This is a
timeline
A timeline is a list of events displayed in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events.
Timelines can use any suitable scale representing t ...
of
pure and
applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
. It is divided here into three stages, corresponding to stages in the
development of mathematical notation: a "rhetorical" stage in which calculations are described purely by words, a "syncopated" stage in which quantities and common algebraic operations are beginning to be represented by symbolic abbreviations, and finally a "symbolic" stage, in which comprehensive notational systems for formulas are the norm.
Rhetorical stage
Before 1000 BC
* ca.
70,000 BC – South Africa, ochre rocks adorned with scratched
geometric
Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
patterns (see
Blombos Cave
Blombos Cave is an archaeological site located in Blombos Private Nature Reserve, about 300 km east of Cape Town on the Southern Cape coastline, South Africa. The cave contains Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits currently dated at between c. ...
).
* ca.
35,000 BC to
20,000 BC – Africa and France, earliest known
prehistoric
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
attempts to quantify time (see
Lebombo bone).
* c. 20,000 BC –
Nile Valley
The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...
,
Ishango bone
The Ishango bone, discovered at the "Fisherman Settlement" of Ishango in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a bone tool and possible mathematical device that dates to the Upper Paleolithic era. The curved bone is dark brown in color, about ...
: possibly the earliest reference to
prime number
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime ...
s and
Egyptian multiplication.
* c. 3400 BC –
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
, the
Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...
ians invent the first
numeral system
A numeral system is a writing system for expressing numbers; that is, a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using digits or other symbols in a consistent manner.
The same sequence of symbols may represent differe ...
, and a system of
weights and measures
A unit of measurement, or unit of measure, is a definite magnitude (mathematics), magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other qua ...
.
* c. 3100 BC –
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, earliest known
decimal system allows indefinite counting by way of introducing new symbols.
* c. 2800 BC –
Indus Valley Civilisation
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the Northwestern South Asia, northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 Common Era, BCE to 1300 BCE, and in i ...
on the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
, earliest use of decimal ratios in a uniform system of
ancient weights and measures
A system of units of measurement, also known as a system of units or system of measurement, is a collection of units of measurement and rules relating them to each other. Systems of measurement have historically been important, regulated and defi ...
, the smallest unit of measurement used is 1.704 millimetres and the smallest unit of mass used is 28 grams.
* 2700 BC – Egypt, precision
surveying
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...
.
* 2400 BC – Egypt, precise
astronomical calendar, used even in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
for its mathematical regularity.
* c. 2000 BC – Mesopotamia, the
Babylonians
Babylonia (; , ) was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as an Akkadian-populated but Amorite-ru ...
use a base-60 positional numeral system, and compute the first known approximate value of
π at 3.125.
* c. 2000 BC – Scotland,
carved stone balls exhibit a variety of symmetries including all of the symmetries of
Platonic solid
In geometry, a Platonic solid is a Convex polytope, convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional space, three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the face (geometry), faces are congruence (geometry), congruent (id ...
s, though it is not known if this was deliberate.
* c. 1800 BC – The
Plimpton 322
Plimpton 322 is a Babylonian clay tablet, believed to have been written around 1800 BC, that contains a mathematical table written in cuneiform script. Each row of the table relates to a Pythagorean triple, that is, a triple of integers (s ...
Babylonian tablet records the oldest known examples of
Pythagorean triple
A Pythagorean triple consists of three positive integers , , and , such that . Such a triple is commonly written , a well-known example is . If is a Pythagorean triple, then so is for any positive integer . A triangle whose side lengths are a Py ...
s.
* 1800 BC – Egypt,
Moscow Mathematical Papyrus
The Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, also named the Golenishchev Mathematical Papyrus after its first non-Egyptian owner, Egyptologist Vladimir Golenishchev, is an ancient Egyptian mathematical papyrus containing several problems in arithmetic, ge ...
, finding the volume of a
frustum
In geometry, a ; (: frusta or frustums) is the portion of a polyhedron, solid (normally a pyramid (geometry), pyramid or a cone (geometry), cone) that lies between two parallel planes cutting the solid. In the case of a pyramid, the base faces a ...
.
* c. 1800 BC –
Berlin Papyrus 6619
The Berlin Papyrus 6619, simply called the Berlin Papyrus when the context makes it clear, is one of the primary sources of ancient Egyptian mathematics. One of the two mathematics problems on the Papyrus may suggest that the ancient Egyptians k ...
(Egypt, 19th dynasty) contains a quadratic equation and its solution.
* 1650 BC –
Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (RMP; also designated as papyrus British Museum 10057, pBM 10058, and Brooklyn Museum 37.1784Ea-b) is one of the best known examples of ancient Egyptian mathematics.
It is one of two well-known mathematical papyri ...
, copy of a lost scroll from around 1850 BC, the scribe
Ahmes
Ahmes ( “, a common Egyptian name also transliterated Ahmose (disambiguation), Ahmose) was an ancient Egyptian scribe who lived towards the end of the 15th Dynasty, Fifteenth Dynasty (and of the Second Intermediate Period) and the beginning of t ...
presents one of the first known approximate values of π at 3.16, the first attempt at
squaring the circle
Squaring the circle is a problem in geometry first proposed in Greek mathematics. It is the challenge of constructing a square (geometry), square with the area of a circle, area of a given circle by using only a finite number of steps with a ...
, earliest known use of a sort of
cotangent
In mathematics, the trigonometric functions (also called circular functions, angle functions or goniometric functions) are real functions which relate an angle of a right-angled triangle to ratios of two side lengths. They are widely used in a ...
, and knowledge of solving first order linear equations.
*The earliest recorded use of
combinatorial
Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and as an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many ...
techniques comes from problem 79 of the
Rhind papyrus
The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (RMP; also designated as papyrus British Museum 10057, pBM 10058, and Brooklyn Museum 37.1784Ea-b) is one of the best known examples of ancient Egyptian mathematics.
