Anecdotes from the history of

mathematics : Ways of selling

mathematics

Dennis Almeida, University of Exeter

1. Numbers
 To start off with – a puzzle:
What has this 1835 painting by Turner got to do
with progress in mathematics?
Number sense
Cardinal number sense
Number words
Counting (influenced by anatomy)
Discovery of zero
Development of arithmetic
Number sense – critical for survival of the species
The ability to recognize whether a small collection
of objects has increased or decreased
Have we lost someone whilst out hunting?
Is our group size sufficient to defend against or
attack the opposing tribe?
Early cardinal number sense – giving prototypical
structure to number sense

• The size of the

community/group compared
with a fixed collection of
objects or marks- pebbles,
notches on a stick, or fingers
on the hand.
 The development of number words

• The abstraction of number words to abstract symbols

came much later. As Bertrand Russell stated "It must
have required many ages to discover that a brace of
pheasants and a couple of days were both instances of
the number 2”.
 Counting

• To be able to count one has to place

numbers/number words in order or succession.
• This is ordinal number sense: one, two, three, .........
 Words to symbols - symbolic ordinal number
systems
Babylonian (present day Iraq – c 3000 BC): Base 60

Egyptian (c 300 BC): Base 10

Indian ( c 11th century AD): Base 10

 Need for the development of
arithmetic

Organising Calculations in trade, taxation,

military affairs and the recording of time

The need to record calculations on paper led to

widespread adoption of different arithmetic by
the 15th century.
 Early Arithmetic
37 × 11 and you don’t know place value arithmetic?

37 × 2 = 74 ⎫
⎪
37 ×11 : 37 × 4 = 146 ⎬37 ×11 = 37 × 8 + 37 × 2 + 37 ×1
37 × 8 = 292⎪⎭
37 ×11 = 292 + 74 + 37 = 407
 Early Arithmetic
23÷ 4 and you don’t know place value arithmetic?

⎫
⎪
1→ 4 ⎪
⎪
2→ 8 ⎪
⎪ 1 1 3
23 ÷ 4 : 4 → 16⎬23 = 16 + 4 + 2 +1 ⇒ 23 ÷ 4 = 4 +1 + + = 5
⎪ 2 4 4
1
→ 2⎪
2 ⎪
1 ⎪
→1⎪
4 ⎭
 Indo-Arabic Arithmetic
7 7
37 × 11 and you know
37 37
place value arithmetic?
×11 ← ×11
407 7
23÷ 4 and you know
place value arithmetic?
5 5
23 ÷ 4 = 5 3 ← 4 23 ← 4 23
4
In the first example notice the use of 0 as place value:
the 0 in 407 signifies zero=no tens. Also multiplication
20 20
proceeds Right to Left. Division in reverse. 3
 A feature of the Hindu-Arabic Numerals

• There is direct evidence that the original Hindu numerals were meant to
be used in two ways.
• Either in the Left-Right orientation: Increase in place value L to R
213 = 2 + 10 + 300
• Or the Right-left orientation: Increase in place value R to L
• 213 = 200+ 10 + 3

See A.K. Bag: Mathematics in Ancient and Medieval India, Chaukhamba

Orientalia, 1976, Delhi
•
 A feature of the Indo-Arabic Numerals
• Islamic mathematicians adopted the Indian system and
transmitted it Westwards.
• Arabic being written in the right-left orientation is probably
the reason why the right-left orientation is universally used.

1 2 1 2 2
• 12 7 12 7 12 7
× 4 ← × 4 ← × 4
508 08 8
 The 1835 painting by Turner depicts .........
the houses of parliament burning in 1834

• Resistance to the new arithmetic … tally

sticks were in use until the 19th century ….
The fire indirectly due to the enormous tally
sticks kept in the houses.
 The 1835 painting by Turner
Charles Dickens commented at the time:
"... it took until 1826 to get these sticks abolished.
….In 1834 there was a considerable accumulation of them.
The sticks were housed in Westminster…… and so the
order went out that they should be privately and
confidentially burned.
It came to pass that they were burned in a stove in the House
of Lords. The stove, overgorged with these preposterous
sticks, set fire to the panelling; the panelling set fire to the
House of Commons; the two houses were reduced to ashes"
Anecdotes from the history of
mathematics : Ways of selling
mathematics

2. Algebra
 First - a puzzle:
What has bone setting got to do with algebra?
Key developments in ancient and medieval algebra

Extraction of square roots

Method for solution of practical problems

Method for approximate solutions of these problems

Some problems of ancient and medieval times that
required algebra.

