Meta: Do you have a passion for Math? Do you wonder who invented Mathematics? If yes, stay tuned to our article to discover interesting insights about the subject.
Mathematics might seem challenging for many students, but it is the key to most of our life issues. We must thank Math for all our admirable development today.
Math exists in everything around us. It is the foundation for most life aspects, such as software, computers, and mobile devices.
But when did Math start? Who invented Mathematics? Let’s move on to the next parts to figure out amazing facets of this wonderful subject!
What Is Math?
Mathematics is the science and study of logic, quality, shape, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians use the rigorous deduction from appropriate selected axioms and definitions to look for patterns, make new hypotheses, and establish the integrity of their findings.
Every civilized community has been at the forefront of mathematical discoveries since the earliest days of recorded history. Arithmetic has been employed by even the oldest and most basic societies.
A book named “Evolution of Mathematical Concepts” written by Raymond L. Wilder says that the need for math emerged due to civilizations’ ever-more complicated demands, which necessitated more sophisticated mathematical answers.
Mathematics is still a crucial instrument in most fields worldwide, including engineering, natural science, social sciences, and medicine.
Encourages and makes use of new mathematical discoveries, applied mathematics, the area of math that deals with the application of mathematical knowledge to other domains, and occasionally results in the establishment of whole new sciences.
Even though practical applications for what started as pure mathematics are frequently discovered later, mathematicians also engage in pure mathematics, or mathematics in itself, without considering any applications.
Who Invented Mathematics?
Mathematics was not invented but rather a collective knowledge built up by different civilizations over time.
The Ishango bone is referenced in an earlier demonstration of the application of mathematics. The 20,000-year-old bone could have used prime number sequences.
Since mathematics might have presented even in the prehistoric era before the forming of human writing, historians do not attribute its invention to a single individual.
Because of this, the only option for historians and scientists to demonstrate the use of mathematics is to examine any old mathematics record. The earliest relic belongs to the Ishango bones, which might reach 20,000 years old and were discovered in the high parts of the Nile river.
The bone had been marked in several places. Along the length of the bone, they were engraved in three columns.
Moreover, mathematics and historians also reveal that the Ishango bone might present a tally count, possibly the first example of using prime number sequences. Some believed the bone represented computations for a six-month calendar.
However, the earliest known mathematical writings date back to the Mesopotamian Sumerians of antiquity. They created a metrology system around 3,000 BC.
Additionally, they were discovered to have grappled with division issues as early as 2,500 BC and written down the multiplication tables on pelt tables.
Which Civilization Did Most Contribution To The Development of Mathematics?
To develop into modern Mathematics, it must thank various great civilizations and individuals. Each ancient culture made a unique contribution to mathematics.
For example, the system of sexagesimal numbers was developed by the Babylonians. The notion of 0 was developed by Indus civilizations, whereas the Chinese were among the first to compute negative numbers.
Mathematical knowledge was produced by several ancient cultures adding information in various ways. These insights might take the form of principles for presenting computation techniques, numerical values, or the value of a particular constant like π (pi).
Mesopotamian
The use of multiplication and division, as well as the solution to geometrical problems, were presumably first used by the Mesopotamians.
The sexagesimal, or base-60 numbering system, which serves as the foundation for current time computations, was also developed by Babylonian mathematics (1 hour equals 60 minutes, 1 minute equals 60 seconds,…).
Egyptian
The ancient Egyptians might have initially used units of measurement. They were found when they described how to measure a Mastaba’s slope. The ancient Egyptians may also be credited with using fractions first.
After Arabic was adopted as the written language of Egyptian intellectuals, mathematics was still being studied in Egypt under the Arab Empire as a branch of Islamic mathematics.
Indus
The discovery of the number zero may be the Indus civilization’s greatest gift to mathematics. In addition, the Indian mathematician Brahmagupta contributed to the formalization of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, which is still in use today.
Chinese
The Chinese culture created the system of number value indication using a series of rods. Along with accomplishing computations for Pascal’s Triangle centuries before Pascal himself, the Chinese may have been the first to undertake negative number calculations.
Greek
Greeks are the ones who coined the name “mathematics.” Greek mathematicians also contributed the most to the advancement of Egyptian and Mesopotamian knowledge.
Deductive reasoning used in math and complex geometry calculations first appeared during Greek civilization, which led to discoveries like the Pythagorean Theorem.
Roman
If other civilizations attributed most to theoretical mathematics, Roman developed math by applying it practically. They contributed to mathematics by applying it to various fields, such as surveying, building, accounting, and many more.
They were also the first to explain how to spot financial fraud, map out a route for a road, and employ an odometer to track the distance traveled.
Islamic
While ancient civilizations like Greece and Rome were trapped in the dark ages, it is greatly Islamic to preserve mathematics knowledge.
Arabic mathematicians like Al-Khawarizmi significantly advanced algebraic mathematics. The term algorithm also derives from his Latinized name, Algoritmi.
Who Is The Father of Mathematics?
Although mathematics is a collective knowledge developed through civilizations and is not attributed to a single individual, there is still a mathematician who was considered the father of math.
His name was Archimedes, and he was credited with excellent talent and contribution to mathematics. Even in the present era, his contributions are still being used quite vigorously.