It is one of two well-known mathematical papyr ...
which dates to the 16th century BCE.
Syncopated stage
1st millennium BC
* c. 1000 BC –
Simple fraction
A fraction (from , "broken") represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts. When spoken in everyday English, a fraction describes how many parts of a certain size there are, for example, one-half, eight-fifths, thre ...
s used by the
Egyptians
Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...
. However, only unit fractions are used (i.e., those with 1 as the numerator) and
interpolation
In the mathematics, mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points.
In engineering and science, one ...
tables are used to approximate the values of the other fractions.
* first half of 1st millennium BC –
Vedic India
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...
–
Yajnavalkya
Yajnavalkya or Yagyavalkya (, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST:) is a Hindu Vedic sage prominently mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 700 BCE) and Taittiriya Upanishad, ''Tattiriya Upanishad''., Quote: "Yajnav ...
, in his
Shatapatha Brahmana
The Shatapatha Brahmana (, , abbreviated to 'SB') is a commentary on the Yajurveda, Śukla Yajurveda. It is attributed to the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya. Described as the most complete, systematic, and important of the Brahmanas (commentaries on the ...
, describes the motions of the Sun and the Moon, and advances a
95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the Sun and the Moon.
* c. 800 BC –
Baudhayana
The (Sanskrit: बौधायन सूत्रस् ) are a group of Vedic Sanskrit texts which cover dharma, daily ritual, mathematics and is one of the oldest Dharma-related texts of Hinduism that have survived into the modern age from th ...
, author of the Baudhayana
Shulba Sutra, a
Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit, also simply referred as the Vedic language, is the most ancient known precursor to Sanskrit, a language in the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is atteste ...
geometric text, contains
quadratic equation
In mathematics, a quadratic equation () is an equation that can be rearranged in standard form as
ax^2 + bx + c = 0\,,
where the variable (mathematics), variable represents an unknown number, and , , and represent known numbers, where . (If and ...
s, calculates the
square root of two
The square root of 2 (approximately 1.4142) is the positive real number that, when multiplied by itself or squared, equals the number 2. It may be written as \sqrt or 2^. It is an algebraic number, and therefore not a transcendental number. T ...
correctly to five decimal places, and contains "the earliest extant verbal expression of the Pythagorean Theorem in the world, although it had already been known to the Old Babylonians."
* c. 8th century BC – the
Yajurveda
The ''Yajurveda'' (, , from यजुस्, "worship", and वेद, "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in ''The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism'' (Edito ...
, one of the four
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
Vedas
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...
, contains the earliest concept of
infinity
Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by \infty, called the infinity symbol.
From the time of the Ancient Greek mathematics, ancient Greeks, the Infinity (philosophy), philosophic ...
, and states "if you remove a part from infinity or add a part to infinity, still what remains is infinity."
* 1046 BC to 256 BC – China, ''
Zhoubi Suanjing
The ''Zhoubi Suanjing'', also known by many other names, is an ancient Chinese astronomical and mathematical work. The ''Zhoubi'' is most famous for its presentation of Chinese cosmology and a form of the Pythagorean theorem. It claims to pr ...
'', arithmetic, geometric algorithms, and proofs.
* 624 BC – 546 BC – Greece,
Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages, founding figures of Ancient Greece.
Beginning in eighteenth-century historiography, many came to ...
has various theorems attributed to him.
* c. 600 BC – India, the other Vedic "Shulba Sutras" ("rule of chords" in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
) use
Pythagorean triple
A Pythagorean triple consists of three positive integers , , and , such that . Such a triple is commonly written , a well-known example is . If is a Pythagorean triple, then so is for any positive integer . A triangle whose side lengths are a Py ...
s, contain a number of geometrical proofs, and approximate
π at 3.16.
* second half of 1st millennium BC – The
Luoshu Square, the unique normal
magic square
In mathematics, especially History of mathematics, historical and recreational mathematics, a square array of numbers, usually positive integers, is called a magic square if the sums of the numbers in each row, each column, and both main diago ...
of order three, was discovered in China.
* 530 BC – Greece,
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos (; BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...
studies propositional
geometry
Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
and vibrating lyre strings; his group also discovers the
irrationality
Irrationality is cognition, thinking, talking, or acting without rationality.
Irrationality often has a negative connotation, as thinking and actions that are less useful or more illogical than other more rational alternatives. The concept o ...
of the
square root of two
The square root of 2 (approximately 1.4142) is the positive real number that, when multiplied by itself or squared, equals the number 2. It may be written as \sqrt or 2^. It is an algebraic number, and therefore not a transcendental number. T ...
.
* c. 510 BC – Greece,
Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras (; , ''Anaxagóras'', 'lord of the assembly'; ) was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae at a time when Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire, Anaxagoras came to Athens. In later life he was charged ...
* c. 500 BC –
Indian grammarian
Pāṇini
(; , ) was a Sanskrit grammarian, logician, philologist, and revered scholar in ancient India during the mid-1st millennium BCE, dated variously by most scholars between the 6th–5th and 4th century BCE.
The historical facts of his life ar ...
writes the ''
Aṣṭādhyāyī
The (; ) is a grammar text that describes a form of the Sanskrit language.
Authored by the ancient Sanskrit scholar Pāṇini and dated to around 6th c. bce, 6-5th c.BCE and 4th c.BCE, it describes the language as current in his time, specifica ...
'', which contains the use of metarules,
transformations and
recursion
Recursion occurs when the definition of a concept or process depends on a simpler or previous version of itself. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in m ...
s, originally for the purpose of systematizing the grammar of Sanskrit.
* c. 500 BC – Greece,
Oenopides of Chios
* 470 BC – 410 BC – Greece,
Hippocrates of Chios
Hippocrates of Chios (; c. 470 – c. 421 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician, geometer, and astronomer.
