Used with
permission of Maiken Naylor, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA,
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/sel/exhibits/stamps
The roots of any algebraic equation are complex numbers which can be depicted as labeling points in what is called the complex plane. Proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra was only one of the many achievements of Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), the "Prince of Mathematics." The Gaussian distribution and the magnetic unit gauss bear his name. His construction of an equilateral 17-sided polygon inside a circle with only straight edge and compass, the first such new construction since Greek times, is the subjectof this East German stamp.