Willem Abraham Wythoff | |
---|---|
Born | Willem Abraham Wijthoff 6 October 1865 |
Died | 21 May 1939 Amsterdam | (aged 73)
Nationality | Dutch |
Alma mater | University of Amsterdam |
Known for | Wythoff's game, Wythoff construction, Wythoff symbol |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mathematics |
Doctoral advisor | Diederik Korteweg |
Willem Abraham Wythoff, born Wijthoff (Dutch pronunciation: [ʋɛithɔf]), (6 October 1865 – 21 May 1939) was a Dutch mathematician.
Wythoff was born in Amsterdam to Anna C. F. Kerkhoven and Abraham Willem Wijthoff,[1] who worked in a sugar refinery.[2] He studied at the University of Amsterdam, and earned his Ph.D. in 1898 under the supervision of Diederik Korteweg.[3]
Wythoff is known in combinatorial game theory and number theory for his study of Wythoff's game, whose solution involves the Fibonacci numbers.[2] The Wythoff array, a two-dimensional array of numbers related to this game and to the Fibonacci sequence, is also named after him.[4][5]
In geometry, Wythoff is known for the Wythoff construction of uniform tilings and uniform polyhedra and for the Wythoff symbol used as a notation for these geometric objects.