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Period: Jan 1, 1048 to Jan 1, 1131
Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam would be known mostly for his poetry, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which gains it name from its translator and the word “rubaiyat”, meaning quatrain. He would determine a graphical method for the Zeros in a cubic equation, where parabola of y=x^2 and the hyperbola of y*x=N, with the intersection as the root. This however did not turn out to be as useful, since to solve this problem numerically would demand the use of complex numbers. This was a problem resolved later during the Eu -
Apr 20, 1088
First University is established
The first universities where being established and there was a renewed interest in the natural Philosophy (natural sciences). The first university (University of Bologna) the students hired the teachers. -
Period: Jan 1, 1170 to Jan 1, 1250
Fibonacci (Leonardo Pisano Bigollo)
Fibonacci (Leonardo Pisano Bigollo) as a child traveled frequently to the near east do to his fathers occupation. He became intensely interested in the techniques used by merchant this would lead him to study mathematics further and be a vocal advocate for the Arabic numerals.This number system would be adopted over time by academics, since conflict with Islam over religious wars and the influence of the church. But Fibonacci’s Book “Liber Abaci” was of great influence to merchants in Italy do -
Jan 1, 1202
Liber Abaci
Fibonacci’s Book “Liber Abaci” was of great influence to merchants in Italy do to its simpler structure. This would be the driving force to the systems adoption, sometime later. -
Period: Jan 1, 1323 to Jul 11, 1382
Nicole Oresme
The work of Nicole Oresme correctly determined that the area under a curve could represent distance, in a graph where time was assigned to the x axis and speed to the y. This was one of the earliest examples of graphing a function. Oresme would write that adding of increments in distance corresponded to a moment of velocity. He was limited to solving only know shapes with this form of integration (Baumgart 383). -
Period: Jan 1, 1445 to Jan 1, 1517
Luca Pacioli
Luca Pacioli wrote a book called Summa de Arithmetica, Geometrica, Proportionalita. Summa is the first printed book on algebra and although it didn’t contribute much to math itself it did include the use of new abbreviations, because it was printed it also spread quickly and was very influential. -
Period: Jan 1, 1445 to Jan 1, 1488
Nicholas Chuquet
Nicholas Chuquet wrote a book called Triparty en la Science de Nomres which was the first use of superscripts and negative coeffieciants.Chuquet also had a way for approximating irrational square roots by adding the numerators and denominators of numbers that we know are on either side of the square root. -
Period: Feb 6, 1465 to Nov 5, 1525
Scipione del Ferro
Scipione del Ferro discovered the method for solving equations in the form -
Period: Jan 1, 1500 to Dec 13, 1557
Niccolo Tartaglia
One of the people Antonio Maria Fior challenged to gain reputation was Niccolo Tartaglia (aka the Stammerer due to his speech impediment). Fior bit of more than he could chew and lost to Tartaglia because Tartaglia also had a way of solving the equation. It turns out the hardest part is knowing if a problem is solvable or not and once its discovered that it is solvable many people tended to find proofs independent of each other. -
Period: Sep 24, 1501 to Apr 20, 1557
Gerolamo Cardano
When Cardano heard of Tartaglia’s victory over Fior he wanted to include his method of using the cubic equation after a few refusals from Tartaglia, Tartaglia did tell Cardano his method because Cardano promised not to publish it. Tartaglia gave no proof to the method. Cardano found his own method based on what Tartaglia’s method and Cardano then published a book including his method (not Tartaglia’s) but gave some credit to Tartaglia. Tartaglia was upset about this. -
Period: to
Rene Descartes
The famous french mathematician Rene Descartes would be most well know to math students as the person who merged algebra and geometry. This is by his coordinate system. Known to the rest of humanity for the famous quote “I think therefore I am”. He also among other things would form a rule for determining the number of positive and negative root of a polynomial. Known as the rule of signs, it did not a count for imaginary roots. He noted that all constants must be nonzero also that the it must b -
Period: to
Pierre de Fermat
Fermat was able to determine the maximums or minimums of a function to be where the tangent was a horizontal line. He used something similar to what we use today by changing the x to substitute with x plus change in x. He then solved to be in terms of E (his change in x), then divide by E and finally set it to zero. Fermat would work on integration among other things. With integration he would also use a series of rectangles to estimate the area under the curve. -
Period: to
John Wallis
The idea of expressing numbers as the addition of terms, such as series, were key to creating what we now know as Calculus. Work by John Wallis showed that π/2 can be the product of each even number squared over the product of each odd number squared (Baumgart 414). -
La Geometrie
The famous french mathematician Rene Descartes would be most well know to math students as the person who merged algebra and geometry. This is by his coordinate system. -
Period: to
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton is well know for this work on gravity and optics. He is also known for his advancements in Calculus then known as Analysis. Newton used a different variable than E. He would substitute for x+po and y+qo. -
Period: to
Gottfried Leibniz
