William Shanks

William Shanks (born January 25, 1812 in Corsenside, 1882 in Houghton-le-Spring) is a British mathematician, known for his calculations of π. Curriculum vitae

Shanks was involved in mathematics in his spare time, under the influence of William Rutherford, focused on calculating the expansion of π. In 1853 Shanks published a book titled " Contributions to mathematics. In the same year, Shanks' teacher William Rutherford gave the 440 number extension of π. Later in the same year, in collaboration with Shanks, they published a work in which they presented an extension of 530 seats. Later in the same year, Shanks published a calculation of π with 607 decimal places. In the following years he focused on other departments of mathematics, between 1854 and 1874 published nine articles in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. In 1873 he presented the expansion of the number π to 707 places after the decimal point, however he made a mistake at 528th place, as demonstrated in 1944 by D. F. Ferguson. In his work he used the pattern developed in 1706 by John Machin.

Born on January 25, 1812 in Corsenside. He died in June 1882 at Houghton-le-Spring and was buried June 17 at Houghton Hillside Cemetery. Married to Jane Elizabeth Pringle (1815-1904) from 1846.

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