What is Mathematics?
Mathematics (from Greek μάθημα máthēma, “knowledge, study, learning”) is the study of topics such as quantity (numbers),[2] structure,[3] space,[2] and change.[4][5][6] There is a range of views among mathematicians and philosophers as to the exact scope and definition of mathematics.[7][8]
This is an image of Euclid who is popularly known as the father of Geometry. He has also created the Euclid's Law which we will discuss in further few posts but for now just know that he is a world renowned personality who is often the celebrity of the subject of Mathematics.
The history of mathematics can be seen as an everincreasing
series of abstractions. The first abstraction,
which is shared by many animals,[18] was probably that
of numbers: the realization that a collection of two apples
and a collection of two oranges (for example) have something
in common, namely quantity of their members.
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2 1 HISTORY
Greek mathematician Pythagoras (c. 570 – c. 495 BC), commonly
credited with discovering the Pythagorean theorem
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Mayan numerals
As evidenced by tallies found on bone, in addition to
recognizing how to count physical objects, prehistoric
peoples may have also recognized how to count abstract
quantities, like time – days, seasons, years.[19]
Evidence for more complex mathematics does not appear
until around 3000 BC, when the Babylonians and Egyptians
began using arithmetic, algebra and geometry for
taxation and other financial calculations, for building and
construction, and for astronomy.
[20] The earliest uses of
mathematics were in trading, land measurement, painting
and weaving patterns and the recording of time.
In Babylonian mathematics elementary arithmetic
(addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) first
appears in the archaeological record. Numeracy predated
writing and numeral systems have been many and
diverse, with the first known written numerals created by
Egyptians in Middle Kingdom texts such as the Rhind
Mathematical Papyrus.
Between 600 and 300 BC the Ancient Greeks began a systematic
study of mathematics in its own right with Greek
mathematics.
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