He is responsible for the modern treatment of logarithm and exponential functions and the notations sin(x) and cos(x) used for the trigonometric functions, and the use of f(x) to denote an unspecified function.
The most important special number, after π
and e is called Euler's Constant:
γ = limit (1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + ... + 1/n - log(n))
as n becomes infinite.
It is still unknown whether Euler's Constant is a rational or irrational number.