Pietro Antonio Cataldi (April 15, 1548 – February 11, 1626) was an Italian mathematician. A citizen of Bologna, he taught mathematics and astronomy and also worked on military problems. His work included the development of continued fractions and a method for their representation. He was one of many mathematicians who attempted to prove Euclid's fifth postulate. Cataldi discovered the sixth and seventh Mersenne primes by 1588.[1] He held the record for the largest known prime for almost two centuries, until Leonhard Euler discovered that 2³¹ - 1 was the eighth Mersenne prime.[1]

References

1. ^ a b Caldwell, Chris. The largest known prime by year.

External links

* O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Pietro Cataldi", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Cataldi.html .
* Galileo Project