He was born on the isle of Chios, where he was originally a merchant. After some misadventures (he was robbed by either pirates or ...
utilizes
lunes in an attempt to
square the circle.
* 490 BC – 430 BC – Greece,
Zeno of Elea
Zeno of Elea (; ; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea, in Southern Italy (Magna Graecia). He was a student of Parmenides and one of the Eleatics. Zeno defended his instructor's belief in monism, the idea that only one single en ...
creates ''
Zeno's paradoxes
Zeno's paradoxes are a series of philosophical arguments presented by the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea (c. 490–430 BC), primarily known through the works of Plato, Aristotle, and later commentators like Simplicius of Cilicia. Zeno de ...
.''
* 5th century BC – India,
Apastamba
''Āpastamba Dharmasūtra'' (Sanskrit: आपस्तम्ब धर्मसूत्र) is a Sanskrit text and one of the oldest Dharma-post vedic smriti related texts of Hinduism that have survived into the modern age from the 1st millenniu ...
, author of the Apastamba Shulba Sutra, another Vedic Sanskrit geometric text, makes an attempt at squaring the circle and also calculates the
square root of 2
The square root of 2 (approximately 1.4142) is the positive real number that, when multiplied by itself or squared, equals the number 2. It may be written as \sqrt or 2^. It is an algebraic number, and therefore not a transcendental number. Te ...
correct to five decimal places.
* 5th c. BC – Greece,
Theodorus of Cyrene
* 5th century – Greece,
Antiphon the Sophist
* 460 BC – 370 BC – Greece,
Democritus
Democritus (, ; , ''Dēmókritos'', meaning "chosen of the people"; – ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic philosopher from Abdera, Thrace, Abdera, primarily remembered today for his formulation of an ...
* 460 BC – 399 BC – Greece,
Hippias
* 5th century (late) – Greece,
Bryson of Heraclea
* 428 BC – 347 BC – Greece,
Archytas
Archytas (; ; 435/410–360/350 BC) was an Ancient Greek mathematician, music theorist, statesman, and strategist from the ancient city of Taras (Tarentum) in Southern Italy. He was a scientist and philosopher affiliated with the Pythagorean ...
* 423 BC – 347 BC – Greece,
Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
* 417 BC – 317 BC – Greece,
Theaetetus
* c. 400 BC – India, write the ''Surya Prajnapti'', a mathematical text classifying all numbers into three sets: enumerable, innumerable and
infinite. It also recognises five different types of infinity: infinite in one and two directions, infinite in area, infinite everywhere, and infinite perpetually.
* 408 BC – 355 BC – Greece,
Eudoxus of Cnidus
Eudoxus of Cnidus (; , ''Eúdoxos ho Knídios''; ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek Ancient Greek astronomy, astronomer, Greek mathematics, mathematician, doctor, and lawmaker. He was a student of Archytas and Plato. All of his original work ...
* 400 BC – 350 BC – Greece,
Thymaridas
* 395 BC – 313 BC – Greece,
Xenocrates
Xenocrates (; ; c. 396/5314/3 BC) of Chalcedon was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and leader ( scholarch) of the Platonic Academy from 339/8 to 314/3 BC. His teachings followed those of Plato, which he attempted to define more closely, of ...
* 390 BC – 320 BC – Greece,
Dinostratus
Dinostratus (; c. 390 – c. 320 BCE) was a Greece, Greek mathematician and geometer, and the brother of Menaechmus. He is known for using the quadratrix to solve the problem of squaring the circle.
Life and work
Dinostratus' chief contribution ...
* 380–290 – Greece,
Autolycus of Pitane
* 370 BC – Greece,
Eudoxus states the
method of exhaustion
The method of exhaustion () is a method of finding the area of a shape by inscribing inside it a sequence of polygons (one at a time) whose areas converge to the area of the containing shape. If the sequence is correctly constructed, the differ ...
for
area
Area is the measure of a region's size on a surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...
determination.
* 370 BC – 300 BC – Greece,
Aristaeus the Elder
* 370 BC – 300 BC – Greece,
Callippus
* 350 BC – Greece,
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
discusses
logic
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...
al reasoning in ''
Organon
The ''Organon'' (, meaning "instrument, tool, organ") is the standard collection of Aristotle's six works on logical analysis and dialectic. The name ''Organon'' was given by Aristotle's followers, the Peripatetics, who maintained against the ...
''.
*4th century BC – China,
Counting rods
Counting rods (筭) are small bars, typically 3–14 cm (1" to 6") long, that were used by mathematicians for calculation in ancient East Asia. They are placed either horizontally or vertically to represent any integer or rational number.
...
* 330 BC – China, the earliest known work on
Chinese geometry, the ''
Mo Jing'', is compiled.
* 310 BC – 230 BC – Greece,
Aristarchus of Samos
Aristarchus of Samos (; , ; ) was an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician who presented the first known heliocentric model that placed the Sun at the center of the universe, with the Earth revolving around the Sun once a year and rotati ...
* 390 BC – 310 BC – Greece,
Heraclides Ponticus
Heraclides Ponticus ( ''Herakleides''; c. 390 BC – c. 310 BC) was a Greek philosopher and astronomer who was born in Heraclea Pontica, now Karadeniz Ereğli, Turkey, and migrated to Athens. He is best remembered for proposing that the Earth ...
* 380 BC – 320 BC – Greece,
Menaechmus
Menaechmus (, c. 380 – c. 320 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician, list of geometers, geometer and philosopher born in Alopeconnesus or Prokonnesos in the Thracian Chersonese, who was known for his friendship with the renowned philosopher P ...
* 300 BC – India, ''
Bhagavati Sutra'', which contains the earliest information on
combinations
In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are t ...
.
