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Copyright © 1997, Jay Ligda.  All rights reserved.  Published by Humans in the Universe and Jay Ligda.

A Brief History of Mathematics

      Mathematics is also a meme-that-helps-transmit-memes.  Mathematics is largely a visual phenomenon, working within the imagination.  Numbers and symbols appear in written form that help stimulate the imagination.  This is very much a mental phenomenon, and requires very little stimulation from the body channels.  Yet, mathematics is vital to the building of civilizations.

      The first numbers appeared in Egypt between 3,500 and 3,000 B.C. (Grun, 1975).  The number zero was invented around 800 A.D. by al-Khwarizmi an Arabian.  It didn't spread to Europe until about 1,200 A.D. (Grun, 1976).  The zero profoundly changed mathematics.  It allowed for decimal notation and multiplication by ten that ultimately lead to engineering and scientific calculations (Fuller, 1981).

      As far as mathematical systems go, geometry was used as far back as 2,000 B.C. in Babylonia to measure the stars (Grun, 1975).  Trigonometry was invented in 160 B.C. by Hipparchus of Nicaea.  Calculus did not arise until 1675 when it was invented simultaneously by both Newton and Leibniz (Grun, 1975).

by Jay Ligda

(This work is a all or part of an original work first published/written for John. F. Kennedy University:  Final Integrative Project., Mar1996.)


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References

  • Grun, B.  (1975).  The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events.  New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

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