Science Encyclopedia Mathematics

Science Encyclopedia Mathematics — page 3
MATHEMATICS Timeline of Mathematics 70,000 to 300 BC South Africa ochre rocks adorned with scratched geometric patterns 70,000 BC 35,000 BC to 20,000 BC Africa and France earliest known prehistoric attempts 20,000 BC 3400 BC 3100 BC 2800 BC 2700 BC 2600 BC 1000 BC 400 BC 300 BC 300 BC 300 BC to quantify time Nile Valley the Ishango Bone is possibly the earliest reference to prime numbers and Egyptian multiplication Mesopotamia the Sumerians invent the first numeral system and a system of weights and measures Egypt earliest known decimal system allows indefinite counting by way of introducing new symbols Indus Valley Civilization on the Indian subcontinent earliest use of decimal ratios in a uniform system of ancient weights and measures Egypt precision surveying Indus Valley Civilization objects streets pavements houses and multi-storied buildings are constructed at perfect right angles Egypt use of common fraction by Egyptians India mathematicians write a mathematical text which classifies all numbers into three sets enumerable innumerable and infinite Egypt Euclid proves the infinitude of prime numbers and presents the Euclidean algorithm Mesopotamia the Babylonians invent the earliest calculator the abacus India mathematician Pingala writes the Chhandah Shastra which contains the first Indian use of zero as a digit indicated by a dot and also presents a description of a binary numeral system along with the first use of Fibonacci numbers and Pascal’s triangle W H A T I S M A T H E M A T I C S 5