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Gauss publishes a numerical algorithm for the date of Easter

In 1800 Gauss published a numerical algorithm for calculating the date of Easter, a compact computus that replaced some of the table-labour of church calendars with arithmetic rules. In the causal graph this event strengthens the driver Personal-Data Protection.

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In 1800 Gauss published a numerical algorithm for calculating the date of Easter, a compact computus that replaced some of the table-labour of church calendars with arithmetic rules. He wrote the rules; churches did not adopt him as a legislator. The row stores one calendar-data paper.

Context

Easter’s date is a public coordination problem: lunisolar rules, Julian and Gregorian branches, tables that clerks copied. A printed algorithm is a data instrument because a reader can compute the same feast without a private table. A formula that still needs care at century edges is a limit, not a reason to drop the dated paper. Churches kept their authority; Gauss kept a computus, not a bull. MacTutor’s biographical list treats the Easter algorithm as his first astronomical publication; that is independent colour around the same object.

That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Why it matters

Improving data path: a recurring public date became arithmetic. High confidence on 1800. Modest weight: a formula is not a calendar statute. Later programmers who paste ‘Gauss Easter’ are reception. Liturgical authority remained with churches. Writers/scientists: do not pretend a computus moved a macro indicator.

Shared responsibility is part of Gauss publishes a numerical algorithm for the date of Easter. Naming Carl Friedrich Gauss does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1800-08-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Carl Friedrich Gauss

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.28 · verified

    He published a computus formula in a German scientific venue. Editors issued it. Complex author, not a church calendar legislator.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactGauss publishes a numerical algorithm for the date of Easter
    2. strengthensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

    impact weight 0.3 · Effect from 1 August 1800 · verified

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.MacTutor — Carl Friedrich GaussUniversity of St Andrews · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Göttingen Digitisation Centre — Gauss prints and papersNiedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Göttingen digitised Gauss works include the calendar papers. MacTutor independently dates the 1800 Easter algorithm as his first astronomical publication and notes its later use. Official: https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ (opens in a new tab). Independent: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Gauss/ (opens in a new tab). The records establish a published 1800 computus. They do not establish a unique later church-attendance series. A showing that the 1800 paper does not contain an Easter algorithm would change the row.

Established: Gauss published an Easter-date algorithm in 1800. Not established: that churches repealed their tables that year, or that a later software library is this paper. A contradictory 1800 contents list without Easter would change the row.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Easter formula is not a later Gaussian distribution and not a liturgical reform he enacted. Mixed effects of Gauss publishes a numerical algorithm for the date of Easter are separate paths.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorCarl Friedrich Gauss
  2. contributed toFactGauss publishes a numerical algorithm for the date of Easter
  3. strengthensDriverPersonal-Data Protection

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Gauss publishes a numerical algorithm for the date of Easter. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/gs-easter-1800

https://factrail.ai/facts/gs-easter-1800

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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