-
3000 BCE
Base 10
Egyptian base 10 counting system is recorded. A royal mace located today at Oxford details counting of prisoners in the hundred thousands and goats in the millions. -
3000 BCE
Abacus
Early form of Abacus in use in China. -
2600 BCE
Great Pyramid
The Great Pyramid of Gizeh is built in Egypt. -
1890 BCE
Golenisvchev “Moscow” Papyrus
Not entirely different from the Rhind Papyrus this was written by an unknown scribe who details mathematics in everyday Egyptian life. -
1775 BCE
Clay Tablets
Babylonian Tablets dealing with first quadratic equations. -
1700 BCE
Labyrinth
The original Labyrinth is constructed. -
1680 BCE
Ahmes 1680-1620 BC
Egyptian Mathematician/Scribe. Used value of 3 1/6 for pi. -
1650 BCE
Rhind Papyrus
Also called Ahmes Papyrus for the scribe, this was a copy of the record of Egyptian mathematics up to this point. Contains our knowledge of their methods and practices. -
1500 BCE
Chinese Numerals
Written Chinese numerals in use during Yin Dynasty. -
1250 BCE
A Linear System
Chinese mathematicians use an early form of systems of equations. -
1225 BCE
Decimals
Place holding values conceptualized. ca. 1250-1200 -
800 BCE
Baudhayana
Mathematician from 800-740 BC author of an early Sulbasutras. -
750 BCE
Manava
(750 BC - 690 BC) Author of the Hindu geometric Sulbasutras. -
625 BCE
Early Greek Geometry
ca. 625-550 theorems and proofs of triangles, circles, and squares are recorded. -
600 BCE
Thales
(624 BC - 546 BC) Mathematician who developed a theorem of angles being 90 degrees when inscribed in a circle and having two points lie on the circle's diameter. -
600 BCE
Roman Republic Calendar
Tarquinius Priscus introduces calendar for all of Rome. -
580 BCE
Pythagoras
(580 BC - 520 BC) Known for the theorem of right triangles named after him. Lead the cult of his name where an original proof of the theorem came from. -
520 BCE
Anaxagoras
(520 BC - 460 BC) Essential contributor to Greek mathematics. -
500 BCE
Pythagorean Theorem
Fundamental theorem of right angled triangles equating the square of the hypotenuse with the sum of the squares of the two smaller sides. -
500 BCE
Irrational
Greek Geometers grapple with the sqrt(2) which can be constructed but not written as a fraction. -
500 BCE
Babylonian Zero
Symbol of zero is used as a placeholder. -
490 BCE
Zeno of Elea
(490 BC - 430 BC) Developed several paradoxes of infinity. -
450 BCE
Infinity
The concept of infinity and infinitesimals are philosophized into paradoxes of the time. -
428 BCE
Plato
(428 BC - 347 BC) -
400 BCE
Mathematical Rigor
Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Euclid set the precedent and expectation of rigorous mathematical proofs. Rigor of Euclidean Geometry established. ca. 400-350 BC -
390 BCE
Volume
Conical Volume and similarly difficult volumes to compute are worked out. -
384 BCE
Aristotle
(384 BC - 322 BC) Key contributor to Greek Mathematics, Philosophy, and Rigor. -
350 BCE
Alexander the Great
(356-323 BC) Tutored by Arstotle, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. -
325 BCE
Euclid
(325 BC - 265 BC) Euclidean Geometry named after him. -
287 BCE
Archimedes
(287 BC - 212 BC) A major player in the development of mathematical proof, scientific thought, and math as a tool of explaining natural phenomena. -
225 BCE
Rise of the Matrix
Chinese develop methods of solving systems with matrices. -
220 BCE
The Great Wall
Built along Mongolian boarder, largest construction effort in China. -
85 BCE
Ptolemy
(85 AD - 165) Mathematician and Astronomer -
44 BCE
E tu, Brute?
