EDU.05.

10
THEORETICAL BASES OF TEACHING
MATHEMATICS

UNIT: 1
NATURE OF MATHEMATICS

SEMINAR TOPIC: DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICS IS

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION

Submitted to, Submitted by,

Remya M. Karthika M.S.
Asst. Professor in Mathematics Education Mathematics
 Development of mathematics is the development of civilization

History of Mathematics reveals that whenever a society gave due weightage to the
knowledge of Mathematics, it has made a tremendous progress. Mathematics makes its
contribution in the advancement of science and technology. Mathematics is the
common heritage of mankind and it is not the exclusive property of any particular
nation, race or country. What we possess in the form of Mathematical knowledge today
is the fruit of the combined efforts of all human beings. So, it is no exaggeration to say
that history of Mathematics is the history of civilization. Mathematics lies at the heart
of commerce as all the processes of economics depend on an understanding of the ways
numbers work, how they interact with reality and how certain equations which would
normally have a simple solution, are never-ending. Mathematics has a number of very
useful benefits to our mind if we go into its study. It develops our reasoning, helps us
to have analytical thinking, quickens our mind, generates practicality and also its use
can be applied in the day to day.“ Mathematics as a language in which God has written
the world – Galileo”
Math history begins with the earliest exchange of items between individuals or tribes.
They learned what items had value to others and used barter to agree on specific items.
The number of items exchanged was small and the frequency of meeting limited,
possibly seasonal or annual. They probably used fingers, hands and simple gesture until
agreement was reached for item exchange. There wasn’t another method to represent
item quantity without the presence of the physical items.
As populations grew and were no longer nomadic the number of different items
exchanged increased. People began living in larger groups and common market areas
where they met became accepted locations. Using barter, they implemented methods of
tally that placed exact value one item has to another item based on quantity. They began
to identify quantities by unique words and represent item quantities using rocks, shells
or similar natural markers. The natural markers created symbolic relationships to
provide a quantitative value of one item relative to other items. This system of
quantification by count could be applied to many objects and items to determine cost
relationships of those goods.
Historically, the oldest known mathematical object is the Lebombo Bone, discovered
in the Lebombo Mountains of Swaziland and is dated to approximately 35,000 BC. It
consists of 29 distinct notches cut into baboon fibula.

Lebombo Bone, 3500 BC

Lebombo Mountains, Swaziland

Other ancient mathematical objects include:
1) Pre-dynastic Egyptian pictorials of the 5th millennium BC that represent geometric
shapes
2) Megalithic monuments in England and Scotland from the 3rd millennium BC that
incorporate geometry as circles, ellipses and Pythagorean Triples in their structure.

Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England.

Corrimony Cairn, in scotland

These mathematical objects and pictorials all lack sufficient evidence to conclude there
existed a number system having unique symbols or digits.
 Mathematics and Civilization

The concept of number is fundamental to mathematics. It probably developed originally

out of the need for farmers to count their animals and produce. Numbers also led to
money systems, making buying and selling possible.

Man, probably first counted on his fingers and sized objects in terms of his own body.
This diagram shows some of the ancient units of length. "Body units" are still used in
some countries today. A hand, equal to 4 in (about 10 cm), is a standard unit for
measuring the height of horses and in North America and Britain a foot – 12 inches
(30.5 cm) - is still used in measurement as a unit of length. The metric system is now
the most widely accepted system of measurement.

Stonehenge was built in the Bronze Age as a sort of calendar, which probably also had
a religious significance. The positions of the stone blocks can be used to measure the
movements of the Sun and Moon and to predict eclipses.
Mathematics has generated its own language. Numbers are themselves shorthand forms
of words and, linked with units, define exact amounts or measurements [A]. Other
symbols stand for operations such as multiplication and square roots [B]. In algebra
letters often stand for unknown quantities, as in the formula [C] for finding the solutions
to a quadratic equation. A graph [D] can 'draw' algebraic functions. Pythagoras created
his own geometrical conventions [E].

