Essay About Major Greek Progress And Important Study

The History of Math
Essay Preview: The History of Math
Report this essay
The history of math has become an important study, from ancient to modern times it has been fundamental to advances in science, engineering, and philosophy. Mathematics started with counting. In Babylonia mathematics developed from 2000B.C. A place value notation system had evolved over a lengthy time with a number base of 60. Number problems were studied from at least 1700B.C. Systems of linear equations were studied in the context of solving number problems. The basic of mathematics was inherited by the Greeks and independent by the Greeks beg the major Greek progress in mathematics was from 300 BC to 200 AD. After this time progress continued in Islamic countries Unlike the Babylonians, the Egyptians did not develop fully their understanding of mathematics. Instead, they concerned themselves with practical applications of mathematics. Mathematics flourished in particular in Iran, Syria and India from 450B.C. Major progress in mathematics in Europe began again at the beginning of the 16th Century. The 17th Century saw Napier, Briggs and others greatly extend the power of mathematics as a calculator science with his discovery of logarithms. Cavalieri made progress towards the calculus with his infinitesimal methods and Descartes added the power of algebraic methods to geometry. Euclid, who lived around 300 BC in Alexandria, first stated his five postulates in his book The Elements that forms the base for all of his later Abu Abd-Allah ibn Musa alKhwarizmi, was born about AD 790 near Baghdad, and died about 850. His most contribution was algebra. Many say that the Babylonians first developed systems of quadratic equations, the Babylonians had no concept of an equation. The history of Pi encompasses many centuries. From the Babylonians, are 3.1415. Another is from the Egyptians, 3 1/8 or 3.125, which could be concluded to indicate that they believed a circle with diameter nine has the same area as a square of diameter 8. In 1897, Edwin J. Goodman, MD introduced and got passed a bill into the Indiana State House of Representatives which stated that “the ratio of the diameter and circumference is as five-fourths to four.” Pi has baffled and intrigued scientists and mathematicians for thousands of years. Trigonometry is an area of mathematics used for determining geometric quantities. Its name, first published in 1595 by B. Pitiscus, means “the study of trigons (triangles)” in Latin. Ancient Greek Mathematicians first used trigonometric functions with the chords of a circle. The first to publish these chords in 140 BC was Hipparchus, who is now called the founder of trigonometry. In AD 100, Menelaus, another Greek mathematician, published six lost books of tables of chords. Ptolemy, a Babylonian, also wrote a book of chords. Trigonometry has been used throughout modern and ancient history dealing with practical applications, such as surveying of just triangles. Modernly, it has incorporated many other ideas instead Chaos theory is “the study of complex nonlinear dynamic systems” (Chaos Introduction). Chaos theory has very