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He was a prodigious child, at the age of three

informing his father of an arithmetical error in a complicated
payroll calculation and stating the correct answer.

In school, when his teacher gave the problem of summing the integers from 1 to
100 (an arithmetic series ) to his students to keep them busy, Gauss immediately
wrote down the correct answer 5050 on his slate.
½ Gauss proved the fundamental theorem of
algebra, which states that every polynomial has
a root of the form m
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½ 1801, he proved the fundamental theorem
of arithmetic, which states that every natural
number can be represented as the product of
primes in only one way.
½ t age 24, Gauss published one of the most
brilliant achievements in mathematics,
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½ Gauss proved that every number is the sum of
at most three triangular numbers and
developed the algebra of congruencies.
½ In 1801, Gauss developed the method of least squares
fitting, 10 years before Legendre, but did not publish it.
The method enabled him to calculate the orbit of the
asteroid Ceres, which had been discovered by Piazzi
from only three observations. However, after his
independent discovery, Legendre accused Gauss of
plagiarism. Gauss published his monumental treatise on
celestial mechanics um "  #
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Weber measured the intensity of magnetic forces. With
Weber, he also built the first successful telegraph.
½ Gauss is reported to have said "There have been
only three epoch-making mathematicians:
rchimedes, Newton and Eisenstein´.
½ Most historians are puzzled by the inclusion of
Eisenstein in the same class as the other two.
There is also a story that in 1807 he was
interrupted in the middle of a problem and told
that his wife was dying. He is purported to have
said, "Tell her to wait a moment 'til I'm through"
(simov 1972, p. 280).
½ Gauss arrived at important results on the parallel
postulate, but failed to publish them. Credit for the
discovery of non-Euclidean geometry therefore went to
Janos Bolyai and Lobachevsky. However, he did publish
his seminal work on differential geometry in
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½ uGaussian curvature (or "second" curvature) is
named for him. He also discovered the Cauchy
integralTheorem for analytic functions, but did not
publish it. Gauss solved the general problem of making
a conformal map of one surface onto another.
½ rnfortunately for mathematics, Gauss reworked and
improved papers incessantly, therefore publishing only a
fraction of his work, in keeping with his motto "pauca
sed matura" (few but ripe). Many of hisresults were
subsequently repeated by others, since his terse diary
remained unpublished for years after his death.
½ This diary was only 19 pages long, but later confirmed
his priority on many results he had not published. Gauss
wanted a heptadecagon placed on his gravestone, but
the carver refused, saying it would be indistinguishable
from a circle. The heptadecagon appears, however, as
the shape of apedestal with a statue erected in his
honor in his home town of Braunschweig.
½ 6eferences
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½ Bell, E. T. "The Prince of Mathematicians: Gauss." Ch. 14 in ""m m /
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½ Boyer, C. B. $  "m m 
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½ Bühler, W. m/r mm&  r/& 57m
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½ Cung, N. "Carl Friedrich Gauss."
http://www.geocities.com/6ainForest/Vines/2977/gauss/
½ gauss.html.
½ Dunnington, G. W. ,m8m
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½ Gauss, C. F. Ú    m-.4/& 57m
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