The Grand Canal at Venice was a favorite subject of the Venetian painter Canaletto,
whose real name was Giovanni Canal (1697–1768). Renaissance painters studied
perspective and so laid the foundations of projective geometry in mathematics, map-
making and the draftsmanship used in architecture and engineering, enabling a three-
dimensional object to be represented in two dimensions.
Fibonacci ratios are elements in the series 1/1, 2/1, 3/2, 5/3, 8/5, 13/8 and so on. These
values approach the Golden Ratio. Both the numerators and the denominators in the
series are formed by adding consecutive members of the series. These ratios occur in
nature; a spiral following leaves in this stalk has gaps and turns in the ratio of 5/3.

Contributions of Babylonian, Pythagorean and Egyptian

Civilizations
Babylonian Mathematics
Our knowledge of Babylonian math is derived from more than 400 clay tablets
unearthed since 1850.

Mesopotamian mathematical tablet Plimpton 322, dated to 1800 BC.

Written in Cuneiform script, tablets were inscribed when the clay was moist then baked.
Most clay tablets date from 1800 - 1600 BC and include fractions, multiplication tables,
algebra, quadratic equations, cubic equations, and reciprocal numerical pairs. Some
tablets include methods for solving linear and quadratic equations. The Babylonian
tablet YBC 7289, dated 1700 BC, gives an approximation of the square root of two (√2)
accurate to five decimal positions.
Babylonian mathematics used a base-60 number system. Our modern-day Arabic-based
system is base-10 using the digit symbols 0-9.
From the Babylonian base-60 system originates 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in
a hour and 360 degrees of a circle, with each degree divisible into 60 minutes.
Babylonian advances in mathematics were assisted by 60 having many divisors. Unlike
Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, the Babylonians had a true place-value system, digits
written in the left column represented larger values. They lacked an equivalent of a true
numeric decimal system, the decimal point for a symbol was implied from the purpose
of that numeric symbol.

Pythagorean theorem

Developed after basic arithmetic and geometry the Pythagorean Theorem is the most
recognized equation in mathematics history and was known to Chinese and
Babylonians more than a millennium before the Greek philosopher, Pythagoras of
Samos, 582 - 500 BC. This theorem has captivated humanity for 3000 years. More than
300 mathematical proofs are known today.
Euclid Diagram

Mathematical Pi (Pronounced pie)

The ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylonia, China and India were interested in
evaluating areas or perimeters of circular fields. Pi was not yet a known constant and
only implicitly referenced in all discovered historic documents. Perhaps the most
famous is the Egyptian Rhind Papyrus which states the rule used to compute the area
of a circle: Subtract 1/9th the diameter and take the square of the remainder: pi =
(16/9)2.

Archimedes of Syracuse, 287 - 212 BC, Greek Mathematician, Physicist, Engineer,

Inventor, and Astronomer developed a method based on inscribed and circumscribed
polygons applied primarily until the mid-seventeenth century. It's the first known
algorithm to compute pi, in principle, to any required accuracy. In his treatise,
Measurement of a Circle, he used regular polygons with 96 sides to show, for any circle,
the ratio of the circumference to its diameter is less than 3+1/7, but greater than
3+10/71.
Since the mid-18th century, the value of pi has been represented by the Greek letter π.
Egyptian Mathematics
The most extensive Egyptian mathematical text is the Rhind Papyrus, also called the
Ahmes Papyrus, dates to 1650 BC.

Rhind Papyrus with mathematical pyramid dimensions

The Rhind Papyrus is an instruction manual for students in Arithmetic and Geometry.
The instruction provides formulas for area, methods for multiplication, division and
working with unit fractions. It contains evidence of other math knowledge, including
composite numbers, prime numbers; arithmetic means, geometric means, harmonic
means and perfect number theory, that of the number 6. It shows how to solve first order
linear equations, arithmetic and geometric series.

Contributions of ancient Greek civilization

Parthenon of Ancient Greece has obvious geometric shapes and patterns.

Mathema and Analytical Methods

The study of mathematics as a subject begins the Classical Period, 600 - 300 BC, when
the Pythagoreans originate the word mathematics. It is primarily derived from the
ancient Greek word mathema meaning any study which a person may learn.
In ancient Greek writings other word variations exist including manthanein and
manthanousin, and relate either to learning, someone who is learned or the manner of
learning.
Ancient Greek philosophers endeared to an understanding of nature and its natural
order. They were drawn to similarities and differences of natural objects and natural
patterns. From this they embraced mathematics for its ability to describe the natural,
especially as geometric patterns.
They recognized people as part of nature, therefore society and its social order were
part of nature. Even today Athens is recognized as the cradle of democracy.

