Willem Abraham Wythoff

Willem Abraham Wythoff (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋɪləm ˈaːbraːɦɑɱ ˈʋɛithɔf]; born Wijthoff; 6 October 1865 – 21 May 1939) was a Dutch mathematician.

Willem Abraham Wythoff
Born	Willem Abraham Wijthoff (1865-10-06)6 October 1865 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died	21 May 1939(1939-05-21) (aged 73) Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Alma mater	University of Amsterdam
Known for	Wythoff's game Wythoff construction Wythoff symbol
Relatives	Geertruida Wijthoff (sister)
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Doctoral advisor	Diederik Korteweg

Biography

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]

Contributions

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.

Personal life

Willem Abraham Wythoff was the youngest of four children born into the wealthy family of Abraham Willem Wijthoff and Anna Catharina Frederika Kerkhoven. His father was a Lutheran and son of the Amsterdam sugar refinery family Wijthoff & Son. His older sisters were: mathematician Geertruida "Truida" Wijthoff, writer Henriëtte Wijthoff and illustrator Anna Catharina Frederika Wijthoff.^[6]

Selected publications

• Wythoff, W. A. (1905–1907), "A modification of the game of nim", Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde, 2: 199–202.
• Wythoff, W. A. (1918), "A relation between the polytopes of the C600-family", Proceedings of the Section of Sciences, 20, Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam: 966–970, Bibcode:1918KNAB...20..966W.