John Knox is a meteorologist who received media attention for discussing ways of calculating the mathematical constant e, together with Harlan J. Brothers.

In 1997, Brothers sent some college-level expression for e to National Public Radio's program "Science Friday".^[1] Knox's wife Pam told them to Knox, who confirmed them^[2][1]. Together, they derived several formulae to calculate e. The formulae involve applying Bernoulli's standard result that (1 + 1/n) ⁿ approximates e when n becomes large, to the formula , which is the basis of the popular bilinear transform. For example, they appeared^[1] to consider it a breakthrough to choose to evaluate this for n = 2 ^x + 1. Numerical analysts do not consider their formulae to be competitive with the current state of the art^[2].

Knox went to college at Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and has taught meteorology at Valparaiso University in Indiana.^[2][1]

Currently, Knox writes books about meteorology, such as Meteorology: Understanding the Atmosphere.^[3]

Knox is currently an Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science in the Geography Department at the University of Georgia.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Ivars Petersons MathTrek — Hunting e" (HTML). Retrieved on February 15, 2008.
2. ^ ^{a b c} "To "e" or Not To "e"? That's a Constant Question" (HTML). Retrieved on February 15, 2008.
3. ^ "Barnes & Noble.com — Books: Meteorology, by Steven A. Ackerman, Paperback, 2ND PKG" (HTML). Retrieved on February 15, 2008.