•Right angled triangles.

•Length of the hypotenuse.
•Implied the need to extract square roots.
 Extracting square roots - The Babylonian method

Step 1 Given a non-square number N find a number a such that

a2 is near N.
Step 2 Then set b = |N – a2|and c = b/2a
Step 3 N  a + c if a2 < N; N  a – c otherwise

Example N = 2
Step 1. Choose a =17/12
Step 2. Then b = 289/144 –2 = 1/144 and
c = 1/144  34/12 = 1/(1234)
Step 3 2 = 17/12 - 1/(1234) = 1.414215686…
 Solving simple equations – Early generalisations

The rule of three. To find the cost multiply the fruit by the
requisition, and divide the resulting product by the argument.

Example 1. If A = 6 [the argument] books cost

F = 12 units [the fruit], what will R = 10 [requisition] books
cost?
Rule of 3 
Cost = F × R = 12 × 10 = 20 units
A 6
 Solving quadratic equations: Al Khwarizmi (820) and
Pedro Nunes (1567)
The Fourth rule: x2 + 10x = 50 number
Make a square with x and half the number of things.
5 x number of things
Half the number of things
5 25 5x Picture (x+5)2 -25 = 50
(x + half the number of
things) squared =
x 5x x2 square of (half the
number of things) placed
next to the number.
(x+5)2 = 25 + 50

x = √75
To find x subtract from - 5 half the number of things
the root
 Cubic equations – Jamshid al Kashi (15th century AD)
Problem from antiquity: Find sin 10.

Al Kashi knew sin 30 ≈ 0.0523359562429448 and that

sin 3 = 3sin  – 4sin3 .
sin 30 = 3sin 10 – 4sin3 10
If x = sin 10 then 3x – 4x3 = 0.0523359562429448
Re-arranging gives x = (0.0523359562429448 + 4x3)/3
1st approximation x0 = 0.016
2nd approximation x1 = (0.0523359562429448 + 4x0 3)/3 =
0.0174507800809816
3rd approximation x2 = (0.0523359562429448 + 4x1 3)/3 =
0.0174524044560038

sin 1 = 0.017452406...
0
 al-Kashi‘s fixed point iteration

This is exactly the fixed-point iteration used in post 16

mathematics.

x = g(x)
In the example g(x) = (0.0523359562429448 + 4x3)/3
y=x
y = g(x)

Location of
exact root

x1 x2 x3
What has bone setting got to do with algebra?

• Al-Khwarizmi wrote the first treatise on algebra: Hisab

al-jabr w’al-muqabala in 820 AD. The word algebra is a
corruption of al-jabr which means restoration.

• In Spain, where the Arabs held sway for a long period,

there arose a profession of ‘algebrista’s’ who dealt in bone
setting.
What has bone setting got to do with algebra?
• álgebra. Del lat. tardío algebra, y este abrev. del ár. clás.
algabru walmuqabalah, reducción y cotejo.

• 1. f. Parte de las matemáticas en la cual las operaciones

aritméticas son generalizadas empleando números, letras y
signos.
• 2. f. desus. Arte de restituir a su lugar los huesos
dislocados
Translation: the art of restoring broken bones to their
correct positions
Anecdotes from the history of
mathematics : Ways of selling
mathematics

3. Geometry: the mother

of algebra
How do these paintings show how geometry
influenced art?

