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Edward Wright

English mathematician and cartographer (1561-1615)

PersonhumanQ1294162

Born: October 1561
Died: November 1615
Birthplace: Garvestone
Place of death: London
Citizenship: Kingdom of England
Occupation: cartographer
, mathematician
1
Sources
1.Stated in Integrated Authority FileRetrieved 2026-04-20
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Education: Gonville and Caius College

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Edward Wright was an English mathematician and cartographer noted for his book Certaine Errors in Navigation, which for the first time explained the mathematical basis of the Mercator projection by building on the works of Pedro Nunes, and set out a reference table giving the linear scale multiplication factor as a function of latitude, calculated for each minute of arc up to a latitude of 75°. This was in fact a table of values of the integral of the secant function, and was the essential step needed to make practical both the making and the navigational use of Mercator charts.

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All data

44 statements · 14% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Sex or gender: male
Given name: Edward
Date of baptism: October 8, 1561
Family name: Wright
Different from: Edward Wright criterion used: personal name refers to multiple people
Copyright status as a creator: copyrights on works have expired applies to jurisdiction: worldwide
Name in native language: Edward Wright

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28 identifiers linking Edward Wright across the web's reference databases

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statements

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Source last edited October 4, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). Edward Wright (Q1294162). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/edward-wright-Q1294162