Rene Descartes The French mathematician Rene Descartes was born on 31 March 1596 in La Haye (now Descartes), Touraine, France. At the age of eight, he entered the Jesuit College at La Fleche where he developed a lasting interest in mathematics. He studied various subjects until he left in 1612. Ironically, attending school had made Descartes understand how little he knew. He discovered that the only subject satisfactory in his eyes was the study of mathematics. This idea …showed first 75 words of 937 total…

…showed last 75 words of 937 total…mfg4ar19.html "Cartesian Coordinates." 20 November 1998. Available Online. 30 December 2002. http://web.mit.edu/wwmath/vectorc/3d/cartesian.html. "Cartesian Coordinates." 18 May 2002. Available Online. 30 December 2002. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci824296,00.html. Davis, Philip C & Hersh, Reuben. Descartes' Dream. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. 1986 "Major Contributions to Science." 30 December 2002. Available Online. 30 December 2002. http://infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0857736.html. Rene Descartes. 17 April 2002. Available Online. http://www.groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematics/Descartes.html 5