Greeks refined analytical methods by introducing deductive reasoning and

mathematical rigor in proofs. Rigor was a thoroughness and attention to detail for
improving accuracy. Proofs established analytical methods as having a formalized
structure.
Of importance was the suitability of mathematics to analytical methods. They saw
mathematics as efficient, precise and exacting. As having an absolute purpose to
describe and document aspects of the observed natural world and universe. This nicely
fit their objective for accuracy. That mathematics itself could be studied, as pure
mathematics, to reveal or uncover knowledge by logic and reason was seen as a unique
and distinct quality.
Greek Methods were not limited to mathematics. Methods are processes, practices and
structures defining a framework of something that has been or is being studied. A
method describes something of importance and is used to document and inform.
Methods are a means to facilitate or enhance understanding and knowledge. As
importantly, the ancient Greeks also considered methods as to their purpose, the manner
in which a method is used or applies.
To this day many scientific and academic discoveries depend upon analytical methods
and mathematics founded by Ancient Greeks.
Socrates Plato and Aristotle

Socrates, 470/469 - 399 BC

Plato, 428/427 BC - 348/347 BC

Aristotle, 384 - 322 BC

In Greek history the importance of Plato is for his inspiring and guiding others,
primarily from his academy. His importance is also from having a living relationship
with Socrates and Aristotle.
During the 4th century BC Plato’s Academy in Athens became the mathematical center
of the world. From this school leading mathematicians emerge, including Eudoxus.
At his academy Plato contemplates what developed into the foundations of math. He
applied rigor to improve mathematical explanations by organizing assumptions based
on deductive reasoning. From Plato’s work we attribute an analytic method, a formula
for obtaining Pythagorean Triples.
Socrates is recognized as a founder of Western Philosophy. Most of what we know of
Socrates is from writings by his students, Plato and Xenophon.
One of Plato’s writings describes the Socratic Method of Socrates, a form of debate in
use today. It is a type of pedagogy, an art or science of teaching in which a series of
questions are presented to draw individual answers and encourage fundamental insight
of issue. By quantity and quality the writings suggest that Socrates, as a teacher,
influenced Plato’s philosophical thought. This influence could be considered as
contributing to Plato developing his analytic methods. However, Socrates was not a
mathematician.
Aristotle attended Plato’s Academy from age 18 for nearly 20 years. During this period
his writings cover many subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics,
logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and
government. Collectively they represent the first comprehensive system of Western
Philosophy.
Though Aristotle is not known for mathematical contribution he is often cited as the
first genuine scientist. He studied and described the physical world. Attempting to
define gravity he drops a feather and rock, and observes the rock, as the heavier object,
descends more quickly. He concludes that greater weight objects, heavier objects, fall
at greater rate. This conclusion was incorrect, however survived until Galileo’s
experiment in 1589 AD disproved Aristotle.
For Plato and Aristotle the goal was to realize ultimate reality which can be thought of
as a pure and absolute understanding of something.
Plato believed the process to attain ultimate reality was by abstract contemplation using
ideas or external forms knowable only through reflection and reason.
Aristotle believed ultimate reality could be discovered from physical objects, knowable
through experience and study by detailed observation of physical world objects.
Plato and Aristotle each held adamant and strong self-conviction to their individualized
perspectives. Their methods opposed, they fundamentally disagreed. As a result,
frequent, long, intense and often loud arguments between Aristotle and teacher Plato
erupted. However, within their disagreements is somewhat a virtual glimpse to years
later when mathematical content categorically separates into the studies of pure and
applied mathematics.

Eudoxus

Eudoxus, 408 - 355 BC

Eudoxus developed the mathematical Method of Exhaustion, a precursor of modern
integral calculus. This method permitted calculation of area and volume for curvilinear
figures.
He also developed a theory for ratios that avoid the problem of incommensurable
magnitude that later assists major advancements in geometry.
Eudoxus never made a specific mathematical discovery, however he provided
important contributions to developing the foundations of mathematical logic.

