View source for John Colson

{{Short description|English clergyman and mathematician (1680–1760)}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix  = [[The Reverend]]
| name              = John Colson
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|size=100%}}
| image             = John Colson by John Wollaston.jpg
| caption           = John Colson by [[John Wollaston (painter)|John Wollaston]]
| birth_date        = 1680
| birth_place       = 
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1760|01|20|1680|df=yes}}
| death_place       = [[Cambridge]]
| nationality       = British
| field             = Mathematics
| work_institutions = [[University of Cambridge]]
| alma_mater        = [[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Signed-digit representation]]
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| prizes            = 
| footnotes         = 
| signature         =
}}

'''John Colson''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS}} (1680 – 20 January 1760) was an [[English people|English]] clergyman, mathematician, and the [[Lucasian Professor of Mathematics]] at [[Cambridge University]].

==Life==
John Colson was educated at Lichfield School before becoming an undergraduate at [[Christ Church, Oxford]], though he did not take a degree there. 
He became a schoolmaster at [[Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School]] in Rochester, and was elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1713. 
He was Vicar of [[Chalk, Kent|Chalk]], Kent from 1724 to 1740. 
He relocated to Cambridge and lectured at [[Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge]].{{sfn|Cooper|1887}}
From 1739 to 1760, he was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. He was also Rector of [[Lockington, Yorkshire]].<ref>{{acad|id=CL728J2|name=Colson, John}}</ref>

==Works==
In 1726 he published his [[signed-digit representation|Negativo-Affirmativo Arithmetik]] advocating a modified decimal system of numeration. It involved "reduction [to] small figures" by "throwing all the large figures <math>9, 8, 7, 6</math> out of a given number, and introducing in their room the equivalent small figures <math>1\bar{1}, 1\bar{2}, 1\bar{3}, 1\bar{4}</math> respectively".<ref>John Colson (1726) "A Short Account of Negativo-Affirmativo Arithmetik", [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] 34:161&ndash;73. Available as ''Early Journal Content'' from [https://www.jstor.org/stable/103469 JSTOR]</ref>

John Colson translated several of [[Isaac Newton]]'s works into English, including ''De Methodis Serierum et Fluxionum'' in 1736.{{sfn|Cooper|1887}}

==See also==
*[[Method of Fluxions]]
*[[Witch of Agnesi]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Colson, John|first=Thompson |last=Cooper|volume=11|pages=405-406}}
*{{cite web | author=Robert Bruen | title=Lucasian Chair: John Colson | url=http://www.lucasianchair.org/18/colson.html | work=Lucasian Chair.org | publisher=Cambridge University | year=2008 | access-date=2 April 2008 | archive-date=29 December 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229034611/http://www.lucasianchair.org/18/colson.html | url-status=dead }}
*[http://www.lucasianchair.org/papers/brief.html "A Brief History of The Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge University"] – Robert Bruen, Boston College, May 1995

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Lucasian Professors of Mathematics}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colson, John}}
[[Category:1680 births]]
[[Category:1760 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century English mathematicians]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:English Anglicans]]
[[Category:Lucasian Professors of Mathematics]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]