* 300 BC – Greece,
Euclid
Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...
in his ''
Elements'' studies geometry as an
axiomatic system
In mathematics and logic, an axiomatic system is a set of formal statements (i.e. axioms) used to logically derive other statements such as lemmas or theorems. A proof within an axiom system is a sequence of deductive steps that establishes ...
, proves the infinitude of
prime number
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime ...
s and presents the
Euclidean algorithm
In mathematics, the Euclidean algorithm,Some widely used textbooks, such as I. N. Herstein's ''Topics in Algebra'' and Serge Lang's ''Algebra'', use the term "Euclidean algorithm" to refer to Euclidean division or Euclid's algorithm, is a ...
; he states the law of reflection in ''Catoptrics'', and he proves the
fundamental theorem of arithmetic
In mathematics, the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, also called the unique factorization theorem and prime factorization theorem, states that every integer greater than 1 is prime or can be represented uniquely as a product of prime numbers, ...
.
* c. 300 BC – India,
Brahmi numerals
Brahmi numerals are a numeral system attested in the Indian subcontinent from the 3rd century BCE. It is the direct graphic ancestor of the modern Hindu–Arabic numeral system. However, the Brahmi numeral system was conceptually distinct from ...
(ancestor of the common modern
base 10
The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of t ...
numeral system
A numeral system is a writing system for expressing numbers; that is, a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using digits or other symbols in a consistent manner.
The same sequence of symbols may represent differe ...
)
* 370 BC – 300 BC – Greece,
Eudemus of Rhodes works on histories of arithmetic, geometry and astronomy now lost.
* 300 BC –
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
, the
Babylonians
Babylonia (; , ) was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as an Akkadian-populated but Amorite-ru ...
invent the earliest calculator, the
abacus
An abacus ( abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a hand-operated calculating tool which was used from ancient times in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, until the adoption of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. A ...
.
* c. 300 BC –
Indian mathematician
Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent from 1200 BCE until the end of the 18th century. In the classical period of Indian mathematics (400 CE to 1200 CE), important contributions were made by scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, ...
Pingala
Acharya Pingala (; c. 3rd2nd century BCE) was an ancient Indian poet and mathematician, and the author of the ' (), also called the ''Pingala-sutras'' (), the earliest known treatise on Sanskrit prosody.
The ' is a work of eight chapters in the ...
writes the ''Chandaḥśāstra'', 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
A binary number is a number expressed in the base-2 numeral system or binary numeral system, a method for representing numbers that uses only two symbols for the natural numbers: typically "0" ( zero) and "1" ( one). A ''binary number'' may als ...
, along with the first use of
Fibonacci numbers
In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many writers begin the s ...
and
Pascal's triangle
In mathematics, Pascal's triangle is an infinite triangular array of the binomial coefficients which play a crucial role in probability theory, combinatorics, and algebra. In much of the Western world, it is named after the French mathematician Bla ...
.
* 3rd century BC –
Indian texts use the Sanskrit word "
Shunya" to refer to the concept of "void" (
zero
0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...
).
* 280 BC – 210 BC – Greece,
Nicomedes (mathematician)
Nicomedes (; ; c. 280 – c. 210 BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician.
Life and work
Almost nothing is known about Nicomedes' life apart from references in his works. Studies have stated that Nicomedes was born in about 280 BC and died in ab ...
* 280 BC – 220BC – Greece,
Philo of Byzantium
Philo of Byzantium (, ''Phílōn ho Byzántios'', ), also known as Philo Mechanicus (Latin for "Philo the Engineer"), was a Greek engineer, physicist and writer on mechanics, who lived during the latter half of the 3rd century BC. Although he wa ...
* 280 BC – 220 BC – Greece,
Conon of Samos
* 279 BC – 206 BC – Greece,
Chrysippus
Chrysippus of Soli (; , ; ) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Stoicism, Stoic Philosophy, philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes. When Cleanthes ...
* c. 3rd century BC – India,
Kātyāyana
Kātyāyana (कात्यायन) also spelled as Katyayana ( century BCE) was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India.
Origins
According to some legends, he was born in the Katya lineage origina ...
* 250 BC – 190 BC – Greece,
Dionysodorus
* 262 -198 BC – Greece,
Apollonius of Perga
Apollonius of Perga ( ; ) was an ancient Greek geometer and astronomer known for his work on conic sections. Beginning from the earlier contributions of Euclid and Archimedes on the topic, he brought them to the state prior to the invention o ...
* 260 BC – Greece,
Archimedes
Archimedes of Syracuse ( ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Greek mathematics, mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and Invention, inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse, Sicily, Syracuse in History of Greek and Hellenis ...
proved that the value of π lies between 3 + 1/7 (approx. 3.1429) and 3 + 10/71 (approx. 3.1408), that the area of a circle was equal to π multiplied by the square of the radius of the circle and that the area enclosed by a parabola and a straight line is 4/3 multiplied by the area of a triangle with equal base and height. He also gave a very accurate estimate of the value of the square root of 3.
* c. 250 BC – late
Olmec
The Olmecs () or Olmec were an early known major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing in the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco from roughly 1200 to 400 Before the Common Era, BCE during Mesoamerica's Mesoamerican chronolog ...
s had already begun to use a true zero (a shell glyph) several centuries before
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
in the New World. See
0 (number)
0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and complex ...
.
* 240 BC – Greece,
Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; ; – ) was an Ancient Greek polymath: a Greek mathematics, mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theory, music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of A ...
uses
his sieve algorithm to quickly isolate prime numbers.
* 240 BC 190 BC– Greece,
Diocles (mathematician)
* 225 BC – Greece,
Apollonius of Perga
Apollonius of Perga ( ; ) was an ancient Greek geometer and astronomer known for his work on conic sections. Beginning from the earlier contributions of Euclid and Archimedes on the topic, he brought them to the state prior to the invention o ...
writes ''On
Conic Sections
A conic section, conic or a quadratic curve is a curve obtained from a Conical surface, cone's surface intersecting a plane (mathematics), plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is ...