Euclid Elements

Euclid

In the 3rd century BC, the premier center of mathematical education and research is the
Museum of Alexandria. Unlike museums today, it was a cultural community gathering
for scholars to pursue their study, research and experimentation. It is here Euclid wrote
and taught Elements that introduced mathematical rigor by the Axiomatic Method: the
axiom, theorem and proof.
Aside from the Axiomatic Method most other content of Elements was already known.
What Euclid provided was subject content logically organized into a single coherent 13
volume set of texts.
The primary purpose of Elements was as a text book to impart theorems of Euclidean
Geometry. It also introduced all mathematical subjects including number theory,
algebra and geometry.
As a testament to its content many scholars today consider Elements the most influential
text ever written. Its concepts are still taught as part of a geometry curriculum.
Euclid wrote extensively on conic sections, optics, spherical geometry, and mechanics.
Unfortunately, not more than 50 percent of his writings survive.

The Golden Age

The 3rd century BC is the Golden Age of Ancient Greek Mathematics. It is from this
period and forward those important contributions of trigonometry are recognized.
During the Golden Age advancements of pure mathematics dwindle and the applied
mathematical studies of astronomy and science become primary.

Archimedes

Archimedes, 287 - 212 BC

Archimedes is considered the greatest mathematician of antiquity.
Archimedes applied the Method of Exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of a
parabola by summation of an infinite series using a somewhat similar method of modern
calculus. He also used the Method of Exhaustion to calculate the value of pi (π)
obtaining 3 10/71 < π < 3 10/70, then the most accurate value known.
Archimedes studied the spiral (Archimedes Spiral) and obtained formulas for volumes
of the parabolic ellipsoid and hyperbola. He formulated an ingenious system for
expressing very large numbers.
While known for his contributions to physics and several advanced mechanical
apparatus, Archimedes placed far greater value on his thought and general
mathematical aptitude. He regarded his greatest achievement the mathematical proof
for a relationship of surface area and volume of a sphere as two-thirds its surface area
and the volume of a cylinder circumscribing the sphere.

Apollonius

Apollonius, 262 - 190 BC

Apollonius made significant advances to the study of conic sections. He obtained three
types by varying the angle of the plane cutting a double-napped cone. He named the
conic sections: parabola (place beside), ellipse (deficiency), and hyperbola (a throw
beyond). His Conics is one of the best preserved mathematical writings of Greek
antiquity.
Apollonius derived many theorems concerning conic sections that later became
invaluable to mathematicians and astronomers who centuries later studied planetary
motion, including Isaac Newton. Apollonius and other Greek mathematicians did not
introduce coordinate systems of today’s analytical geometry though some of their
works look as if to anticipate development of Rene Descartes ’analytical geometry in
1637, nearly 1800 years later.

Hipparchus

Hipparchus, 190 - 120 BC, is considered the father of trigonometry for compiling the
first trigonometric table and systematic use of the 360 degree circle.

Heron

Heron (or Hero), 10 - 70 AD, is credited with Heron's Formula for finding the area of a
scalene triangle and being first to recognize the possibility that a root number for a
number squared could be negative, that a negative number multiplied by itself would
be positive:
(−2) (−2) = +4.

The Silver Age

The period between 250 and 350 AD is the Silver Age of Ancient Greek Mathematics.
During this period Diophantus made significant advances in algebra, particularly
indeterminate analysis. It is known as Diophantine Analysis. A Diophantine equation
and a polynomial are one and the same.

After this period of ancient Greece its scientific and mathematical innovations cease.
 Contributions of Chinese, Indian and Islamic Civilizations

Chinese Mathematics

Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art is early surviving mathematical text from
China (2nd century AD).

