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GEC 104 Mathematics in the Modern World
Module 1 History of Mathematics

Objectives: 1. To have a bird’s eye view of the development of mathematics from ancient
times to the present.
2. To develop an appreciation for modern mathematics as a product of the
contributions of different ages, cultures, and individual mathematicians.
Condensed History of Mathematics

The Mathematics that we know in the modern world has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt
and Babylonia. Then it was developed in Greece, and simultaneously in China and in India. This
ancient Greek mathematics, along with some influence of Hindu mathematics spread to the
neighboring countries in the Middle East. It was translated into Arabic and Latin and was adopted by
Western Europe. Western education was spread throughout the world by colonization and trade.
Today’s Mathematics has been enriched by the contributions of different civilizations and individual
mathematicians who unselfishly passed on their discoveries and knowledge to us. It is therefore
fitting for us to look back and appreciate how Mathematics have developed and who made these
developments possible.
4000-3000 B.C.E. Sumerians (from Sumer, a region of Mesopotamia) were the first
people to assign symbols to group of objects to represent numbers.
They developed the earliest known writing system, a pictographic writing
system known as cuneiform script.
3000 B.C.E. The Egyptians were the first people to develop a numerical system that
was based on the number 10. Hieroglyphic Numerals developed in
Egypt.
2400 B.C.E. Babylonians in Mesopotamia used the Sexagesimal System (base 60).
300 B.C.E The major Greek progress in mathematics was from 300 BC to 200 AD.
During this era, Euclid wrote the Elements, a compilation of theorems,
axioms in Algebra and postulates and theorems in Geometry. With this,
he gained the title, “Father of Geometry”.
200 B.C.E. Archimedes of Syracuse, a Greek mathematician, physicist, inventor

and astronomer derived a range of formulas in Geometry including the
area of a circle, the surface area and volume of a sphere and the area
under a parabola.
140 B.C.E. Trigonometry of Hipparchus developed. Hipparchus of Nicaea was a

Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician considered as the
founder of trigonometry.
775 C.E. Hindu mathematical works were translated into Arabic.

830 C.E. Arabic Algebra and Indian numerals came to Western Europe through
the writings of Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi. Other Arabic
scholars also cultivated Greek mathematics translating the writings of
Apollonius, Archimedes, Euclid, Ptolemy, etc. into Arabic.
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1202 C.E. Leonardo of Pisa, also called Fibonacci, wrote Liber Abaci, a book filled
with arithmetical and algebraic information which he had collected during
his travels. This was one of the means by which the Hindu-Arabic
System of Numeration was introduced into Western Europe. The best
known contribution of Hindu mathematics to modern mathematics was
the decimal position system. They also introduced the number zero in
mathematics. For the first time in human history, the concept of “nothing”
was symbolized by a number.
1489 C.E. Johannes Widmann was a German mathematician. The + and - symbols first
appeared in print in his book Mercantile Arithmetic published in Leipzig in 1489
in reference to surpluses and deficits in business problems.
17th Century The 17th Century saw John Napier, and others greatly extend the power of
mathematics as a calculatory science with his discovery of logarithms.
1629 C.E. Pierre de Fermat was a French lawyer and a mathematician who is given
credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus. Fermat,
together with Pascal, began the mathematical study of probability.
Rene Descartes was another notable mathematician of the 17th century.

He invented the Cartesian coordinate system, developed analytic
geometry and laid the foundation for the development of calculus.
1684 C.E. Leibniz’ first paper on the calculus was published. Gottfried Leibniz
discovered infinitesimal calculus, along with Sir Isaac Newton. However;
each one made this discovery alone, not while working together.
18th Century The most important mathematician of the 18 th Century was Leonhard Euler who,
in addition to work in a wide range of mathematical areas, started the Graph
Theory, the Calculus of Variations and Differential Geometry.
Toward the end of the 18th Century, an Italian mathematician, Joseph

Louie Lagrange began a rigorous theory of functions and of mechanics.
He also played a key role in the creation of the Metric system of weights
and measures.
19th Century Carl Friedrich Gauss German mathematician, generally regarded as one
of the greatest mathematicians of all time for his contributions to number
theory, geometry, probability theory, planetary astronomy, and the
theory of functions. In 1799, he proved the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra.
20th Century
1975 C.E. Benoit Mandelbrot’s introduced the theory of fractals. He published The
Fractal Geometry of Nature in 1982.
1994 C.E. Andrew Wiles proved Fermat’s Last Theorem
2000 C.E. Mathematical challenges of the 21 st Century announced

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GEC 104 Mathematics in the Modern World

Module 1 History of Mathematics

Condensed History of Mathematics

200 B.C.E. Archimedes of Syracuse, a Greek mathematician, physicist, inventor

140 B.C.E. Trigonometry of Hipparchus developed. Hipparchus of Nicaea was a

775 C.E. Hindu mathematical works were translated into Arabic.

Rene Descartes was another notable mathematician of the 17th century.

Toward the end of the 18th Century, an Italian mathematician, Joseph

1994 C.E. Andrew Wiles proved Fermat’s Last Theorem

2000 C.E. Mathematical challenges of the 21 st Century announced

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