11 Facts About Daniel Shanks

Daniel Charles Shanks was an American mathematician who worked primarily in numerical analysis and number theory.

Daniel Shanks earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the University of Chicago in 1937, and a Ph.

Daniel Shanks spent one year at the National Bureau of Standards before moving to the University of Maryland as an adjunct professor.

Daniel Shanks remained in Maryland for the rest of his life.

Daniel Shanks worked primarily in numerical analysis and number theory; however, he had many interests and worked on black body radiation, ballistics, mathematical identities, and Epstein zeta functions.

Daniel Shanks was an editor of the Mathematics of Computation from 1959 until his death.

Daniel Shanks was noted for his very thorough reviews of papers, and for doing whatever was necessary to get the journal out.

Daniel Shanks wrote the book Solved and Unsolved Problems in Number Theory, which mostly depended on quadratic residues and Pell's equation.

The third edition of the book contains a long essay on judging conjectures, in which Daniel Shanks contended that unless there is a lot of evidence to suggest that something is true, it should not be classified as a conjecture, but rather as an open question.

Daniel Shanks's essay provided many examples of bad thinking that were derived from premature conjecturing.

Daniel Shanks developed a number of fast computer factorization methods based on quadratic forms and the class number.