1619-1682

Italian mathematician whose work represents an early example of induction. A cardinal, Ricci was known in his lifetime for his many letters on mathematical topics, and for his correspondence with mathematicians and scientists including Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647). In later years, however, his fame rested on a 19-page pamphlet called Exercitatio geometrica, De maximis et minimis (1666), in which he found the maximum of x^m(a-x)ⁿ and the tangents to y^m=kxⁿ. Among the other objects of Ricci's study were spirals and generalized cycloids.