Riccati was educated first at the Jesuit school for the nobility in Brescia, and in 1693 he entered the University of Padua to study law.

Riccati received various academic offers but declined them in order to devote his full attention to the study of mathematical analysis on his own.

Some of his work on polynomials was included by Maria Gaetana Agnesi, at Riccati's request, in the book on integral calculus of her Analytical Institutions.

Jacopo's son, Vincenzo Riccati, a Jesuit, followed his father's footsteps and pioneered the development of hyperbolic functions.

[citation needed] Jacopo Riccati was named honorary Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna in 1723.