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The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past.Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments have come to light only in a few locales.
This is a timeline of pure and applied mathematics history.It is divided here into three stages, corresponding to stages in the development of mathematical notation: a "rhetorical" stage in which calculations are described purely by words, a "syncopated" stage in which quantities and common algebraic operations are beginning to be represented by symbolic abbreviations, and finally a "symbolic ...
The number of known mathematicians grew when Pythagoras of Samos (c. 582 – c. 507 BC) established the Pythagorean school, whose doctrine it was that mathematics ruled the universe and whose motto was "All is number". [2] It was the Pythagoreans who coined the term "mathematics", and with whom the study of mathematics for its own sake begins.
[8] [9] Islamic mathematics, in turn, developed and expanded the mathematics known to these civilizations. [10] Contemporaneous with but independent of these traditions were the mathematics developed by the Maya civilization of Mexico and Central America, where the concept of zero was given a standard symbol in Maya numerals.
Some areas of mathematics, such as statistics and game theory, are developed in close correlation with their applications and are often grouped under applied mathematics. Other areas are developed independently from any application (and are therefore called pure mathematics) but often later find practical applications. [2] [3]
In doing so, he united two disparate branches of mathematics and introduced a new field of study, analytic number theory. In breaking ground for this new field, Euler created the theory of hypergeometric series, q-series, hyperbolic trigonometric functions, and the analytic theory of continued fractions.
The four elements, called heaven, earth, man and matter, represented the four unknown quantities in his algebraic equations. The Ssy-yüan yü-chien deals with simultaneous equations and with equations of degrees as high as fourteen. The author uses the method of fan fa, today called Horner's method, to solve these equations. [33]
According to Burkert, Pythagoras never dealt with numbers at all, let alone made any noteworthy contribution to mathematics. [146] Burkert argues that the only mathematics the Pythagoreans ever actually engaged in was simple, proofless arithmetic, [148] but that these arithmetic discoveries did contribute significantly to the beginnings of ...