Pietro Perugino fresco at the Sistine

Melchior Broederlam (c1394)
Chapel (1481)
 Some features in the
development of Geometry

Practical knowledge for construction of buildings

Practical knowledge for patterning and art

Generalisation of geometry

Axiomatic deductive geometry

 Practical geometry in real life
The 3, 4, 5 rope for ensuring a right angle in building
construction – ropes.

Artisans in ancient and medieval times used a loop of

rope of length 12 units knotted at 3 and 4 units to
ensure a right angle was formed.
5
3

4
 Practical calculation of areas – the
quadrilateral
The surveyors rule - first evidenced in Babylonian mathematics
(c 2000 BC) – for calculating the area of a quadrilateral. Walk
along the 4 sides a, b, c, and d – measure – substitute into the
formula.
(a + c) (b + d )
A= ×
2 2

The formula gives exact area only in the case of aarectangle. In

all other cases it is an overestimate. b
d

c
 Greek Geometry - Euclid
Euclid (c. 300 BC) theorised geometry deriving
results using axioms and deductive logic in a
series of 13 books called the Elements. One
such axiom is that an isosceles triangles has
equal angles opposite the equal sides.

A long line of non-Greek, mainly Islamic,

scholars called Euclidisi’s kept the Elements
alive by manually producing editions of the
work after Greek culture fell in decay.
The importance of Euclid and Greek geometry
Greek geometry was constructed in a culture of democracy
where all issues were subject to debate.

Greek geometry naturally followed this tradition of having

to argue the case against all sceptics.

It could be argued that this democratic, intellectual feature

enabled Euclidean geometry to plant itself in foreign soil
and, therefore, survive long after the decline of Greek
culture.
 Geometry of plane patterns - tessellations
Just how does a builder make a pattern that repeats in order to tile a
floor or a wall?

North African geometers between the 8th and 16th centuries worked
out that there were just 17 different types of tessellations

A result mathematically proved only in 1935. Four of the 17

possibilities are depicted in these pictures of tilings from the
Alhambra in Granada, Spain (all 17 are to be found there).
P4G P4 P6M P3
 Geometry the mother of algebra
•There are just 7 types of frieze 1. ⎣ ⎣ ⎣ ⎣ ⎣ ⎣ ⎣ ⎣ ⎣ ⎣
patterns
•The realisation that Islamic geometers 2. ⎣ ⎡ ⎣ ⎡ ⎣ ⎡ ⎣ ⎡ ⎣ ⎡
had given structure to patterns in the
3. → → → → → →
plane motivated 19th and 20th century
mathematicians algebriasing 4. ⎣⎤ ⎣⎤ ⎣⎤ ⎣⎤ ⎣⎤ ⎣⎤
geometry.
5. ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
•The study of geometric symmetry
directly leads to methods for the 6. ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑
solutions of polynomials – Galois
Theory. 7. ⇔ ⇔ ⇔ ⇔ ⇔ ⇔
 Geometrical perspective – how geometry
influenced art
Cuboid with 1
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 –1446 ) vanishing
discovered theory of perspective. point

Essentially in parallel lines on a

horizontal plane depicted
in the vertical plane meet – at the
vanishing point. Only objects in
perspective look realistic.
Pietro Perugino’s fresco clearly shows perspective.
While Broederlam’s painting does not look natural
… parallel lines in the painting meet at different
points.
Melchior Broederlam (c1394) Pietro Perugino fresco (1481)
Anecdotes from the history of
mathematics : Ways of selling
mathematics

4. Who said calculus was

hard?
What has a piece of string go to do with
calculus?
Some key points in the history of calculus

Early work on integration; calculation of areas and

volumes

The realisation that integration means sum of power

series

The conquest of infinity: summation of infinite terms

Calculation of lengths of curved lines

Integration: the determination of lengths, areas and
volumes. Early Integration.

Archimedes (c 225 BC) approximated the length of

a circle and, hence, of π by approximating a circle
by inscribed and circumscribed regular polygons.
Using one of 96 sides he found π is between 223⁄71
and 22⁄7. So π ~ 3.1419.

