Talk:James Joseph Sylvester

Biography assessment rating comment
The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- KenWalker | Talk 02:33, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

"came to the United States" is a sentence that disrupts the neutrality required in an encyclopedia. I have substituted it by "moved to the United States"

The page on the totient function says it was invented by Euler. Unless I hear otherwise I will remove the relevant phrase from this article.Ignoramibus


 * I checked few other sources like MathWorld, etc. and it is definitely true that Euler invented the function itself. On the other hand, Sylvester might have named it.  I will make a small editorial change to clarify this.  Mhym 02:04, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Sylvester's residence
The box says that his residence was in the United States. Since he lived in the US twice, once for six months and the other time for about seven years, and otherwise lived in England, I am changing this to UK. Jhobson1 (talk) 17:28, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Chebyshev–Sylvester constant
The Chebyshev–Sylvester constant link goes to Prime Number Theorem and neither Sylvester nor his C-S constant are mentioned on that page. Some disentangling or rewriting would seem in order... Jamesdowallen (talk) 17:30, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

Place of death
The Times obit gives the street in Mayfair, London where Sylvester died (around the corner from his favourite retreat, the Athenaeum); is it likely that while on his death bed he nipped back to Oxford for a quick lecture and failed to use his return ticket? Chrysippo (talk) 15:48, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

I have checked the deaths register, and his death was registered in the district of St George's, Hanover Square, London. It is certain, therefore, that he died in London, and I have made the necessary edit to the article. Franhigg (talk) 14:26, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

Achievements
I would like to see a summary of Sylvester's principal mathematical achievements, with references. Mathbird (talk) 21:36, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

Florence Nightingale - a student
"James Joseph Sylvester was called to the Bar. Rather than practising law, he gave private instruction in mathematics, and counted among his pupils Florence Nightingale." If someone wants to follow up and add. Acorrector (talk) 12:48, 22 November 2022 (UTC)