Archimedes was born in 287 BC in an astronomer family and passed away in the Syracuse Siege in 212 BC. His father – Phidias – was an astronomer.
Syracuse, a Greek city from antiquity, was home to Archimedes. In serving King Hiero II, he also dedicated his life to mathematics.
From an early age, Archimedes showed a passion for learning about physics, mathematics, and politics. Throughout his life, Archimedes was enthralled with equations and problem-solving in mathematics.
His family also encouraged him to obtain a high-quality education for Archimedes. He most likely enrolled in the Egyptian School of Mathematics for this reason.
Archimedes has always been revered until the present day. In addition to receiving the title “Father of Mathematics,” he was also given recognition by other subsequent mathematicians and had statues of him erected worldwide.
Current generations of mathematicians who are carrying the torch and driven to advance the subject have also been greatly inspired by Archimedes’ achievements.
Notable Contributions of The Father of Mathematics?
Exact Value of Pi
We must all have learned about the concept of Pi during our school time. It is the proportion between the perimeter of a circle and its diameter. 22 is divided by 7 to obtain the number 3.14.
And if you wonder who had calculated this proper figure, then it was not anyone but Archimedes. He had estimated this number using a 96-sided polygon and also discovered that the commonly used value of Pi was somewhere between 3.1408 and 3.1429.
Volumes and Areas
His genuine enthusiasm for mathematics inspired him to develop formulas for several new forms’ volume and surface areas by applying the Exhaustion method.
For instance, he drew more polygons within the circle after enclosing the circle in a polygon to compute the area of the circle. He next attempted to determine the size of the sketched polygons.
He also applied the same method to other forms, surrounding the circle with squares, triangles, pentagons, and other shapes. He then estimated the areas of various forms before coming to a final determination that assigned him the circle’s area.
Quadrature of Parabola
A straight line bounds the area, and the parabola equals 4/3 of the area bounded by a triangle with the same base and height as the segment. By using the common ratio of 1/4, Archimedes used the idea of infinite geometric series to calculate this figure.
Infinitesimal
Archimedes initially developed integrative calculus almost 2000 years before Newton and Leibniz.
The term “infinitesimal” refers to a number that approaches infinity or anything that is often nonexistent or unreal. As this idea developed, other related ideas emerged, including differentiability, continuity, integration, and limitations.
Sphere and Cylinder
The volume to surface area ratio of a sphere and a cylinder was first calculated by Archimedes. He demonstrated that a sphere’s surface and volume area are two-thirds of a cylinder.
This finding impacted him so much that he asked for his tomb to be constructed like a cylinder with a sphere encircling it.
Scientific Notation
Archimedes created a technique for counting zeros inside a specified integer. He proposed that the overall amount of sand grains in the cosmos is followed by 63 zeroes, which is incredibly challenging to write by hand.
He developed this way to make it simple to express large numbers. The scientific notation may represent the statement as 1×{10}^{63}.
The volume of Irregular Objects
The discovery of the volume of irregular objects, regarded as one of the most important discoveries in the realm of physics, contributed most to Archimedes’ reputation. He was able to determine the volume of irregular objects using buoyancy.
It happened unexpectedly when he entered a bathtub and found the water overflew. He then discovered that the body’s volume inside the water was equal to the amount of water it displaced, which could be easily estimated.
Most Influential Mathematicians
Keith Devlin
Devlin, a former consulting professor of mathematics at Stanford University, is the co-founder of the Human-Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute at Stanford University, established in 2006.
In 1971, he earned his bachelor’s and a doctorate in mathematics from the Universities of Bristol and Kings College, London. Delvin is famous for his theory of information, Mathematical cognition, and models of reasoning.
Terence Tao
Tao has been referred to as his generation’s greatest mathematician and possibly the greatest mathematician currently alive. Tao was ten years old when he won a medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad and was a child prodigy from South Australia.
His influential contributions include the Green-Tao theorem, Tao’s inequality, oscillatory integrals, analysis, compressed sensing, and Erdős discrepancy problem.
Ian Stewart
Stewart is a retired professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick in England. In 1966, Stewart graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Cambridge. In the same year, he also earned his Ph.D. in math from the University of Warwick.
His area of specialization is biomathematics, bifurcation theory, dynamical systems, pattern formation, and catastrophe theory.
Source: Quotes of Famous People
Bruce C.Berndt
Bruce C.Berndt, credited with special functions, analytic number theory, continued fractions, and q-series, is the University of Illinois Urbana-Michio Champaign’s Suzuki Distinguished Research Professor of Mathematics.
Albion College in Michigan is where Berndt earned his undergraduate degree in 1961. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a master’s and a Ph.D. in mathematics.
John Stillwell
John Stillwell, an Australian born in Melbourne, is an emeritus professor at the University of San Francisco.
Stillwell spent most of his career at Monash University in Melbourne from 1970 to 2001 before joining USF in 2002. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stillwell received his Ph.D. in 1970.
He has significantly contributed to mathematics with his number theory, geometry, history of mathematics, and foundations of mathematics.
Final Thoughts
Overall, there is not a single individual to create math. So if you wonder who invented mathematics, remember that math is a collective knowledge built up through civilizations.
Despite seeming unattractive to most students, math is extremely important, especially in the current world. If you spend some time learning about math and its relevant stories, you will find out more about how interesting and magnificent it is.