'' and names the
ellipse
In mathematics, an ellipse is a plane curve surrounding two focus (geometry), focal points, such that for all points on the curve, the sum of the two distances to the focal points is a constant. It generalizes a circle, which is the special ty ...
,
parabola
In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is Reflection symmetry, mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different Mathematics, mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exactl ...
, and
hyperbola
In mathematics, a hyperbola is a type of smooth function, smooth plane curve, curve lying in a plane, defined by its geometric properties or by equations for which it is the solution set. A hyperbola has two pieces, called connected component ( ...
.
* 202 BC to 186 BC –China, ''
Book on Numbers and Computation'', a mathematical treatise, is written in
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...
.
* 200 BC – 140 BC – Greece,
Zenodorus (mathematician)
* 150 BC – India,
Jain mathematicians in India write the ''
Sthananga Sutra'', which contains work on the theory of numbers, arithmetical operations, geometry, operations with
fractions
A fraction (from , "broken") represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts. When spoken in everyday English, a fraction describes how many parts of a certain size there are, for example, one-half, eight-fifths, thre ...
, simple equations,
cubic equations, quartic equations, and
permutations
In mathematics, a permutation of a Set (mathematics), set can mean one of two different things:
* an arrangement of its members in a sequence or linear order, or
* the act or process of changing the linear order of an ordered set.
An example ...
and combinations.
* c. 150 BC – Greece,
Perseus (geometer)
* 150 BC – China, A method of
Gaussian elimination
In mathematics, Gaussian elimination, also known as row reduction, is an algorithm for solving systems of linear equations. It consists of a sequence of row-wise operations performed on the corresponding matrix of coefficients. This method can a ...
appears in the Chinese text ''
The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art
''The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art'' is a Chinese mathematics book, composed by several generations of scholars from the 10th–2nd century BCE, its latest stage being from the 1st century CE. This book is one of the earliest surviving ...
''.
* 150 BC – China,
Horner's method
In mathematics and computer science, Horner's method (or Horner's scheme) is an algorithm for polynomial evaluation. Although named after William George Horner, this method is much older, as it has been attributed to Joseph-Louis Lagrange by Hor ...
appears in the Chinese text ''
The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art
''The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art'' is a Chinese mathematics book, composed by several generations of scholars from the 10th–2nd century BCE, its latest stage being from the 1st century CE. This book is one of the earliest surviving ...
''.
* 150 BC – China,
Negative numbers
In mathematics, a negative number is the opposite of a positive real number. Equivalently, a negative number is a real number that is less than zero. Negative numbers are often used to represent the magnitude of a loss or deficiency. A debt th ...
appear in the Chinese text ''
The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art
''The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art'' is a Chinese mathematics book, composed by several generations of scholars from the 10th–2nd century BCE, its latest stage being from the 1st century CE. This book is one of the earliest surviving ...
''.
* 150 BC – 75 BC – Phoenician,
Zeno of Sidon
Zeno of Sidon (; c. 150 – c. 75 BC) was a Greek Epicurean philosopher from the Seleucid city of Sidon. His writings have not survived, but there are some epitomes of his lectures preserved among the writings of his pupil Philodemus.
Life
Z ...
* 190 BC – 120 BC – Greece,
Hipparchus
Hipparchus (; , ; BC) was a Ancient Greek astronomy, Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry, but is most famous for his incidental discovery of the precession of the equinoxes. Hippar ...
develops the bases of
trigonometry
Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics concerned with relationships between angles and side lengths of triangles. In particular, the trigonometric functions relate the angles of a right triangle with ratios of its side lengths. The fiel ...
.
* 190 BC – 120 BC – Greece,
Hypsicles
* 160 BC – 100 BC – Greece,
Theodosius of Bithynia
Theodosius of Bithynia ( ; 2nd–1st century BC) was a Hellenistic astronomer and mathematician from Bithynia who wrote the '' Spherics'', a treatise about spherical geometry, as well as several other books on mathematics and astronomy, of which tw ...
* 135 BC – 51 BC – Greece,
Posidonius
Posidonius (; , "of Poseidon") "of Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greeks, Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, historian, mathematician, and teacher native to Apamea (Syria), Apame ...
* 78 BC – 37 BC – China,
Jing Fang
Jing Fang () (78–37 BC), born Li Fang (), courtesy name Junming (), was a Chinese music theorist, mathematician and astronomer born in present-day Puyang, Henan during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). Although better known for his w ...
* 50 BC –
Indian numerals
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Associated with India
* of or related to India
** Indian people
** Indian diaspora
** Languages of India
** Indian English, a dialect of the English language
** Indian cuisine
Associated with indigenous peopl ...
, a descendant of the
Brahmi numerals
Brahmi numerals are a numeral system attested in the Indian subcontinent from the 3rd century BCE. It is the direct graphic ancestor of the modern Hindu–Arabic numeral system. However, the Brahmi numeral system was conceptually distinct from ...
(the first
positional notation
Positional notation, also known as place-value notation, positional numeral system, or simply place value, usually denotes the extension to any radix, base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or decimal, decimal system). More generally, a posit ...
base-10 numeral system
A numeral system is a writing system for expressing numbers; that is, a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using digits or other symbols in a consistent manner.
The same sequence of symbols may represent differe ...
), begins development in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
* mid 1st century
Cleomedes
Cleomedes () was a Greek astronomer who is known chiefly for his book ''On the Circular Motions of the Celestial Bodies'' (Κυκλικὴ θεωρία μετεώρων), also known as ''The Heavens'' ().
Placing his work chronologically
His bi ...