The oldest existing work on geometry in China comes from the philosophical Mohist
Canons, 330 BC, compiled by the followers of Mozi, 470 - 390 BC. The Mo Jing
described various aspects of many fields associated with physical science, and provided
a small number of geometrical theorems.
In 212 BC, the Emperor Qin Shi Huang (Shi Huang-ti), Oin Empire, commanded books
burned that were not officially sanctioned. The consequence of this order is that little is
known about ancient Chinese mathematics before this date. The Han Dynasty, 202 BC
- 220 AD, produced works of mathematics which presumably expanded on earlier lost
works. The most important is The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art. It consists
of 246-word problems involving agriculture, business, geometry to figure height spans
and dimension ratios for Chinese pagoda towers, engineering and surveying. The Nine
Chapters also includes material on right triangles, values of pi, a mathematical proof
for the Pythagorean Theorem and a mathematical formula for Gaussian Elimination.
The high-water mark of Chinese mathematics is in the 13th century, latter part of the
Sung period, with the development of Chinese algebra. The most important text from
that period is the Precious Mirror of the Four Elements by Chu Shih-chieh and provides
the solution of simultaneous higher order algebraic equations using a method similar to
Horner's Method. The Precious Mirror contains a diagram of Pascal's Triangle with
coefficients of binomial expansions to the eighth power.

Indian Mathematics

The numerals used in the Bakhshali Manuscript, dated approximately 200 BC - 200
AD.

The oldest known mathematical records from India are the Sulba Sutras dated between
the 8th century BC and 2nd century AD.

They are appendices to religious texts providing simple rules for constructing altars of
various shapes using squares, rectangles and parallelograms.
As with Egypt, temples connect math and religious ritual. The Sulba Sutras give
methods for constructing a circle with about the same area as a given square implying
several different approximations of the value of pi. They compute the square root of
two having several decimal positions, list Pythagorean Triples, and give a statement of
the Pythagorean Theorem. This history strongly suggests a Mesopotamian influence.
In the 7th century, Bramagupta in Brahma-Sphuta-Siddhanta explains the use of zero
as a placeholder and decimal digit along with the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. It was
from a translation of this Indian text on mathematics, 770 AD, that Islamic
mathematicians were introduced to the numeral system they adapted as Arabic
numerals. Islamic scholars carried knowledge of this number system to Europe and by
the 12th century it replaces other number systems throughout much of the world. In the
10th century Halayudha’s commentary on Pingala’s work contains a study of the
Fibonacci Sequence and Pascal's Triangle, and describes the formation of a math
matrix.
During the 12th century Bhaskara II lived in southern India writing extensively on all
known branches of mathematics. His work contains mathematical objects equivalent or
similar to infinitesimals, derivatives, the Mean Value Theorem and the derivative of the
sine function. The extent he envisioned calculus is controversial among historians of
math.
Progress in mathematics stagnated in India with the establishment of Muslim rule
dominant in the 13th - 16th centuries.

Islamic Mathematics

The Islamic Empire established across Persia, the Middle East, Central Asia, North
Africa, Iberia, and areas of India in the 8th century made significant contributions to
mathematics. Although most Islamic mathematics texts were written in Arabic, the
written language of non-Arab scholars, few were written by Arabs.
During the time of the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empire from the 15th century the
development of Islamic math became stagnant.

Medieval and Renaissance European Periods

Medieval Mathematics
Medieval European interest in math differs with those of modern mathematicians. They
believed mathematics provided the basis to understand the created order of nature
justified by Plato's Timeaus that presents an elaborately wrought account formation of
the universe and by biblical passage in the Book of Wisdom that God had ordered all
things in measure, number and weight.
12th century European scholars traveled to Spain and Sicily seeking scientific Arabic
texts sparking a mathematics revival. Fibonacci, writing in the Liber Abaci, 1202 AD,
and updated in 1254 AD, produced the first significant mathematical concepts by
Europeans in more than a thousand years. The texts introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals
to Europe.
The 14th century saw development of new mathematical concepts. One important
contribution was development of mathematics of local motion. Thomas Bradwardine
proposed that speed, V for velocity, increases in arithmetic proportion as the ratio of
force, F, to resistance, R, increases in geometric proportion. Bradwardine expressed a
series of specific examples and although logarithms were not yet available we can
express his conclusion as V = log (F/R).

Renaissance Mathematics

Fresco of poet Dante by Andrea del Castagno, 1450 AD, has obvious geometric
perspective.

During the Renaissance, development of mathematics and accounting interwove.