Tsu Ch’ung Chi c.430 - c.501)

did the same thing reputedly
using a polygon of 24,576 sides
thereby computing the value of π
correct to 6 d.p.
Early Integration of area under a curve
– the technical problem
The area A under the curve y=xk between
0 and n is approximated by the areas of
y= xk the rectangles, each of width 1 and
height given by xk
A ≈ 1k + 2k + 3k + ……(n-1)k + nk
Need to be able to sum powers of
integers.
Archimedes and Ibn al Haytam (965-
1039) were able to do this for some
values of n. Later (12th -14th centuries) al
Samawal (Iraq), Zhu Shijie (China), and
Narayana Pandit (India) for general
values of n.
Early Integration of area under a curve
– Better approximationsThe area A under the curve y=xk
between 0 and 1 is approximated by
the areas of the rectangles, each of
y=xk width 1/n and height given by xk

A ≈ 1k + 2k + 3k + ……(n-1)k + nk
nk+1
As n →∞ the sum on the left becomes
the exact area .
The first appearance of a solution
(A = 1/(k+1) ) was in 1530 – in the
Yuktibhasa of Jyesthadeva. Later
tackled in the 17th century by Fermat,
Pascal, Wallis, etc.
Infinity conquered – the calculation of the derivative

Derivative at P =gradient of tangent at P

f(x)

f(x-h) Derivative = f( x) − f( x−h) as h → 0

h
x-h x
Newton and Leibniz
independently discovered
the generalised method
late 17th century
Historical problems that gave rise to the
calculus.
• Arc length calculation:

• Approximate small sections of arc by straight lines.

• What happens as the sections get smaller and
smaller?
 Arc length calculation using the calculus
• Each arc segment ≈ (dx2 + dy2)1/2 = (1 + [dy/dx]2)1/2 × dx
• So the total arc length ≈ Sum of all (1 + [dy/dx]2)1/2 × dx’ s
= ∫ (1 + [dy/dx]2)1/2 dx
A2 A3
y A4
A1 dy =y2-y1
dx
An

xn x
x1 x2 x3 x4
1

⎡ ⎛ dy ⎞ ⎤
2 2
a
Arc length A1 An = ∫⎢1 + ⎜ ⎟ ⎥ dx
⎣ ⎝ dx ⎠ ⎦
b
What has a piece of string go to do with
calculus?
• In the primary classroom one may see curved length
calculation as follows: lay a piece of string along the
curve, mark the ends of the curve along it, straighten the
string, and then measure the marked length.
 What has a piece of string go to do with
calculus?
Lay a piece of string along the curve, mark the ends of the curve
along it, straighten the string, and then measure the marked length.
This is essentially the principle employed in the deriving the arc length
formula 1
a ⎡ ⎛ dy ⎞2 ⎤2
Arc length = ∫ ⎢1 + ⎜ ⎟ ⎥ dx
b
⎢
⎣ ⎝ dx ⎠ ⎥
⎦
This was also a principle used in ancient mathematics. Good
mathematics is when you first simplify the problem to easily
deduce the solution and then develop the solution for the complex
case.
Anecdotes from the history of
mathematics : Ways of selling
mathematics

5. Using one’s imagination

What has special effects in the cinema got to do
with mathematics?

Source of fractal pictures:

www.comp.dit.ie/
 Using imagination - i the complex square
root of -1
What kind of pictures would arise from
repeatedly applying a function of the complex
numbers?

These imaginings were that of Gaston Julia in

1915 and the resulting pictures were called
Julia sets.
Julia sets had no conceived applications at the
Time and these later gave rise to Fractal
Geometry.

The picture from repeatedly

applying z  z2 + i.
Fractal Geometry in the classroom: The van
Koch snowflake

The mapping to be
applied repeatedly:
Rotate every equilateral
triangle by 600 about its
centre.
Fractal Geometry: The van Koch snowflake at stage 2

The mapping to be
applied repeatedly:
Rotate every equilateral
triangle by 600 about its
centre.
Fractal Geometry: The van Koch snowflake at stage 3

The mapping to be
applied repeatedly:
Rotate every equilateral
triangle by 600 about its
centre. v
Development of a van Koch snowflake fractal

Observe: Each stellation is congruent to the original equilateral

triangle
 An application of fractal geometry
The van Koch snowflake fractal has
the amazing property that its
perimeter tends to infinity while its
area is finite [certainly less than the
area of the bounding rectangle
containing it].

