HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS

mathemata Greek word meaning “to study” or “to learn”

STONE AGE
20,000 BCE – 2,000 BCE
20,000 years old; discovered in 1950 in the Democratic Republic of Congo in
Isango Bone Central Africa; 10 cm long bone that contains a series of notches (counting);
development of Mathematics in Greece
Lebombo Bone 40,000 years old; somewhere near South Africa
Chinese Civilization Negative numbers; developed and used decimal fractions (4th BCE)
Sumerian / Babylonian Multiplication tables written on clay tablets; Sexagesimal Number System
Civilization (base 60); invented Cuneiform (earliest writing system)
Ancient Mesopotamia; almost 10,000 years ago; small, three-dimensional clay
Counters
objects to represent certain quantities, units or goods
Oldest known clay tablet with mathematical computations; created around
Mesopotamian Tablets
2700 BCE in Sumer; shows the multiplication table in cuneiform
Sumerian Created around 2600 BCE in the Sumerian city of Shuruppak; one of the
Multiplication Table oldest mathematical tablets discovered
Egyptian Civilization Earliest fully-developed base 10 number system in use
BRONZE AGE
2,000 BCE – 600 BCE
Babylonian Tablet Created around 1750 BCE in Sumeria during the reign of Hammurabi the
(Plimpton 322) Great; contains Pythagorean triples
Clay tablets from the Yale Babylonian Collection; created between 1800 and
Babylonian Area Tablets 1600 BCE; contain exercises by student scribes to calculate the area of
different geometric shapes
Circular tablet from the Yale Babylonian Collection; created around 1800-
YBC 7289 1600 BCE in Ancient Babylon; shows the geometric diagram of a square with
its diagonals
Shows how to calculate the area of a trapezium, by multiplying the average of
YBC 7290
the bases and the average of the sides
YBC 11120 Shows how to calculate the area of a circle, using the approximation π=3
One of the most famous mathematical documents from ancient Egypt; written
around 1550 BCE by a scribe called Ahmose; around 2 meters long and
Rhind Papyrus
contains 84 problems about multiplication, division, fractions, and geometry;
named after Scottish antiquarian Alexander Henry Rhind
Built around 1420 BCE in the Valley of the Kings; has wall paintings showing
the different measuring and calculating techniques used more than 3000 years
Tomb of Menna
ago; Menna was a chief scribe in ancient Egypt in charge of measuring the size
of fields for farming, inspected crop yields, and calculating taxes
Concept of zero to denote absence or emptiness; Hindu-Arabic Numeral
Indian Civilization
System
CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY
600 BCE – 500 CE
First true Mathematician; founder of Abstract Geometry; first individual in
Thales of Miletus
history that has a mathematical discovery named after him (Thales’ Theorem)
Ancient Mathematician; everything in the universe can be represented by
Pythagoras of Samos
numbers; “everything is number”; MYIA – his daughter
Zeno of Elea Greek Philosopher known for his famous paradoxes (Paradox of Motion)
 Father of Medicine; First systematic compilation of geometrical knowledge,
Hippocrates of Chios
Lune of Hippocrates
Greek Mathematician; atomos; Father of Modern Science; discovered the
Democritus
formula for the volume of prisms and cones
Ancient Greek Astronomer and Mathematician; planetary models; first to write
Eudoxus of Cnidus mathematical explanation of the planets; developed the method of exhaustion
which laid the foundation for integral calculus
Greek Mathematician; Father of Geometry; discovered the golden ratio (
≈ 1.6180); book – “The Elements” (focuses on Geometry and Number
Euclid of Alexandria
Theory); Euclidian Geometry; first proved that there are infinitely many prime
numbers; first examples in history of a formal mathematical proof
Set of 21 bamboo strip; created around 2300 years ago in China; form
Bamboo Multiplication
multiplication table in base 10 when arranged correctly; oldest known decimal
Table
multiplication table
Ancient Greek Scientist and Engineer; volume of irregular objects (Water
Archimedes
Displacement Method); “Eureka!” – I have found it!
