Talk:Wilhelm Jordan (geodesist)

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dubious list of achievements[edit]

I think the list of Dr. Jordan's achievements are likely incorrect. The concept of stability of a numerical procedure did not exist during his life, so it could not be the reason for the invention of the Gauss-Jordan method. Gaussian elimination had long been used to solve the normal equations without difficulty, so it is wrong to say his work enabled the use of least squares to solve the geodetic angle adjustment problem. For example, least squares was used before 1858 on the Ordnance Survey of the British Isles. Finally, I have paged through volume 1 of the 1895 edition of his book and I do not see Gauss-Jordan elimination there, so it is not clear to me that he was the originator. By the way, Gauss certainly was not. Jfgrcar (talk) 05:42, 18 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]