Who put the ``C'' in A.-T. Vandermonde ? (Q1113883)

Vandermonde (1735-1796) was appointed to the French Royal Academy of Sciences in 1771 as a geometer, and in the years prior to the Revolution was one of its most active members. His musical theory received the approbation of composers. Among the mathematicians of his day he was considered a great musician and among the musicians a great mathematician. Vandermonde's mathematical output was relatively small, consisting of only four papers presented before the Academy of Sciences. Kronecker, who had a very high regard for Vandermonde's work, claimed that the study of modern algebra began with the publication of Vandermonde's ``Mémoire sur la résolution des équations'' in 1771. Vandermonde in 1772 introduced the first factorial notation and used it to establish several basic combinatorial results. The author also discusses the problem of Vandermonde's first name and comes to the conclusion that it was Alexandre-Théophile, and that it is wrong to put a ``C'' into his forename as some authors have done. There is a biliography of 43 items.