Mathematical Treasure: Louis-Benjamin Francœur’s Cours complet de mathématiques pures

Louis-Benjamin Francœur (1773–1849) was a French mathematician and prolific author of texts. As a student, he studied under Gaspard Monge; indeed, Francœur was best known for his methods of teaching line drawing. Among his many mathematics textbooks was Cours Complet Mathématiques Pures, published in 1809 in two volumes and devoted to elementary mathematics for college students, despite its title. The title page of the 1819 second edition is shown below. Note the dedication to Russian Tsar Alexander I just a few years after Napoleon’s defeat; Francœur had lost his teaching positions at the beginning of the French Restoration.

The table of contents provides a scope of the mathematics considered.

A full digitization of its copy has been made available by the Wellcome Library. An English translation can also be found in Convergence’s Mathematical Treasures.

Index to Mathematical Treasures