History of

Mathematics:

Lulut Alfaris, S.T., M.T

Polytechnic of Marine and Fisheries Pangandaran
 Number, Number Sense, and
Operations
Origin of Zero
How would math be different without zero?

• 2000 B.C. Babylonians represented zero by leaving gaps between

wedge marks on clay. The gaps were not considered a number.
– used base 60 numeration system

• 350 B.C. Greeks were unsure about the idea of zero

– Did not use a positional system, therefore zero was not necessary.

• 600 A.D. Hindu-Arabic Decimal System- Zero is officially introduced.

– AL' KHWARIZMI – wrote math book that introduced zero to the
world.

• 1150 A.D. Hindu-Arabic Decimal System reaches Europe.

 Number, Number Sense, and Operations
Prime Numbers
A whole number greater than one that has exactly two factors; 1 and
itself.

•325 B.C. EUCLID proved there is an infinite

number of primes.
- Author of The Elements- used to teach
geometry for more than 2,000 years.

•276 B.C. ERATOSTHENES

– Sieve of Eratosthenes- an algorithm for finding
prime numbers.

•1777 GAUSS proved any number is a product of primes.

 Number, Number Sense, and
Operations

Fractions

•3000 B.C. Egyptians recognized that fractions begin with

reciprocals of whole numbers.

•Fractions were written as a sum of unit

fractions. An eye was placed over the
integer to represent the reciprocal
AKA unit fraction.

•Horus- Egyptian God who fought

forces of darkness. His eye is the
symbol of Egyptian unit fractions.
 Measurement

Pi
The ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle.

• Used by Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese and Hebrews

• Greeks discovered Pi was an irrational number

• 287-212 B.C. ARCHIMEDES OF SYRACUSE- Made the first

theoretical calculation of Pi.
– used circles inscribed and circumscribed by polygons to find
the value of Pi to be between 223/71 and 22/7.
 Measurement
Volume and Surface Area

287-212 B.C. ARCHIMEDES OF SYRACUSE

Greek Mathematician

• Found the surface area and volume of a sphere:

4πr2 4/3πr2

• Found volume of a cone: 1/3πr2h

 Measurement
Metric System
• Invented in France in 1970.

• French National Assembly told a committee from the Academy

of Sciences of Paris to standardize the units of measurement.
Some mathematicians on the committee:
– Jean Charles de Borda (1733-1799)
– Joseph-Louis Comte de Lagrange (1736-1813)
– Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827)
– Gaspard Monge (1746 -1818)

• Meter comes from the Greek word

metron, meaning measure.
 Geometry and Spatial Sense
569 B.C. PYTHAGORAS OF SAMOS
“Everything is number.”

•Proved theorem which is named after him,

Pythagorean Theorem:
In a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is
equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

•Discovered that notes played in music correspond

to ratios with small numbers.
Example: Halving the length of a musical string gave a
music note one octave higher than the first.
 Geometry and Spatial Sense
One of the many proofs for the Pythagorean theorem:

+4 ( ) =
Area of =(a+b)(a+b) area area
c b
b a
c2 + 4(ab/2) = (a+b)2
c
Area of b =ab/2
a
c2 + 2ab = a2 + 2ab + b2

c2 = a 2 + b2
Area of =c2
 Geometry and Spatial Sense
Cartesian grid
1596-1650 RENE DESCARTES
French philosopher and mathematician

Descartes was sick and lying on his bed

staring at a fly. The ceiling had square
tiles, and Descartes noticed he could
describe where the fly was in relation to
the points formed from the tiles.
 Patterns, Functions, and Algebra
History of Algebra
Egyptian Algebra
• 1850 B.C. Solved problems equivalent to a linear equation in one
unknown.

• 300 B.C. Solved problems equivalent to a system of two second

degree equations in two unknowns.

• Did not use symbols.

 Patterns, Functions, and Algebra
History of Algebra
Babylonian Algebra
• More advanced than Egypt.