Death of Caesar -
40 BCE
More Zero
Zero as more than just a pace holder by the Mayans- far separate from the Babylonians. -
50
Heron
(10 AD - 75) Attributed with a method for calculating digits of irrational numbers, such as sqrt(2). -
220
Liu Hui
(220 - 280) -
250
Chinese Calculus
The Chinese prove how far ahead in mathematical practice they were by developing a form of differential equations solved by tools of calculus. -
335
Theon
(335 - 395) -
400
Trigonometric Ratios
First denotations of triangle side length ratios as sine, cosine, tangent, secant. -
411
Proclus
(411 - 485) -
430
Tsu Chung-Chih
(430-501) Chinese Astronomer who worked out 6 decimal places of pi. -
505
Varahamihira
(505 - 587) -
600
Brahmagupta
(598 - 670) -
625
Basic Operations
rigor applied to +, -, 0 early identities worked out in India. -
790
al-Khwarizmi
(790 - 850) -
800
Mahavira
(800 - 870) -
830
Establishment of Algebra
The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing by al-Khwarizmi -
850
Abu Kamil
(850 - 930) -
990
Inductive Reasoning
Persia saw the rise of rigorous proof by induction. -
1040
Missing Link
Persia again saw major thinking advances by recognizing the link of algebra and geometry. -
1170
Fibonacci
(1170-1250) An early proponent of number sequences. -
1202
Qin Jiushao
(1202-1261) -
1240
Yang Hui
(1238-1298) -
1326
Ottoman Empire
-
1431
Joan of Arc
-
1439
Printing Press
Advanced Scholarly work and general literacy. -
1452
Leonardo
(1452-1519) -
1470
La Roche
(1470-1530) -
1473
Copernicus
(1473-1543) Used mathematical reasoning to create the heliocentric model of the solar system. -
1510
Recorde
(1510-1558) -
1526
Bombelli
(1526-1573) -
1540
Complexity
Introduction of the Complex Plane onto the Real Number Line -
1546
Brahe
(1546-1601) -
1550
Napier
1550-1617 -
1557
Equals Sign
Recorde introduces the equals sign. -
1564
Galileo
(1564-1642) -
1571
Kepler
(1571-1630) -
Pascal, Étienne
(1588-1640) -
Spanish Armada
-
Descartes
(1596-1650) -
Logarithms
Invention and extensive calculation of logarithms and log tables by John Napier. -
Galilean Relativity
The first principle of relativistic thinking. -
Fermat
(1601-1665) -
Torricelli
(1608-1647) -
Boyle
(1627-1691) -
Huygens
(1629-1695) -
Slides Rule
Oughtred developes the slide rule. -
Hooke
(1635-1703) Bitter rival of Newton. -
Newton
(1643-1727) Credited as Inventor of Calculus, Father of Physics, Laws of Motion, Optics, Springs. The Everything Man. -
Leibniz
(1646-1716) Co Inventor of calculus, his notation exists to this day. -
Cartesian Coordinates
The rigorous development of the 2 plane coordinate system by Descartes. -
Probably
The first occurrences of probabilistic thinking applied to games of chance. -
Bernoulli, Jacob
(1654-1705) -
Infinity Identified
Wallis introduces the modern infinity symbol. -
Halley
(1656-1742) -
de L'Hôpital
(1661-1704) -
Binomial Theorem
Newton is at it again. -
de Moivre
(1667-1754) -
Bernoulli, Johann
(1667-1748) -
Taylor, Brook
(1685-1731) Father of series manipulation of the same name, Taylor Series. -
Principia Mathematica
Published the invention of calculus and many, many other theories. -
Bernoulli, N(I)
(1687-1759) More Brothers Bernoulli. -
Goldbach
(1690-1764) Famous for a conjecture proved by Mathis. -
Maclaurin
