-
The Babylonian tablets were discovered in the early 1900s. We are just now realising that it is the earliest example of trigonometry. They used a base of 60, not 10 like we use now. Because 60 is much easier to divide by 3, their calculations are much more accurate.
-
The Rhind Papyrus is an ancient scroll filled with many different types of mathematical problems. Papyrus was used to keep writing safe at the time
-
Greek mathematicians Euclid and Pythagoras develop new vital ways to do math. EX: a² + b²= c²
-
The Chinese began to publish their own algebra writings.
-
Diophantus wrote a series of books called Arithmica. In the books, he talks about finding 2 linear expressions and squares and cubes. He made lots of discoveries about mathematics.
-
Al-Khwārizmī wrote a book about mathematics, al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wa’l-muqābala that was unknown to us, but based on ancient babylonian materials. This gave them the knowledge, and they made new mathematical ideas. Some were decimal fractions, which are important to us now.
-
He quickly mastered all of the math that his teachers knew. He defined powers, negative numbers and added zeros into his work, which not many people did.
-
The medieval latin and Arabic word “Al jabr” meaning the reduction was first used
-
François Viète is considered the founding father of algebraic notation. He started to use algebraic notation beyond letters.
-
René Descartes started using variables for unknow quantities. Equations started to look like the ones we are used to seeing today.
