Robert Richard Anstice (1813–1853) was an English clergyman and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who wrote two remarkable papers on

combinatorics Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and an end in obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many appl ...

, published the same year he died in the

Cambridge and Dublin mathematical journal ''The Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics'' was a mathematics journal that first appeared as such in 1855, but as the continuation of ''The Cambridge Mathematical Journal'' that had been launched in 1836 and had run in four volumes b ...

. He pioneered the use of primitive roots in this field, anticipating the work of

Eugen Netto Eugen Otto Erwin Netto (30 June 1848 – 13 May 1919) was a German mathematician. He was born in Halle and died in Giessen. Netto's theorem, on the dimension-preserving properties of continuous bijections, is named for Netto. Netto published ...

on Steiner's triplets. Anstice studied at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

where he graduated in 1835, receiving a Master's in 1837. Nothing is known about his life in the next ten years. In 1846, he was ordained priest, and in the following year he became rector of

Wigginton, Hertfordshire Wigginton (''Wigentone'' - 1086) is a large village and civil parish running north–south and perched at on the edge of the Chiltern Hills and aside the border with Buckinghamshire. It is part of Dacorum district in the county of Hertfords ...

., MacTutor History of Mathematics. He died there in 1853

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anstice, Robert Richard 19th-century English mathematicians 1813 births 1853 deaths