Carl Anton Bretschneider


Carl Anton Bretschneider was a mathematician from Gotha, Germany. Bretschneider worked in geometry, number theory, and history of geometry. He also worked on logarithmic integrals and mathematical tables. He was one of the first mathematicians to use the symbol for Euler's constant when he published his 1837 paper. He is best known for his discovery of Bretschneider's formula for the area of a general quadrilateral on a plane,
where, and are the sides of the quadrilateral, is the semiperimeter, and and are two opposite angles.
He is the son of Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, a theologian.

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