(as late as 400 AD)
* final centuries BC – Indian astronomer
Lagadha writes the ''
Vedanga Jyotisha
''Vedanga Jyotisha'' (), or ''Jyotishavedanga'' (), is one of earliest known Indian texts on astrology ('' Jyotisha''). The extant text is dated to the final centuries BCE, but it may be based on a tradition reaching back to about 700-600 BCE.
...
'', a Vedic text on
astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
that describes rules for tracking the motions of the Sun and the Moon, and uses geometry and trigonometry for astronomy.
* 1st C. BC – Greece,
Geminus
Geminus of Rhodes (), was a Greek astronomer and mathematician, who flourished in the 1st century BC. An astronomy work of his, the ''Introduction to the Phenomena'', still survives; it was intended as an introductory astronomy book for students ...
* 50 BC – 23 AD – China,
Liu Xin
1st millennium AD
* 1st century – Greece,
Heron of Alexandria
Hero of Alexandria (; , , also known as Heron of Alexandria ; probably 1st or 2nd century AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in Alexandria in Egypt during the Roman era. He has been described as the greatest experimentali ...
, Hero, the earliest, fleeting reference to square roots of negative numbers.
* c 100 – Greece,
Theon of Smyrna
Theon of Smyrna ( ''Theon ho Smyrnaios'', ''gen.'' Θέωνος ''Theonos''; fl. 100 CE) was a Greek philosopher and mathematician, whose works were strongly influenced by the Pythagorean school of thought. His surviving ''On Mathematics Useful fo ...
* 60 – 120 – Greece,
Nicomachus
Nicomachus of Gerasa (; ) was an Ancient Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from Gerasa, in the Roman province of Syria (now Jerash, Jordan). Like many Pythagoreans, Nicomachus wrote about the mystical properties of numbers, best known for his ...
* 70 – 140 – Greece,
Menelaus of Alexandria,
Spherical trigonometry
Spherical trigonometry is the branch of spherical geometry that deals with the metrical relationships between the edge (geometry), sides and angles of spherical triangles, traditionally expressed using trigonometric functions. On the sphere, ge ...
* 78 – 139 – China,
Zhang Heng
Zhang Heng (; AD 78–139), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized Chang Heng, was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman who lived during the Han dynasty#Eastern Han (25–220 AD), Eastern Han dynasty. Educated in the capital citi ...
* c. 2nd century – Greece,
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
wrote the ''
Almagest
The ''Almagest'' ( ) is a 2nd-century Greek mathematics, mathematical and Greek astronomy, astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Ptolemy, Claudius Ptolemy ( ) in Koine Greek. One of the most i ...
''.
* 132 – 192 – China,
Cai Yong
Cai Yong (132/133 – ), courtesy name Bojie, was a Chinese astronomer, calligrapher, historian, mathematician, musician, politician, and writer of the Eastern Han dynasty. He was well-versed in calligraphy, music, mathematics and astronomy. On ...
* 240 – 300 – Greece,
Sporus of Nicaea
* 250 – Greece,
Diophantus
Diophantus of Alexandria () (; ) was a Greek mathematician who was the author of the '' Arithmetica'' in thirteen books, ten of which are still extant, made up of arithmetical problems that are solved through algebraic equations.
Although Jose ...
uses symbols for unknown numbers in terms of syncopated
algebra
Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...
, and writes ''
Arithmetica
Diophantus of Alexandria () (; ) was a Greek mathematics, Greek mathematician who was the author of the ''Arithmetica'' in thirteen books, ten of which are still extant, made up of arithmetical problems that are solved through algebraic equations ...
'', one of the earliest treatises on algebra.
* 263 – China,
Liu Hui
Liu Hui () was a Chinese mathematician who published a commentary in 263 CE on ''Jiu Zhang Suan Shu ( The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art).'' He was a descendant of the Marquis of Zixiang of the Eastern Han dynasty and lived in the state ...
computes
π using
Liu Hui's π algorithm.
* 300 – the earliest known use of
zero
0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...
as a decimal digit is introduced by
Indian mathematicians
Indian mathematicians have made a number of contributions to mathematics that have significantly influenced scientists and mathematicians in the modern era. One of such works is Hindu numeral system which is predominantly used today and is likely ...
.
* 234 – 305 – Greece,
Porphyry (philosopher)
Porphyry (; ; – ) was a Neoplatonic philosopher born in Tyre, Roman Phoenicia during Roman rule. He edited and published the '' Enneads'', the only collection of the work of Plotinus, his teacher.
He wrote original works in the Greek la ...
* 300 – 360 – Greece,
Serenus of Antinoöpolis
* 335 – 405– Greece,
Theon of Alexandria
Theon of Alexandria (; ; ) was a Greek scholar and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He edited and arranged Euclid's '' Elements'' and wrote commentaries on works by Euclid and Ptolemy. His daughter Hypatia also won fame as a mathema ...
* c. 340 – Greece,
Pappus of Alexandria
Pappus of Alexandria (; ; AD) was a Greek mathematics, Greek mathematician of late antiquity known for his ''Synagoge'' (Συναγωγή) or ''Collection'' (), and for Pappus's hexagon theorem in projective geometry. Almost nothing is known a ...
states his
hexagon theorem and his
centroid theorem.
* 350 – 415 – Eastern Roman Empire,
Hypatia
Hypatia (born 350–370 – March 415 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt (Roman province), Egypt: at that time a major city of the Eastern Roman Empire. In Alexandria, Hypatia was ...
* c. 400 – India, the
Bakhshali manuscript, which describes a theory of the infinite containing different levels of
infinity
Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by \infty, called the infinity symbol.
From the time of the Ancient Greek mathematics, ancient Greeks, the Infinity (philosophy), philosophic ...
, shows an understanding of
indices, as well as
logarithms
In mathematics, the logarithm of a number is the exponent by which another fixed value, the base, must be raised to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of to base is , because is to the rd power: . More generally, if , the ...
to
base 2, and computes
square roots
In mathematics, a square root of a number is a number such that y^2 = x; in other words, a number whose ''square'' (the result of multiplying the number by itself, or y \cdot y) is . For example, 4 and −4 are square roots of 16 because 4 ...
of numbers as large as a million correct to at least 11 decimal places.