Leibniz worked on finding a derivative had used d instead of E. His product formula was hindered by not having dependent and independent variables (Baumgart 395). This could be because he published early, not having worked to the depth that Newton had of his method. Newton’s past experiences with publishing lead him to be wary of releasing his work and what he knew to the presses. -
Liber de Ludo
Gerolamo Cardano wrote a book called Liber de ludo which was published about 100 years after his death. The book introduces the notions of a probability p being between 0 and 1, the multiplicative rule, and the law of large numbers. -
Period: to
Brook Taylor
Brook Taylor was an Englishman and held mathematics as one of many interests and skills. Brook Taylor and Colin Maclaurin would be credited for their work on approximating functions at a given point. The origins many be in dispute since the series appears earlier by Johann Bernoulli. Never the less Taylor’s work would expand upon Maclaurin’s series which was limited to the case where the point was zero. -
Principia
Which is know as Newtons must famous work, from which he discribes the three universal law of motion. -
Period: to
Colin Maclaurin
Colin Maclaurin was a Scottish born mathematician and had a keen interest in Newton’s work. He would also produce work dealing with gravity. Brook Taylor and Colin Maclaurin would be credited for their work on approximating functions at a given point. The origins many be in dispute since the series appears earlier by Johann Bernoulli. Never the less Taylor’s work would expand upon Maclaurin’s series which was limited to the case where the point was zero. -
Period: to
Daniel Bernoulli
The idea of deriving a given function with more than one independent variable would begin to be addressed. Fortunately, mathematics was doing very well in this period and expanding rapidly when compared to this pre-European period. One that could be seen as the earliest work on partials would be Daniel Bernoulli but most of the work in this subject would come from solving applications of differential equations. -
Period: to
Leonhard Euler
Euler’s approach to accounting infinitely small was unlike most mathematicians of the time and he rejected the ideas of metaphysics. Euler justified the infinitely small quantities as non-existent by dy/dx=0/0 how he made this well-defined is by the simple response of n=0/0 n*0=0. -
Period: to
Jean Le Rond d’Alembert
d’Alemebert rejected the idea of these infinitely small static values his approach focused on a different approach. d’Alemebert thought of more of the difference of 2 finite magnitude where one is infinitely smaller than the other. -
Euler solves Seven Bridges of Königsberg problem
He would present his finding to the St. Petersburg Acedemy on this date, and laying the group work for graph theory. -
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Evariste Galois
Evariste Galois was a French mathematician during a very turbulent time in French history, which is why he did not live past the age of 21. His performance in the classroom would not match the work done in his spare time. He would show that there can be no method to solve polynomials greater than degree four. His work that was of most note is Galois theory, possibly the earliest reference to groups in mathematics. He wrote down his last ideas on mathematics just one night before his -
Period: to
George Boole
George Boole was an English mathematician whose most significant contribution was to bring the ideas found in Algebra to the field of Logic. With a background in mathematics, he would approach the topic with far less of a philosophical focus. He would introduce the all important operators AND, OR, and NOT all while at a very young age (19th Century Mathematics - Boole). With these operators he would be able to solve problems using symbols. His work would go unappreciated and would o -
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Georg Cantor
Georg Cantor was a Russian-born German mathematician whose work mainly concentrated on number theory, though he worked on other subjects such as calculus (19th Century Mathematics - Cantor). His biggest work would be in changing mathematics’ understanding of infinity. He showed that one infinity could be larger than the other. He did so by first showing that there is a one-to-one (or injection) correspondence as well as onto (or surjection) between the set of rational numbers and na -
The Rhind papryus are discovered
The Rhind papryus (document from possibly 1650 BC) which in one example described how to address the division of loaves of bread fairly, a clear practical application of mathematics. -
Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat is translated
Omar Khayyam would be known mostly for his poetry, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, which gains it name from its translator and the word “rubaiyat”, meaning quatrain. -
Period: to
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell was a British mathematician whose work really can’t be mentioned without the contributions of Alfred Whitehead (1861-1947) being noted. Russell would resolve the problem of the Russell’s paradox that had been created in modern mathematics. He did so by introducing the concept of elements where entries were noted as being in a hierarchy. He also spent a great deal of time working with Whitehead on proving some very important axioms known as the Principia . This took -
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Al-Khwarizmi
Al-Khwarizmi was a notable member of the House of Wisdom and contributor to mathematics. Al-Khwarizmi wrote a book called “Kitabfi al-jabar wa’l-muqabala” which is the origin of algebra. The word algebra comes from the “al-jabar” in his book’s title. -
Period: to
Abu-Kamil
Abu-Kamil was a mathematician who expanded on Al-Khwarizmi algebra by adding identities and work with irrational numbers. Abu Kamil also wrote 69 intricate problems based on algebra which was later introduced to the Europeans by Fibonacci and is one of the first works to introduce Europeans to Muslim mathematics.
