Akshay Mata Choy AP Calculus BC Pd.

6 05/28/12 Ancient History of Calculus The Moscow mathematical papyrus is an ancient Egyptian papyrus, dated around 1850 B.C., bought by Vladimir Golenishche. After buying it in either 1892 or 1893, Golenishche donated it to the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, where it remains today. The other well known mathematical papyrus is the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, which dates to around 1560 B.C. These two papyri contained intriguing geometric problems that contained traces of calculus. The questions range from the surface are of an hemisphere to the volume of a pyramidal frustum and cylindrical granaries to slopes of pyramids. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus shows that the volume of cylinder is 256/81*r2h. 256/81 was the Egyptians mathematical approximation of pi, where 256/81 = 3.1605. Furthermore they calculated the area of hemisphere, excluding the base, to be 2*(256/8e1) *(radius)2. They also found slopes of pyramids using run to rise ration, and thus used the cotangent function. Around 410 B.C. to 212 B.C. mathematical innovations arose from the works of Exodus and Archimedes. Exodus helped restore confidence in the use of proportionalities, which was shattered after people realized that incommensurable quantities exist beyond integers and fractions, such as the square root of 2. The complexity of his work showed the deep conceptual and methodological innovation involved. The Euxodian definition of proportionality uses the quantifier, for every to harness the infinite and the infinitesimal, just as do the modern epsilon-delta definitions of limit and continuity. Exodus is also credited with the implementation of exhaustion, which made it possible to compute the are and volume of regions and solids by breaking them into an infinite number of recognizable shapes. Archimedes helped make progress

on find the area increase under a parabolic curve and a straight line. He discovered that the area of the area enclosed by a parabola and a straight line is 4/3 times the area of a corresponding inscribed triangle. He expressed his solution to the problem as an infinite geometric series with the common ratio of 1/4, much like modern day integral calculus does. He was able to use infinitesimals in a way that is similar to modern day integral calculus. He used this idea of infinitesimal to find the value of pi and the area of a circle. He did this by drawing a circle inscribed in a larger polygon. As the number of sides of the polygon increase, it becomes a more accurate approximation of a circle. Use polygons with 96 sides, he calculated the lengths of their sides and proved that the value of pi was between 3 *1/7 ( approx. 3.1429) and 3 * 10/71 (approx 3.1408). He also proved that the area of a circle was equal to pi multiplied by the square of the radius of the circle (r2). While the Egyptians and Greek showed signs of discovering glimpses of integral calculus, the Indians stumbled upon differential calculus while trying to develop an astronomical model. First came Bhaskara who discovered principles of differential calculus and its application to astronomical problems and computations, and was a pioneer in some principles of calculus. His work showed an early form of the Rolles Theorem, which states that if f(a) = f(b) , the f(x) = 0 for some x with a <x < b. Bhaskara stated that id x y, then sin (y) sin (x) (y-x) cos (y), thereby finding the derivative of sine, despite never actually developing the notion of derivatives. He was aware of the fact that when a variable reaches the maximum value, its differential vanishes and used this to prove that a planet was at its farthest, or at its closest, when the differential if the centre (measure of how far a planet is from the position in which it is predicted to be, by assuming it is to move uniformly) is equal to zero. Thus, there are also traces of the mean value theorem in his work. Later works by Madhava developed some components of

Calculus such as differentiation, term by term integration, iterative methods of non-linear equations, and the theory that the area under a curve is its integral. Later came the Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics which foster many new concepts of math, such the calculation the integral of x dx is equal to x^2 / 2. Narayana was one of the major mathematicians, and his works contain a variety of mathematical developments, including a rule to calculate approximate values of square roots, investigations into the second order indeterminate equation nq2 + 1 = p2 (Pell's equation), solutions of indeterminate higher-order equations, mathematical operations with zero, several geometrical rules, and a discussion of magic squares and similar figures. Some of its important developments in analysis include: the infinite series expansion of a function, the power series, the Taylor series, the trigonometric series for sine, cosine, tangent and arctangent, the second and third order Taylor series approximations of sine and cosine, the power series of , /4, , the radius, diameter and circumference, and tests of convergence. The Indians are also credited for having created the first calculus treatise, Yuktibhasha. The Egyptians clearly tried to find the volume of 3-D objects, but they did so using approximation and geometry, rather than calculus, so in reality they knew how to find answers to these problems, but not in a calculus-oriented manner. The Greek acknowledged the idea of infinitesimal, which is integral (haha punny) to the foundation of calculus. They however used approximations and didnt identify either derivative or an integral. The Indians, albeit in a later generation, showed traces of the derivative and integral. Furthermore, they were able to find Taylor Polynomials of certain functions without using the notion of derivative. There were also traces of the Mean Value Theorem and Rolles Theorem. The Egyptians and Greek merely gleaned the surface of calculus, but the Indians discovered major calculus concepts. They, however, were not able to explain it fully. Furthermore, they were unable to unify the concept of

derivative and integral, and use calculus as a problem0solving technique. They discovered traces calculus, but they were in no way founders of calculus because they themselves were unable to explain all of its aspects. Other regions showed traces of Calculus too, such as the Chinese. The Possibility of transmission of Kerala School results to Europe were raised, and although other mathematicians might have been helped. The well-documented career of Newton and Leibniz shows no indication of their work not being their own. However, Indian and Islamic mathematicians might have influenced the immediate predecessors of Newton and Leibniz, such as Fermat and Roberval. Works Cited Agrawal, D. P. "The Kerala School, European Mathematics and Navigation." The Kerala School, European Mathematics and Navigation. Infinity Foundation. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_es/t_es_agraw_kerala.htm>. Boyer, Carl B. A History of Mathematics. New York: Wiley, 1968. Print. EVES, HOWARD W. Introduction to History of Mathematics. SAUNDERS COLL.PUB. U.S., 1992. Print. Joseph, George Gheverghese. The Crest of the Peacock: The Non-european Roots of Mathematics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2000. Print. O'Connor, J. J., and E. F. Robertson. "How Do We Know about Greek Mathematics?" Greek Sources I. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www-groups.dcs.stand.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Greek_sources_1.html>.