Editing History of mathematics (section)

=== 18th century ===
[[File:Leonhard Euler - Jakob Emanuel Handmann (Kunstmuseum Basel).jpg|right|thumb|upright|[[Leonhard Euler]]]]

The most influential mathematician of the 18th century was arguably [[Leonhard Euler]] (1707–1783). His contributions range from founding the study of [[graph theory]] with the [[Seven Bridges of Königsberg]] problem to standardizing many modern mathematical terms and notations. For example, he named the square root of minus 1 with the symbol [[Imaginary unit|<span style="font-family:times new Roman;">''i''</span>]], and he popularized the use of the Greek letter <math>\pi</math> to stand for the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. He made numerous contributions to the study of topology, graph theory, calculus, combinatorics, and complex analysis, as evidenced by the multitude of theorems and notations named for him.

Other important European mathematicians of the 18th century included [[Joseph Louis Lagrange]], who did pioneering work in number theory, algebra, differential calculus, and the calculus of variations, and [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]], who, in the age of [[Napoleon]], did important work on the foundations of [[celestial mechanics]] and on [[statistics]].