W. W. Rouse Ball

Walter William Rouse Ball
W.W. Rouse Ball
Born	14 August 1850(1850-08-14) Hampstead, London, England
Died	4 April 1925(1925-04-04) (aged 74) Elmside, Cambridge, England
Residence	United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Fields	Mathematician
Alma mater	University College London University of Cambridge
Doctoral students	Ernest Barnes
Known for	Tessellations, magic squares, history of mathematics

Walter William Rouse Ball (14 August 1850 – 4 April 1925) was a British mathematician, lawyer and a fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1878 to 1905. He was also a keen amateur magician, and the founding president of the Cambridge Pentacle Club in 1919, one of the world's oldest such societies.^[1]

Contents 1 Life 2 Books 3 See also 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

Life

Walter William Rouse Ball was the son and heir of Walter Frederick, of 3, St John's Park Villas, South Hampstead, London. Educated at University College School, he entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1870, became a scholar and first Smith's Prizeman, and gained his BA in 1874 as second Wrangler. He became a Fellow of Trinity in 1875, and remained one for the rest of his life.^[2]

He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.^[3]

Books

• A History of the Study of Mathematics at Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1889 (reissued by the publisher, 2009, ISBN 9781108002073)
• A Short Account of the History of Mathematics at Project Gutenberg (1st ed. 1888 and later editions)
• Mathematical Recreations and Essays at Project Gutenberg (1st ed. 1892; later editions with H.S.M. Coxeter)
• A History of the First Trinity Boat Club (1908)
• String Figures; Cambridge, W. Heffer & Sons (1st ed. 1920, 2nd ed. 1921, 3rd ed. 1929, reprinted with supplements as Fun with String Figures by Dover Publications, 1971, ISBN 0486228096)

See also

• Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics
• Rouse Ball Professor of English Law
• Martin Gardner: another author of recreational mathematics.

Notes

References

• Singmaster, David (2005), "1892 Walter William Rouse Ball, Mathematical recreations and problems of past and present times", in Grattan-Guinness, I., Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640-1940, Elsevier, pp. 653–663, ISBN 978-0-444-50871-3 

External links

• MacTutor History of Maths: W W R Ball
• Works by or about W. W. Rouse Ball in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Works by Rouse Ball at Project Gutenberg
• W. W. Rouse Ball at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.

Persondata
Name	Rouse Ball, Walter William
Alternative names
Short description	English Mathematician
Date of birth	August 14, 1850
Place of birth	Hampstead, London, England
Date of death	April 4, 1925
Place of death	Elmside, Cambridge, England