* 300 to 500 – the
Chinese remainder theorem
In mathematics, the Chinese remainder theorem states that if one knows the remainders of the Euclidean division of an integer ''n'' by several integers, then one can determine uniquely the remainder of the division of ''n'' by the product of thes ...
is developed by
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu (; zh, t=孫子, s=孙子, first= t, p=Sūnzǐ) may have been a Chinese General, military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC). Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the au ...
.
* 300 to 500 – China, a description of
rod calculus is written by
Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu (; zh, t=孫子, s=孙子, first= t, p=Sūnzǐ) may have been a Chinese General, military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC). Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the au ...
.
* 412 – 485 – Greece,
Proclus
Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...
* 420 – 480 – Greece,
Domninus of Larissa
* b 440 – Greece,
Marinus of Neapolis
Marinus (; born c. 440 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, mathematician and rhetorician born in Flavia Neapolis (modern Nablus), Palaestina Secunda. He was a student of Proclus in Athens. His surviving works are an introduction to Euclid' ...
"I wish everything was mathematics."
* 450 – China,
Zu Chongzhi
Zu Chongzhi (; 429 – 500), courtesy name Wenyuan (), was a Chinese astronomer, inventor, mathematician, politician, and writer during the Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties. He was most notable for calculating pi as between 3.1415926 and 3.1415 ...
computes
π to seven decimal places. This calculation remains the most accurate calculation for π for close to a thousand years.
* c. 474 – 558 – Greece,
Anthemius of Tralles
* 500 – India,
Aryabhata
Aryabhata ( ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was the first of the major mathematician-astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. His works include the '' Āryabhaṭīya'' (which mentions that in 3600 ' ...
writes the ''Aryabhata-Siddhanta'', which first introduces the trigonometric functions and methods of calculating their approximate numerical values. It defines the concepts of
sine
In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side opposite th ...
and
cosine
In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side opposite that ...
, and also contains the
earliest tables of sine and cosine values (in 3.75-degree intervals from 0 to 90 degrees).
* 480 – 540 – Greece,
Eutocius of Ascalon
Eutocius of Ascalon (; ; 480s – 520s) was a Greek mathematician who wrote commentaries on several Archimedean treatises and on the Apollonian ''Conics''.
Life and work
Little is known about the life of Eutocius. He was born in Ascalon, ...
* 490 – 560 – Greece,
Simplicius of Cilicia
Simplicius of Cilicia (; ; – c. 540) was a disciple of Ammonius Hermiae and Damascius, and was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. He was among the pagan philosophers persecuted by Justinian in the early 6th century, and was forced for ...
* 6th century – Aryabhata gives accurate calculations for astronomical constants, such as the
solar eclipse
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...
and
lunar eclipse
A lunar eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, ...
, computes π to four decimal places, and obtains whole number solutions to
linear equations
In mathematics, a linear equation is an equation that may be put in the form
a_1x_1+\ldots+a_nx_n+b=0, where x_1,\ldots,x_n are the variables (or unknowns), and b,a_1,\ldots,a_n are the coefficients, which are often real numbers. The coefficie ...
by a method equivalent to the modern method.
* 505 – 587 – India,
Varāhamihira
* 6th century – India,
Yativṛṣabha
Yativṛṣabha (Yativrishabha), also known as Jadivasaha, was a mathematician and Jain monk. He is believed to have lived during the 6th century, probably during 500–570. He studied under Arya Manksu and Nagahastin. He lived and worked betw ...
* 535 – 566 – China,
Zhen Luan
* 550 –
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
mathematicians give zero a numeral representation in the
positional notation
Positional notation, also known as place-value notation, positional numeral system, or simply place value, usually denotes the extension to any radix, base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or decimal, decimal system). More generally, a posit ...
Indian numeral system.
* 600 – China, Liu Zhuo uses quadratic interpolation.
* 602 – 670 – China,
Li Chunfeng
Li Chunfeng (; 602–670) was a Chinese astronomer, historian, mathematician, and politician who was born in today's Baoji, Baoji, Shaanxi, during the Sui dynasty, Sui and Tang dynasty, Tang dynasties. He was first appointed to the Imperial Astr ...
* 625 China,
Wang Xiaotong writes the ''
Jigu Suanjing'', where cubic and quartic equations are solved.
* 7th century – India,
Bhāskara I gives a rational approximation of the sine function.
* 7th century – India,
Brahmagupta
Brahmagupta ( – ) was an Indian Indian mathematics, mathematician and Indian astronomy, astronomer. He is the author of two early works on mathematics and astronomy: the ''Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta'' (BSS, "correctly established Siddhanta, do ...
invents the method of solving indeterminate equations of the second degree and is the first to use algebra to solve astronomical problems. He also develops methods for calculations of the motions and places of various planets, their rising and setting, conjunctions, and the calculation of eclipses of the sun and the moon.
* 628 – Brahmagupta writes the ''
Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta'', where zero is clearly explained, and where the modern
place-value Indian numeral system is fully developed. It also gives rules for manipulating both
negative and positive numbers, methods for computing square roots, methods of solving
linear
In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties:
* linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping'');
* linearity of a '' polynomial''.
An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x) ...
and
quadratic equation
In mathematics, a quadratic equation () is an equation that can be rearranged in standard form as
ax^2 + bx + c = 0\,,
where the variable (mathematics), variable represents an unknown number, and , , and represent known numbers, where . (If and ...
s, and rules for summing
series
Series may refer to:
People with the name
* Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series
* George Series (1920–1995), English physicist
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Series, the ordered sets used i ...