This is the perfect design for

antennae for mobile phone and
microwave communications.

Source of fractal antenna picture:

Wikipedia
 Fractal imagery using computers
Benoit Mandelbrot, the mathematician
who gave fractal geometry impetus by
using computers, said: “Clouds are
not spheres, mountains are not cones,
coastlines are not circles and bark is
not smooth, nor does lightning travel
in a straight line.”

Picture of a fern
leaf computer
generated using
Fractals
What has special effects in the cinema got to do
with mathematics?

These pictures show the use of

fractals in computer generated
imagery in the cinema.

Source of fractal pictures:

www.comp.dit.ie/
Anecdotes from the history of
mathematics : Ways of selling
mathematics

6. Using one’s imagination 2

What has the auto-focus in your
camera got to do with mathematics?
 TWO VALUED LOGIC
• At the turn of the last century
mathematics was defined by the 23
problems posed by the German
mathematician David Hilbert.

• Hilbert’s problems were preponderantly

about proving conjectures. That is, they
were entirely to do with pure mathematics
where 2 valued logic reigns: either a
statement is true (1) or it is false (0).
FUZZY LOGIC: The rise of the imaginative
maverick
In 1965 a computer scientist by the
name of Lofti Zadeh proposed an
infinite valued logic.

The logic would take any value x in

the range 0 ≤ x ≤ 1

This was called FUZZY LOGIC.

 FUZZY LOGIC
• Fuzzy logic was not an abstract phenomenon. Zadeh
knew it could be applied from the outset.

• “Well, I knew it was going to be important. That

much I knew. In fact, I had thought about sealing it in
a dated envelope with my predictions and then
opening it 20-30 years later to see if my intuitions
were right. I used to think about it this way: that one
day Fuzzy Logic would turn out to be one of the most
important things to come out of our Electrical
Engineering Computer Systems Division at Berkeley.”
 APPLICATIONS OF FUZZY LOGIC

CLIMATE CONTROL: To keep the temperature in the operating

theatre constant the control device has to direct the heating or cooling
to come on when the temperature changes. The question is: how much
does the room have to cool down (or heat up) before the heating (or
cooling) comes on? What should the device do if it is ‘warm’?

To enable this the temperature has 3 truth values: 0.8 = a bit cold;
0.2 = a little warm; and 0 = hot. Other temperatures will give different
values to the 3 functions. Depending on the (infinite) triplets of values
the control device can activate heating or cooling or neither.

Cool Warm Hot

01
 The success of Fuzzy Logic.
Amongst hundreds of industrial applications
of Fuzzy Logic are the following:
• Handwriting recognition by computers (Sony)
• Medicine technology: cancer diagnosis (Kawasaki Medical
School)
• Back light control for camcorders (Sanyo)
• Single button control for washing-machines (Matsushita)
• Voice Recognition (CSK, Hitachi, Ricoh)
• Improved fuel-consumption for automobiles (Nippon Tools)

Source:
http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/Reference/concepts/fuzzy/fuzzy_appl.10.ht
m
What has digital camera auto-focus got to do with
mathematics?
Most people put their digital cameras on auto focus mode.
But how does the camera knows what to focus on?
Is it the necessarily the object you are trying to photograph?
Is this object the nearest in the field of vision? Etc?

The camera uses Fuzzy logic to make assumptions on behalf of the

owner. Occasionally the choice is to focus on the object closest to
the centre of the viewer. On other occasions it focuses on the object
closest to the camera. The margins of error are acceptable for the
non-expert camera user whose concern is album pictures.
Fuzzy logic enables
a digital camera to
focus on the right
object more often
than not