The Reverend John Colson FRS
John Colson by John Wollaston
Born	1680
Died	20 January 1760 (1760-01-20) (aged 79?80) Cambridge
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford
Known for	Signed-digit representation
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	University of Cambridge

John Colson FRS (1680 ? 20 January 1760) was an English clergyman, mathematician, and the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University .

Life [ edit ]

John Colson was educated at Lichfield School before becoming an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford , though he did not take a degree there. He became a schoolmaster at Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School in Rochester, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1713. He was Vicar of Chalk , Kent from 1724 to 1740. He relocated to Cambridge and lectured at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge . ^[1] From 1739 to 1760, he was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. He was also Rector of Lockington, Yorkshire . ^[2]

Works [ edit ]

In 1726 he published his Negativo-Affirmativo Arithmetik advocating a modified decimal system of numeration. It involved "reduction [to] small figures" by "throwing all the large figures ${\displaystyle 9,8,7,6}$ out of a given number, and introducing in their room the equivalent small figures ${\displaystyle 1{\bar {1}},1{\bar {2}},1{\bar {3}},1{\bar {4}}}$ respectively". ^[3]

John Colson translated several of Isaac Newton 's works into English, including De Methodis Serierum et Fluxionum in 1736. ^[1]

See also [ edit ]

• Method of Fluxions
• Witch of Agnesi

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

• Cooper, Thompson (1887). "Colson, John"  . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 405?406.
• Robert Bruen (2008). "Lucasian Chair: John Colson" . Lucasian Chair.org . Cambridge University. Archived from the original on 29 December 2007 . Retrieved 2 April 2008 .
• "A Brief History of The Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge University" ? Robert Bruen, Boston College, May 1995

External links [ edit ]

• Media related to John Colson at Wikimedia Commons