Teaching of subjects and books published was often for children of merchants sent to
reckoning schools where they learned skills useful for trade and commerce. Luca
Pacioli's Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita (Review of
Arithmetic, Geometry, Ratio and Proportion) was first printed and published in Venice,
1494 AD. It included a 27-page treatise on bookkeeping; Particularis de Computis et
Scripturis (Details of Calculation and Recording). It was primarily for merchants as a
reference text, a source of pleasure from mathematical puzzles and to aid the education
of their sons. In his book Summa Arithmetica, Pacioli introduced symbols for plus and
minus that became standard notation of Italian Renaissance mathematics. Summa
Arithmetica was the first book printed in Italy to contain algebra. Pacioli borrowed
much of the work of Piero Della Francesca.
In Italy, during the first half of the 16th century, Scipione del Ferro and Niccolò Fontana
Tartaglia discovered solutions for cubic equations. Gerolamo Cardano published them
in his book Ars Magna, 1545 AD, together with a solution for the quartic equations
(equations of the 4th degree) discovered by his student Lodovico Ferrari. In 1572 AD
Rafael Bombelli published his L'Algebra demonstrating perspectives with imaginary
quantities that could appear in Cardano's formula for solving cubic equations.
Simon Stevin's book, De Thiende (The Art of Tenths), first published in Dutch, 1585
AD, contained the first systematic treatment of decimal notation that influenced all later
works on real number systems.
Driven by the demands of navigation and a growing need for accurate maps across
larger geographic areas trigonometry became an important branch of mathematics.
Regiomontanus's table of sine and cosine was published in 1533 AD. Bartholomaeus
Pitiscus was first to use the word trigonometry in his Trigonometria, 1595 AD.
During the Renaissance the desire of artists to represent the natural world realistically,
together with the rediscovered philosophy of the Greeks, led them to study
mathematics. Many were scholars, the engineers and architects of that time who needed
mathematics. The art of painting by perspective and the geometries required were
studied intensely.

The Scientific Revolution

The 1600’s saw an explosion of mathematical and scientific discoveries across Europe.
Galileo observed the orbiting moons of Jupiter using a telescope based on a toy
imported from Holland. Tycho Brahe gathered an enormous quantity of mathematical
data describing positions of planets in the sky. Brahe's assistant, Johannes Kepler
explored and formulated mathematical laws that revolutionized the understanding of
planetary motions. The contemporaneous invention of logarithms by John Napier and
Jost Bürgi reduced Kepler’s complexities to calculate planetary motions and the analytic
geometry developed by René Descartes, 1596 -1650 AD, allowed planetary orbits to be
plotted graphically as Cartesian Coordinates. Simon Stevin, 1585 AD, created the basis
for modern decimal notations capable of describing all numbers, rational and irrational.

Gotfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Isaac Newton

Built upon earlier works of others Isaac Newton discovered laws of physics explaining
Kepler's Laws and fused concepts today known as Infinitesimal Calculus.
Independently Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz developed calculus and much of the calculus
notation still in use today. The affinity between science and math was formalizing as
the Mathematical Sciences.
Beyond studies of the heavens applied mathematics began to expand, creating new
branches of mathematics. Correspondence between Pierre de Fermat and Blaise Pascal
established fundamental groundwork for Probability Theory and corresponding rules of
combinatorics in their discussions of a gambling game problem posed by Chevalier de
Mere in 1564 AD. The question posed pertained to the number of turns required to
ensure obtaining a six in the roll of two dice and led to the beginning of the concepts of
probability and expectation. Probability and expectation was a necessary precursor of
Utility Theory in the 18th - 19th centuries.

Blaise Pascal

In the seventeenth century John Graunt, 1620 - 1674 AD, a shopkeeper, set out to
predict mortality rates by categorizing births and deaths. In the London Life Table
Graunt made a noteworthy attempt to predict the number of survivors per one hundred
by increments of ten years. Graunt’s probability observations of prediction drew the
attention of others. Sparked by Graunt’s work and later by the work of Pascal and
Fermat, Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch physicist, became the first to publish a text on
Probability Theory entitled De Ratiociniis in Ludo Aleae (On Reasoning in Games and
Chance) in 1657 AD. In this text Huygens presented concepts of Mathematical
Expectation.
The Huygen’s text was unrivaled until James Bernoulli, 1654 -1705 AD wrote Ars
Conjectandi, published eight years after his death. Bernoulli developed and provided
alternative proofs to Huygens ’De Ratiociniis in Ludo Aleae. He explained
combinations and permutations encompassing many results used today including a
series of problems on games of chance. Finally, and most important he revealed the
famous Bernoulli Theorem, later called the Law of Large Numbers.