Greek Mathematician, Geographer, Astronomer, Historian, and Poet; first
person to calculate the circumference of the earth; measured the tilt of the
Eratosthenes of Cyrene Earth’s axis of rotation; estimated the distance to the sun; created some of the
first maps of the world; developed a process to find prime numbers (Sieve of
Eratosthenes)
Apollonius of Perga Greek Mathematician and Astronomer; work on the four conic sections
Book on Numbers and Computation; one of the oldest mathematical
Suàn shù shū manuscripts from China; written around 200 BCE and consists of 200 strips of
bamboo; 69 problems
Greek Astronomer and Mathematician; Father of Trigonometry; models to
Hipparchus of Nicaea determine the motion of the sun; methods to predict the occurrence of solar
eclipses
Greek mathematician and Engineer; one of the greatest experimenters of
Heron of Alexandria antiquity; invented the windmills, pantograph, Hero’s engine; Hero’s formula
allows you to calculate the area of any triangle
Ancient Greek Mathematician; book – “Introduction to Arithmetic” contains
Nicomachus of Gerasa
the first mention of perfect numbers
Greco-Roman Mathematician, Astronomer, Geographer, and Astrologer;
Claudius Ptolemy Ptolemaic or geocentric model (earth is the center of the solar system);
disproven by Galileo and Coppernicus
Hellenistic Mathematician; Diophantine equation (solving polynomial
Diophantus
equuations with several unknowns)
Mathematician and Writer; first Mathematician to understand and use negative
Liu Hui
numbers
Astronomer and Mathematician; first female mathematician; made comments
Hypatia
on Apollonius’ works on conic sections
Chinese Astronomer, Mathematician, and Inventor; calculated Pi accurately to
7 decimal places; approximated a circle with a 24576-sided polygon;
Zu Chongzhi
discovered the formula in finding the volume of a sphere ( 4 3
3 )
π r ; calculated
that Jupiter takes almost 12 years to orbit the sun
Diocles Focal property of parabola
Cleomedes Astronomer; properties of refraction
Aristarchus Heliocentric model (sun is the center of the solar system)
Archimedes Approximation of Pi (≈ 3.1415)
 Padrosion Doubling the cube
MIDDLE AGES
500 CE – C. 1347
One of the first Mathematicians and Astronomers in the Golden Age of Indian
Aryabhata Mathematics; defined trigonometric functions; solved simultaneous quadratic
equations; found approximations for Pi; and realized the Pi is irrational
Indian Mathematician; invented the rules for addition, subtraction, and
Brahmagupta
multiplication with zero and negative numbers
Indian Mathematician; first to write numbers in the Hindu decimal system with
Bhaskara I
a circle as zero; unique rational approximation for the sin function
Inscription includes the oldest know use of the number zero (Khmer
Khmer Zero
Civilization in Cambodia)
Father of Algebra; Persian Mathematician; book – “Al-jabr” – origin of the
Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi
term Algebra; word algorithm is named after him
Arabic Mathematician; first reformers of the Ptolemaic system; discovered an
equation for finding amicable numbers (numbers which have the same sum of
Al-Sabi Thabit ibn Qurrah
factors); calculated the solution to the chessboard problem involving
al-Harrani
exponential series; computed the volume of paraboloids; found a
generalization of Pythagoras’ theorem
Persian mathematician; first person to use proof by induction; proved the
Muhammad Al-Karaji
binomial theorem
Proponent of the Scientific Method centuries before European scientists during
Hasan Ibn al-Haytham the Renaissance; derived a formula for the sum of fourth powers (
4 4 4 4
1 +2 +3 + …+n ); studies the link between Algebra and Geometry
Chinese Mathematician; described the Pascal’s triangle more than six centuries
Jia Xian
before Pascal and used it to calculate square and cube roots
Persian Mathematician; theory of parallels; solution of cubic equations; Jalali
Omar Khayyam
calendar
Indian Mathematician; discovered some of the basic concepts of calculus,
Bhaskara II more than 500 years before Leibnitz and Newton; established that division by
zero yields infinity
Leonardo of Pisa; Italian Mathematician; introduced the Hindu Arabic Number
Leonardo Fibonacci
System to Europe in his book “Liber Abaci”; Fibonacci sequence
Chinese mathematician; improved methods for solving polynomial equations;
Li Ye
one of the first Chinese scientists to propose that Earth is spherical
Proposed and studied the Tusi couple (a device in which a circle rolls around
Nasir al-Din Tusi
the inside of a larger circle with twice the diameter)
Chinese Mathematician; book – “Shùshū Jiǔzhāng” – Chinese remainder
Qin Jiushao
theorem
One of the greatest Chinese Mathematician; book – “Jade Mirror of the Four
Zhu Shijie Unknowns” – solve 288 different problem using systems of polynomial
equations and four variables
Abu Kamil Irrational numbers
RENAISSANCE
C. 1347 – 1654
French Mathematician; First Mathematician to use the plus sign (+) to signify
Nicole D’Oresme
addition
Madhava of First used infinite series to approximate trigonometric functions; found an
Sangamagramma exact formula for Pi using infinite series
Girolamo Cardano First Mathematician to define Probability as a quotient of all favorable
