Étienne Bézout is best known as the author of one of the most widely used mathematics textbooks of his era, the six-volume Cours de mathematique. He is renowned for his work dealing with the usage of determinants in algebraic elimination. Born in Nemours, France, on March 31, 1739, Bézout was the second son of Pierre and Helene Jeanne Filz Bézout. His family was well established and respected in the region; his grandfather and father both served as district magistrates. Bézout, however, preferred numbers to politics and convinced his father to permit him to study mathematics instead of law. He was greatly influenced by the work of Leonhard Euler, and his abilities were quickly recognized by the Académie Royale des Sciences, which elected him an adjunct member at the age of 19 and a full member at age 29.

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