Leonhard Euler portrait by Emanuel Handmann

Considered by many the most influential mathematician of the 18th century was
Leonhard Euler. His major contributions include a founding study of Graph Theory
with the Seven Bridges of Königsberg problem and standardization of many modern
mathematical terms and notations. He standardized the symbol identifying the square
root of minus 1 and popularized the use of the Greek letter π (pi) to represent the ratio
of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Other contributions from Euler include
numerous contributions to the study of topology, graph theory, calculus, combinatorics,
and complex analysis. His contributions are evidenced by the multitude of theorems
and notations named for him.

Other important 18th century European Mathematicians include Joseph Louis Lagrange
who pioneered work in number theory, algebra, differential calculus, and the calculus
of variations, and Laplace who in the age of Napoleon provided important insight of
celestial mechanics and statistics.

Modern Mathematics

The 19th Century

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Modern mathematics, the 19th century, became increasingly abstract. Carl Friedrich
Gauss, 1777-1855 AD, provided many contributions to pure science and mathematics.
In pure math he contributed revolutionary works for functions of complex variables,
geometry and on the convergence of a series. He gave the first satisfactory proofs of
the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra and of the Quadratic Reciprocity Law.
During this century two new forms of non-Euclidean geometry were developed
extending beyond the parallel postulate of Euclidean Geometry. The Russian
mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky and rival Hungarian mathematician
János Bolyai independently defined Hyperbolic Geometry where the summed angles of
a triangle are less than 180 degrees.
Later in the 19th century Elliptical Geometry was defined by the German
mathematician Bernhard Riemann where the summed angles of a triangle are greater
than 180 degrees. He defined a geometry that unifies by generalization the three types
of geometries; the Euclidean, Hyperbolic and Elliptic. He also defined the concept of a
manifold generalizing our concepts of curves and surfaces.

Common perpendicular lines of Elliptic, Euclidean and Hyperbolic Geometries.

Other mathematical innovations include Hermann Grassmann, a German, who provided

the first version of vector spaces, William Rowan Hamilton, Ireland, developed non-
commutative algebra and George Boole, a Britian, who devised an algebra that soon
evolved into Boolean Algebra. Using Boolean Algebra the only numbers are 0 and 1, a
binary configuration. Boolean Algebra is the basis for mathematical logic structures of
electronic computer systems today.
For the first time, the limits of math were explored. Niels Henrik Abel, a Norwegian,
and Évariste Galois, a Frenchman, proved that there is no general algebraic method for
solving polynomial equations of degree greater than four. The resulting Abel Ruffini
Theorem was utilized by other mathematicians creating proofs to: 1) Trisect an arbitrary
angle, 2) Construct the side of a cube twice the volume of a given cube, and 3) Construct
a square equal in area to a given circle. Mathematicians without success had attempted
to solve each of these problems since the time of Ancient Greece, but could not by using
the straightedge and compass.
The limitation of three dimensions in geometry was surpassed in the 19th century
through considerations of parameter space and hyper-complex numbers.
Abel and Galois's investigations into the solutions of various polynomial equations laid
the groundwork for further developments of Group Theory, and the associated fields of
abstract algebra. In the 20th century physicists and other scientists have seen Group
Theory as the ideal approach to study symmetry.
Late into the 19th century Georg Cantor defined the foundations of Set Theory leading
to the rigorous treatment for concepts of infinity. Cantor's Set Theory and the rise of
mathematical logic in the hands of Peano, L. E. J. Brouwer, David Hilbert, Bertrand
Russell, and A.N. Whitehead, initiated a long running debate on the true foundations of
mathematics where religion was often involved.
The 19th century saw the founding of national mathematical societies: the London
Mathematical Society in 1865, the Société Mathématique de France in 1872, the
Circolo Matematico di Palermo in 1884, the Edinburgh Mathematical Society in 1883,
and the American Mathematical Society in 1888. The first international, special-interest
society, the Quaternion Society, was formed in 1899, in the context of a vector
controversy.