outcomes; First European Mathematician to use negative numbers; book –
 “Ars Magna”
Nicolo Tartaglia Italian Mathematician; ballistics (projectile motion of cannonballs)
French Mathematician; first introduced the use of letters to represent variables;
discovered the connection between roots and coefficients of a polynomial
François Viète
(Viète Formula); calculated Pi to 10 decimal places using a polygon with
393216 sides
Scottish Mathematician, Physicist, and Astronomer; Discovered the concept of
John Napier
logarithms decades before Calculus; Napier’s bones
Italian Astronomer, Physicist, and Engineer; Father of Modern Science;
Galileo Galilei
Heliocentrism
German Astronomer and Mathematician; Laws of Planetary Motion; Father of
Johannes Kepler
Modern Optics (Study of Light)
French Mathematician and Priest; Father of Acoustics; Mersenne Primes (
Marin Mersenne n
2 −1 )
Girard Desargues French Mathematician, Engineer, and Architect; Father of Projective Geometry
French Mathematician and Philosopher; Father of Analytical Geometry;
René Descartes started the use of superscripts (powers of exponents); Cartesian Coordinate
System is named after him; “I think, therefore I am”
French Mathematician and Lawyer; Famous for his Fermat’s Last Theorem
(most difficult mathematical problem which was successfully proven in 1995,
Pierre de Fermat
over 350 years after it was published; states that “There is no natural number
such that x n + y n=z n , n> z ; solved by Andrew Wiles
French Mathematician and Physicist; developed an early version of the
Blaise Pascal mechanical calculator called Pascaline; Physics of the Vacuum; Pascal’s
Triangle
Plus (+) and minus (-) sign; first lecturer of Algebra in university setting
Johannes Widmann
(University of Leipzig)
Christoph Rudolff German Mathematician; use of radical symbol (√ ) for square root
First Mathematician to use equal sign (=) to signify equality; book – “The
Robert Recorde
Whetstone of Witte”
Italian Mathematician; study of imaginary numbers (i); translated Algebra to
Rafael Bombelli
the Europeans
Albert Girard First Mathematician to use sin, cos, and tan (trigonometric functions)
Francis Bacon Scientific Method
ENLIGHTENMENT
1654 – 1900
Japanese Mathematician; created a new algebraic notation system; developed
Seki Takakazu
infinitesimal calculus independently
English Physicist, Mathematician, and Astronomer; Established Calculus as a
Isaac Newton Mathematical discipline; Laws of Motion and Gravity; built the first reflecting
telescope; calculated the speed of sound
German Mathematician and Philosopher; Independently developed the field of
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Calculus alongside Isaac Newton and devised its notations ( )
dy
dx
Swiss Mathematician; Law of Large Numbers in Statistics; discovered the
Jacob Bernoulli value of the constant e (Euler’s number ≈ 2.7183); created the field of calculus
of variations
French Mathematician; Linking complex numbers and Trigonometry (de
Abraham de Moivre Moivre’s Formula); cos θ+ isin θ ; discovered the formula for the normal
distribution in probability; Central Limit Theorem
 Swiss Mathematician and Physicist; Jacob Bernoulli’s Nephew; Bernoulli’s
Daniel Bernoulli principle (speed of fluid increases, pressure decreases); first encountered
Bessel functions
Blind Mathematician; King of Mathematics; Euler’s Identity – most beautiful
Leonhard Euler
and elegant equation (e iπ +1=0)
Italian Mathematician and Philosopher; first Western Woman to write a
mathematics textbook; first woman to be appointed professor at a university;
book – “Analytical Institutions for the use of Italian youth” – combined
Maria Gaetana Agnesi differential and integral calculus; Witch of Agnesi

( )
3
a
bell−shaped curve described by the equation y= 2 2
x +a
Swiss Mathematician, Physicist, Astronomer and Philosopher; first to prove
Johann Lambert
that π is an irrational number; introduced hyperbolic trigonometric functions
One of the first African-American Mathematicians; accurately predicted a
Benjamin Banneker
solar eclipse in 1791
Italian Mathematician; invented new methods for solving differential
Joseph-Louis Lagrange equations; proved theorems in number theory; laid the foundations of group
theory; helped establish the metric system in Europe
French Mathematician; Father of Differential Geometry; introduced the
Gaspard Monge concept of lines of curvature on surfaces in 3D space; invented orthographic
projection and descriptive geometry
Italian Mathematician; Mohr-Mascheroni Theorem; Euler-Mascheroni
Lorenzo Mascheroni
constant ( y=0.57721… ) is named after him
French Mathematician and Scientist; Newton of France; translated problems in
Pierre-Simon Laplace celestial mechanics from geometry to calculus; proposed that the solar system
developed from a rotating disk of dust; pioneered the field of probability
Added the first 100 counting numbers in seconds when he was 10 years old;
Carl Friedrich Gauss Prince of Mathematics; proved the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra;
introduced the congruence symbol (≡)
Laid the foundations to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem; Mathematics of Elastic
