Luca Pacioli
Father of accounting and bookkeeping, Franciscan friar, and collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci.
Luca Pacioli was an Italian mathematician and Franciscan friar who lived from around 1447 to 1517.[1] He is widely noted for publishing one of the first printed descriptions of the double-entry bookkeeping method used by Venetian merchants.[2] Pacioli collaborated with Leonardo da Vinci and authored works on mathematics and chess, including an unpublished treatise on chess titled De ludo scachorum.[1][3][4]
Quick Facts
- Born
- 1447
- Birthplace
- Sansepolcro, Republic of Florence
- Died
- 19 June 1517
- Occupation
- Mathematician, Franciscan friar
- Known for
- Summa de arithmetica
- Divina proportione
- double-entry bookkeeping
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Pacioli was born in the Tuscan town of Sansepolcro and received an abbaco education focused on merchant knowledge.[3] He moved to Venice around 1464, working as a tutor while continuing his own education.[3] In 1477, he became the first chair in mathematics in Perugia.[3] In 1494, his book Summa de arithmetica was published in Venice, containing the first printed description of double-entry accounting.[3][2]
Pacioli died on 19 June 1517, most likely in Sansepolcro.[3] He entered the Franciscan order during the period from 1472 to 1475.[3] Duke Ludovico Sforza invited Pacioli to Milan in 1497; there, he instructed Leonardo da Vinci in mathematics and they shared a residence.[3] When Louis XII captured Milan in 1499, Pacioli and Leonardo had to leave the city.[3]
What the cited sources add
A Guardian article reports that Pacioli's manuscript De viribus quantitatis contains the first known reference to card tricks and guidance on juggling and fire-eating.[5] The Guardian article also notes that the book includes some of the first known European examples of numerical puzzles similar to Sudoku.[5] According to the same source, mathematician David Singmaster found a mention of the manuscript in a 19th-century document, leading to its rediscovery.[5]
References
- Wikipedia, "Luca Pacioli" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tarquini, "il Falco e il Topo Manualetto di Gestione Aziendale", Lulu.com, 23 December 2016 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Luca Pacioli" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chiappetta, "Fundamental Accounting Principles: Student Learning Tools", McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 1995-11-15, p. 209 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Luca Pacioli" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Pacioli biography", www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Luca Pacioli" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Times Online: Renaissance chess master and the Da Vinci decode mystery; "International Herald Tribune: Experts link Leonardo da Vinci to chess puzzles in long-lost Renaissance treatise"; "Winnipeg Free Press: Chess"; "Experts link Leonardo da Vinci to chess puzzles - USATODAY.com", usatoday30.usatoday.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- McDonald, "And that's renaissance magic ...", The Guardian, 10 April 2007. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Luca Pacioli (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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