Simon Stevin (1548-1620) was an influential mathematician and engineer with a broad range of interests. He offered new insights and discoveries in the development of decimal numbers and the laws of inclines, gravity, hydrostatics, and fortification. Although Stevin never earned the same lasting reputation as Galileo or Isaac Newton, his contributions to the advancement of mathematical theory are noteworthy.

Very little regarding Stevin's early life is known with certainty. He noted in many of his books that he was a native of Bruges, a city in Flanders, which later became Belgium. According to the inscription on a later portrait, he was born in 1548. Records of his deeds name him as the son of wealthy parents, Antheunis Stevin and Cathelyne van der Poort. Conceived out of wedlock, he was most likely raised by his mother, but no information concerning his childhood is available.

In 1577, Stevin occupied an administrative position...