Collins, John (1625-1683)

English mathematician. He published mathematical works and acted as a clearing house for new discoveries by corresponding with all the major scientific figures of his time, including Isaac Newton, Isaac Barrow, John Wallis, Christiaan Huygens, Edmond Halley, and Gottfried Leibniz.

Collins was taught mathematics while working for John Marr, clerk of the kitchen to the Prince of Wales. Later he worked as a teacher in London and wrote several books, including An Introduction to Merchants Accounts, Decimal Arithmetick, Geometricall Dyalling, and The Mariners Plain Scale New Plain'd. After the Restoration in 1660 he was appointed successively accountant to the excise, accountant in chancery, and secretary to the council of plantations. His Arithmetic in Whole Numbers and Fractions, Both Vulgar and Decimal was published posthumously in 1688.