Sometimes known as Estienne de Villefranche, La Roche was born in Lyon, but his family also owned property in Villefranche-sur-Saône, where he lived during his youth.

He is regarded today as a professor of arithmetic (at the time, Master of Figures).

La Roche did try to teach significant mathematics, inaccessible at the time to a French audience, and thus was not merely a plagiarist.

He was the worthy successor of several masters and experts in his art, such as Luca Pacioli.

La Roche may have borrowed from or been influenced by several mathematicians, including Chuquet, Pacioli and Philippe Frescobaldi, a French banker who wrote some books of mathematics.