1652-1719

French Mathematician

The name of Michel Rolle is primarily associated with Rolle's Theorem, which concerns the position of roots in an equation. He also developed the modern expression for the term nth root of x, and presented what he called his "cascade" method for separating the roots in an algebraic equation. Rolle, whose most famous work was Traité d'algèbre (1690), is also remembered for his opposition to techniques pioneered by René Descartes (1596-1650).

The son of a shopkeeper, Rolle was born in the French town of Ambert on April 21, 1652. His origins prevented him from obtaining a formal education, and instead he went to work in his teens as a scribe. By the age of 24 he was in Paris, earning his living as a secretary and an accountant. He married and had children, and was sufficiently successful in his profession that from the late 1670s...