• Had a general procedure equivalent to solving quadratic equations

• Considered some problems involving more than two unknowns and a

few equivalent to solving equations of higher degree.

• Problems solved were taught

through examples and no reasons
or explanations were given.

• Little use of symbols

• No negative or irrational numbers

 Patterns, Functions, and Algebra
History of Algebra

Hindu Algebra
• Introduced negative numbers to represent debts.
598-665 A.D.BRAHMAGUPTA-first known to use negative numbers.

• Developed correct procedures for working with irrational numbers.

• Used some symbolism.

• Steps of problems were stated but reasons or

proofs were not given.

• Included negative as well as irrational roots.

 Patterns, Functions, and Algebra
History of Algebra
Arabic Algebra
• Improved the Hindu number symbols and
the idea of positional notation.

• Worked with irrational numbers

• Rejected negative numbers and solutions

• Solved quadratic equations and recognized two solutions

• Algebra is named after a book written by

Al’ Khwarizmi.

• Algorithm and arithmetic are from modifications of

Al’ Khwarizmi’s name.
 Patterns, Functions, and
Algebra
1707-1783 LEONARD EULER
Swiss mathematician

• Contributions to all branches of mathematics including

– Calculus
– Geometry
– Algebra
– Number theory
• Inventor of graph theory.

• Developed several notations used today:

– Π for pi
– i for √-1
– ∆y for change in y
– f(x) for a function
– ∑ for summation
 Data Analysis and Probability
1623- 1662 BLAISE PASCAL
French mathematician
Wrote a math book at the age of 16.
Pascal’s Triangle:
– Triangular array of numbers studied in China and India.
– Pascal discovered new properties of the triangle and solved
problems using it.

• Pascal’s Triangle has many uses.

Example: Evaluating combinations
– If we need to know the number of
combinations of n things taken r at a
time, (the # of subsets of size r in a set
of size n) we read entry number r of row
number n from Pascal’s Triangle.
 Data Analysis and Probability

1623- 1662 BLAISE PASCAL

Probability Theory
• Originated over a dispute between Pascal and French
mathematician Pierre de Fermat about the problem
of the points: Involved how to divide points
between players of a game if the contestants’
scores and the score needed to win were known.

Fermat

Probability theory
became an important tool
for scientists studying
the physical world.
Data Analysis and Probability
1977 JOHN TUKEY
American Statistician
•Inventor of the box and
whisker plot

•Inventor of the stem and leaf

plot
 Mathematical Processes

384-322 B.C. ARISTOTLE

Greek Philosopher and Mathematician

Logical thinking- conclusions must be supported by observation

• Aristotle systemized deductive logic

– From general to specific

• The modern scientific method is a combination of

– Deductive reasoning
– Inductive reasoning
 Mathematical Processes

1887-1985 George Polya

Hungarian mathematician

• Author of How to Solve It (1945) describes methods of

problem solving.

• Developed Polya’s Four step Problem-Solving Process

1. Understand the problem
2. Devise a plan
3. Carry out the plan
4. Look back
 Sources
Barrow, J. D. (1992). Pi in the sky: Counting, thinking, and being. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.

Gianopoulos, A., Langone, J., & Stutz, B. (2006). Theories for everything: An
illustrated history of science from the invention of numbers to string
theory. Washington, DC: National Geographic.

Heeren, V.E., Hornsby, J., & Miller, C.D. (2001). Mathematical ideas (9th ed.).
Boston: Addison Wesley Educational Publishers.

Lewinter, M. & Widulski, W. (2002). The saga of mathematics: A brief history.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Windelspecht, M. (2002). Groundbreaking scientific experiments, inventions,

& discoveries of the 17th century. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Online Source
O’Connor, J. J. & Robertson, E.F. The mactutor history of mathematics
archive retrieved October & November 2007 from http://www-
history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/index.html.