Modern mathematics can be said to be variable mathematics in essence, and the first milestone of variable mathematics is the invention of analytic geometry. The real inventors of analytic geometry should be attributed to two French mathematicians, Descartes (R.Descartes, 1596- 1650, the famous philosophical saying: "I think, therefore I am") and Fermat (P.DeFermat,1601-/kloc).

Descartes was born in Lahaye, Durham, France. He comes from a noble family and his father is a lawyer. He was educated in Jesuit school in La Fleur in his early years. 16 12 went to Paris to do research. 16 17 and 16 19 joined the army twice and traveled in Europe after leaving the military camp. His academic research was completed in the army and during his travels.

There are several legends about Descartes' inspiration to create analytic geometry. There is a legend that Descartes kept the habit of "thinking in the morning" all his life when he was studying in a Jesuit school. When he saw a fly crawling on the ceiling, it suddenly occurred to him that if he knew the distance between the fly and two adjacent walls, he could describe its route, which made his mind flash with the idea of analytic geometry for the first time. Another legend is that in the winter of 16 19, Descartes was stationed with the army in a village on the Danube. On the eve of St. Martin's Day (165438+ 10/0), he had three consecutive dreams, which Descartes later said revealed to him "a strange science.

It is not impossible for people to get inspiration and enlightenment in their sleep after painstaking thinking, but in fact Descartes was able to create analytic geometry mainly because of his hard exploration, painstaking thinking and the use of scientific methods, which critically inherited the achievements of predecessors.