Monday, August 29, 2016

Francis Edgeworth Biography

Francis Edgeworth was born on February 8, 1845 in Edgeworthstown, Ireland into a wealthy landowning family. He attended Trinty College, Dublin to study classics and languages and finished law school in 1877. While he had a strong interest mathematics and statistics, he studied these topics on his own.
However, Edgeworth's interest in mathematics and statistics quickly surpassed his abilities in language. Through a series of published papers, Mathematical Psychics: an Essay on the Application of Mathematics to the Moral Sciences, Methods of Statistics,and Correlated Averages, Francis made discoveries in the area of the index numbers, indifference curves, the Edgeworth box, utility functions, and terms of trade.
Despite his significant contributions, Edgeworth never managed to attract a significant number of followers. Prior to this class, I have never heard of his name or his work. I am excited to see how his work will be relevant in our course.

Sources: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Francis_Ysidro_Edgeworth.aspx
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Francis_Ysidro_Edgeworth