(1698-1746) Another master series manipulator. -
Bernoulli, Daniel
(1700-1782) Never leave out a Bernoulli. -
Bayes
(1702-1761) -
Euler
(1707-1783) Euler is the greatest mathematician of all time with more published work in more fields than anyone else, and is credited with more modern day notation than anyone else including e for the natural logarithm and sigma for summation. -
Bernoulli, Johann(II)
(1710-1790) Yet another Bernoulli. -
d'Alembert
(1717-1783) d'Alembert wishes he was named Euler. -
Symbol of Pi
Euler first publishes work using the modern symbol for pi. -
Lagrange
(1736-1813) -
Coulomb
(1736-1806) -
Laplace
(1749-1827) -
Bernoulli, Jac(II)
(1759-1789) -
Fourier
(1768-1830) -
Ampère
(1775-1836) -
Gauss
(1777-1855) -
Saddest Year in Math
Euler dies. -
Bessel
(1784-1846) -
Möbius
(1790-1868) Strip! -
Faraday
(1791-1867) -
Lobachevsky
(1792-1856) -
Get Metric
Metric System first introduced. -
Bolyai, János
(1802-1860) -
Boole
(1815-1864) -
Lovelace
(1815-1852) -
Foucault
(1819-1868) -
Abstraction of Algebra
Formally Abstracted. -
Galton
(1822-1911) -
Non Euclidean Geometry
Invented by Gauss, Lobachevsky, Bolyai, and Taurinus. -
Thomson (Kelvin)
(1824-1907) -
Riemann
(1826-1866) -
Maxwell
(1831-1879) -
Gibbs
(1839-1903) -
Ada Lovelace Computes
First computer program is written. -
Laurent, H
(1841-1908) -
Cantor Georg
(1845-1918) -
Darwin
(1845-1912) -
Boolean Algebra
Algebra as applied to logical thinking. -
Schubert
(1848-1911) -
Klein
(1849-1925) Klein, like trapped in a bottle! -
Lindemann
(1852-1939) -
Poincaré
(1854-1912) Poincaré made a conjecture that was recently proven, and the rest is beyond me. -
Riemann Hypothesis
-
Morley
(1860-1937) -
Engel
(1861-1941) -
Hyperbolic Geometry
Term coined by Klein. -
Fischer
(1875-1959) -
Light Money
Cash register is invented along with the light bulb. -
Einstein
(1879-1955) -
Pi Transcends
Lindemann proves pi is transcendental. -
Schrödinger
(1887-1961) -
Ramanujan
(1887-1920) Ramanujan died far too young. -
Matrix Reloaded
Gauss and other Germans rigorously develop Matrix Algebra. -
Banach
(1892-1945) -
Analyze This
Rigorous development of the theory and processes of analysis. -
Ackermann
(1896-1962) -
Tarski
(1902-1983) -
Dirac
(1902-1984) Dirac "guessed" his equation according to Feynman. -
Gödel
(1906-1978) -
Collatz
(1910-1990) Collatz made a conjecture. -
Turing
(1912-1954) Nicknamed "The Enigma". -
General Theory of Relativity
-
Feynman
(1918-1988) Feynman developed QED. -
Get Your Game On
Development of Game Theory, whatever it really is! -
Wiles
(1953- . . . .) -
Gates, William
Microsoft founder born. -
Fortran
Backus develops an early computer language. -
We chose to go to the moon
Speech by JFK declaring the race to the moon. -
Perelman
(1966- . . . .) -
Hand Held
Texas Instruments develops first hand held electronic calculator. -
Rubik's Cube
-
Fractal Geometry
Mandelbroit develops theory of fractal geometry. -
Tao
(1975- . . . .) Tao the last great modern mathematician? -
Pinary Digits
17 year old Colin Percival finds five trillionth binary digit of pi. -
Largely Prime
A prime number with 2,098,960 digits is found. -
Millennium Problems
Clay Math Institute proposes unsolved problems with a $1 million dollar prize for proving or disproving.