Marie-Sophie Germain
Surfaces
Mary Somerville Scottish Scientist and Writer; Queen of Science; Discovery of Neptune
German Mathematician and Astronomer; discovery of Möbius strip (non-
August Ferdinand Möbius orientable 2D surface with only one side); Möbius plane, Möbius
transformations, Möbius function, Möbius configuration
French Mathematician and Physicist; Complex Analysis (Advanced Algebra
Augustin-Louis Cauchy
and Calculus)
British Mathematician, Philosopher, and Engineer; Father of the Computer;
Charles Babbage
name of computer – difference/analytical engine (first mechanical computer)
Ada Lovelace First Computer Programmer; English Mathematician
Nikolai Lobachevsky Russian Mathematician; one of the founders of Non-Euclidean Geometry
János Bolyai Hungarian Mathematician; one of the founders of Non-Euclidean Geometry
Norwegian Mathematician; Abelian functions and groups; elliptic functions;
Niels Henrik Abel
proved the binomial theorem; Abel Prize is named after him
British Mathematician; De Morgan Laws (explain how to transform logical
Augustus De Morgan
relationships in set theory)
Irish Mathematician; invented the quaternions (first example of a non-
William Rowan Hamilton
commutative algebra)
Carl Jacobi German Mathematician; one of the pioneers in the study of elliptic functions
Évariste Galois French mathematician; invented Group theory and Galaois theory
 British Mathematician and Lawyer; one of the pioneers of group theory;
Arthur Cayley
developed matrix algebra
English Mathematician; cofounded invariant theory; coined the terms graph,
James Joseph Sylvester
discriminant, and matrix
George Boole English Mathematician; Boolean Algebra (uses and, or, and not as operators)
Karl Weierstrass Father of Modern Analysis
English Nurse and Statistician; The Lady with the Lamp; one of the first to use
Florence Nightangle
pie charts; use of statistics to evaluate treatments
German Mathematician; first rigorous definition of integration; Riemann
Bernhard Riemann Hypothesis (one of the 23 mathematical problems); formal definition of
integral; Geometry and Analysis
Richard Dedekind German Mathematician; Definition of real numbers, number fields and rings
German Mathematician; Established Set Theory as a separate field of
Georg Cantor Mathematics; Father/Founder of Set Theory; pioneer in our understanding of
infinity
Russian Mathematician; first woman to earn a modern doctorate in
Sofia Kovalevskaya
Mathematics
Henri Poincaré French Mathematician; The Last Universalist; Topology and Geometry
Compiled a set of 23 unsolved mathematical problems in 1900; 7 were solved
David Hilbert
at the present
German Physicist; Nobel Prize for Physics; The Person of the 20th Century;
Albert Einstein Photoelectric effect and Brownian motion; introduced special relativity (
2
E=m c )
Lazare Carnot Theory of Transversals
Bernard Bolzano Epsilon-delta; definition of limits
François-Joseph Servois French Mathematician; introduced the word “pole” in Projective Geometry
Invented the telephone; decibel was named after him (used to measure the
Alexander Graham Bell
intensity of sound, logarithmic units)
MODERN
1900 – present
Elbert Cox First African-American Mathematician to receive a PhD
Soviet Mathematician; Probability Theory; used statistics to predict the
Andrey Kolmogorov
distribution of bombings in Moscow
John von Neumann Hungarian-American Mathematician; pioneer of quantum mechanics
Chinese-American Mathematician and Poet; Father of Modern Differential
Shiing-Shen Chern
Geometry
Alan Turing English Mathematician; Father of Computer Science
Claude Shannon American Mathematician; Father of Information Theory
Katherine Johnson African-American Mathematician; calculate orbital trajectories
American Mathematician; first female Mathematician elected to the US
National Academy of Sciences; first female president of the American
Julia Robinson
Mathematical Society; Computability Theory and Computational Complexity
Theory
Andrew Wiles British Mathematician; the one who proved Fermat’s Last Theorem
Belgian Physicist and Mathematician; first female president of the
Ingrid Daubechies
International Mathematical Union (IMU)
Grigori Perelman Russian Mathematician; proved the Poincare Conjecture
Mozart of Mathematics; youngest ever winner of the International
Terence Tao
Mathematical Olympiad (13 years old)
Maryam Mirzakhani Iranian Mathematician; first woman to receive the Fields Medal
 Artur Avila Brazilian Mathematician; first Latin-American to receive the Fields Medal
American Physicist; “logarithmic plots are a design of the devil’; developed
Charles Richter
the magnitude scale to determine the strength of earthquakes (Richter Scale)
American Mathematician; invented Linear Programming Method (used to find
George Dantzig
the optimal values of a linear function subject to constraints)
George Polya Steps in Problem-solving; Father of Modern Problem Solving
Martin Cooper Inventor of mobile phones; worked in the company Motorola
Counterpart of the Nobel Prize for Mathematics; named after John Charles
Fields Medal
Fields
Linear Algebra Field of Mathematics that is widely used in computer programs nowadays (AI)

TRIVIAS / OTHER INFORMATION