The Twentieth Century

Expansion of mathematical sciences that began in the 19th century resulted from
economic growth fueled by the Industrial Revolution and is why twentieth century
advancements of math are often alongside technology research and scientific
innovation. Math is an interdisciplinary subject.
Mathematics is considered a science and absolutely joined to other theoretical and
applied sciences including physics, biology, chemistry, geology, economics,
engineering, architecture, political science and social science. Without doubt one of the
most important innovations of interdisciplinary sciences is the electronic programmable
computer. The computer not only requires advanced mathematics for its development,
but also provides solutions to complex mathematical problems where the computations
required to solve problems exceed human capability. By the end of the 20th century
there are hundreds of specialized areas in mathematics and the Mathematics Subject
Classification was dozens of pages long. Published mathematical journals continue to
increase in number and content.
David Hilbert puts forth during his speech to the International Congress of
Mathematicians, 1900, a list of 23 unsolved problems in mathematics. These problems
span many areas of mathematics and form a central focus for twentieth century
mathematicians. At least 10 have been solved and notable historical conjectures were
proven. Wolfgang Haken and Kenneth Appel, 1976 AD, used a computer to prove the
Four-Color Theorem. Andrew Wiles, 1995 AD, proved Fermat's Last Theorem. Paul
Cohen and Kurt Gödel proved the Continuum Hypothesis is independent (could neither
be proved nor disproved) of the standard axioms of Set Theory. Thomas Callister Hales,
1998 AD, proved the Kepler Conjecture.

Albert Einstein

John von Neumann

Differential Geometry becomes its own science when Einstein applies geometry in his
Theory of General Relativity. Entire new branches of math spanning mathematical
logic, topology, and John von Neumann's Game Theory provide new questions that
could be entirely answered by mathematical methods. Numerous abstract structures
using axioms are given names like metric spaces and topological spaces. The concept
of an abstract structure was itself abstracted and led to Category Theory. Grothendieck
and Serre recast algebraic geometry using Sheaf Theory.
Non-standard analysis introduced by Abraham Robinson rehabilitated the infinitesimal
approach to calculus by extending the field of real numbers to the hyper-real numbers
which include infinitesimal and infinite quantities. An even larger number system, the
surreal numbers, was discovered by John Horton Conway in connection with
combinatorial games.

Claude Shannon

The development and continual improvement of electronic computers allowed industry

to deal with larger and larger volumes of data processing to facilitate mass production,
distribution and communication. New areas of mathematical sciences were developed
to deal with: 1) Alan Turing's Computability Theory and Complexity Theory, 2) Claude
Shannon's Information Theory, signal processing, data analysis, optimization and other
areas of Operations Research. During preceding centuries much mathematical focus
was on Calculus and continuous functions, but the rise of computing and
communications networks led to an increasing importance of discrete concepts and the
expansion of Combinatorics including Graph Theory. Accurate high-speed computers
handled mathematical problems that were difficult and tedious by pencil and paper
calculation methods, and led to numerical analysis and symbolic computation. Some of
the most important methods and algorithms of the twentieth century are: 1) The Simplex
Algorithm, 2) The Fast Fourier Transform, 3) Error-correcting codes, 4) The Kalman
Filter from Control Theory, and 5) The RSA algorithm of public-key cryptography.
Emmy Noether has been described by many as the most important woman in the history
of mathematics, she revolutionized the theories of rings, fields, and algebras.

Mathematics is a continuously expanding system of organized thought. It is

employed in science, technology, art, music, architecture, economics, sociology,
sport – in fact, in almost every aspect of human activity – and has influenced, and
often determined, the direction of philosophical thought concerned with
humankind and its universe. Throughout history, mathematics has not only
reflected developments in civilization but also made a major contribution to those
developments.

References
• David M. Burton, “The History of Mathematics an Introduction”, 7th edition,
Mc Graw-Hill 2007
• https://www.digitmath.com/m.modern-mathematics.html
• https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/mathematics_and_civilization.
html
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mathematics