,
Brahmagupta's identity
In algebra, Brahmagupta's identity says that, for given n, the product of two numbers of the form a^2+nb^2 is itself a number of that form. In other words, the set of such numbers is closed under multiplication. Specifically:
:\begin
\left(a^2 + ...
, and the
Brahmagupta theorem.
* 721 – China, Zhang Sui (
Yi Xing
Yixing (, 683–727) was a Buddhist monk of the Tang dynasty, recognized for his accomplishments as an astronomer, a reformer of the calendar system, a specialist in the ''I Ching, Yijing'' (易經), and a distinguished Buddhist figure with exp ...
) computes the first tangent table.
* 8th century – India,
Virasena
Acharya Virasena (792-853 CE), also spelt as Veerasena, was a Digambara monk and belonged to the lineage of Acharya Kundakunda. He was an Indian mathematician and Jain philosopher and scholar. He was also known as a famous orator and an accom ...
gives explicit rules for the
Fibonacci sequence
In mathematics, the Fibonacci sequence is a Integer sequence, sequence in which each element is the sum of the two elements that precede it. Numbers that are part of the Fibonacci sequence are known as Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted . Many w ...
, gives the derivation of the
volume
Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch) ...
of a
frustum
In geometry, a ; (: frusta or frustums) is the portion of a polyhedron, solid (normally a pyramid (geometry), pyramid or a cone (geometry), cone) that lies between two parallel planes cutting the solid. In the case of a pyramid, the base faces a ...
using an
infinite procedure, and also deals with the
logarithm
In mathematics, the logarithm of a number is the exponent by which another fixed value, the base, must be raised to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of to base is , because is to the rd power: . More generally, if , the ...
to base 2 and knows its laws.
* 8th century – India,
Sridhara
Śrīdhara or Śrīdharācārya (8th–9th century) was an Indian mathematician, known for two extant treatises about arithmetic and practical mathematics, ''Pāṭīgaṇita'' and ''Pāṭīgaṇita-sāra'', and a now-lost treatise about algebra, ...
gives the rule for finding the volume of a sphere and also the formula for solving quadratic equations.
* 773 – Iraq, Kanka brings Brahmagupta's Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta to
Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
to explain the Indian system of arithmetic
astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
and the Indian numeral system.
* 773 –
Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī translates the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta into Arabic upon the request of King Khalif Abbasid Al Mansoor.
* 9th century – India,
Govindasvāmi
Govindasvāmi (or Govindasvāmin, Govindaswami) (c. 800 – c. 860) was an Indian mathematical astronomer most famous for his ''Bhashya'', a commentary on the ''Mahābhāskarīya'' of Bhāskara I, written around 830. The commentary contains many ...
discovers the Newton-Gauss interpolation formula, and gives the fractional parts of Aryabhata's tabular
sines.
* 810 – The
House of Wisdom
The House of Wisdom ( ), also known as the Grand Library of Baghdad, was believed to be a major Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid-era public academy and intellectual center in Baghdad. In popular reference, it acted as one of the world's largest publ ...
is built in Baghdad for the translation of Greek and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
mathematical works into Arabic.
* 820 –
Al-Khwarizmi
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi , or simply al-Khwarizmi, was a mathematician active during the Islamic Golden Age, who produced Arabic-language works in mathematics, astronomy, and geography. Around 820, he worked at the House of Wisdom in B ...
–
Persian mathematician, father of algebra, writes the ''
Al-Jabr
''The Concise Book of Calculation by Restoration and Balancing'' (, ;} or ), commonly abbreviated ''Al-Jabr'' or ''Algebra'' (Arabic: ), is an Arabic mathematical treatise on algebra written in Baghdad around 820 by the Persian polymath Al-Khw ...
'', later transliterated as ''
Algebra
Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...
'', which introduces systematic algebraic techniques for solving linear and quadratic equations. Translations of his book on
arithmetic
Arithmetic is an elementary branch of mathematics that deals with numerical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In a wider sense, it also includes exponentiation, extraction of roots, and taking logarithms.
...
will introduce the
Hindu–Arabic decimal
The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of th ...
number system to the Western world in the 12th century. The term ''
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...
'' is also named after him.
* 820 – Iran,
Al-Mahani conceived the idea of reducing
geometrical problems such as
doubling the cube
Doubling the cube, also known as the Delian problem, is an ancient geometry, geometric problem. Given the Edge (geometry), edge of a cube, the problem requires the construction of the edge of a second cube whose volume is double that of the first ...
to problems in algebra.
* c. 850 – Iraq,
al-Kindi
Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ; ; ) was an Arab Muslim polymath active as a philosopher, mathematician, physician, and music theorist
Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understandin ...
pioneers
cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic se ...
and
frequency analysis
In cryptanalysis, frequency analysis (also known as counting letters) is the study of the frequency of letters or groups of letters in a ciphertext. The method is used as an aid to breaking classical ciphers.
Frequency analysis is based on th ...
in his book on
cryptography
Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logy, -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of Adversary (cryptography), ...
.
* c. 850 – India,
Mahāvīra
Mahavira (Devanagari: महावीर, ), also known as Vardhamana (Devanagari: वर्धमान, ), was the 24th ''Tirthankara'' (Supreme Preacher and Ford Maker) of Jainism. Although the dates and most historical details of his lif ...
writes the
Gaṇitasārasan̄graha otherwise known as the Ganita Sara Samgraha which gives systematic rules for expressing a fraction as the
sum of unit fractions.
* 895 – Syria,
Thābit ibn Qurra
Thābit ibn Qurra (full name: , , ; 826 or 836 – February 19, 901), was a scholar known for his work in mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and translation. He lived in Baghdad in the second half of the ninth century during the time of the Abba ...
: the only surviving fragment of his original work contains a chapter on the solution and properties of
cubic equation
In algebra, a cubic equation in one variable is an equation of the form
ax^3+bx^2+cx+d=0
in which is not zero.
The solutions of this equation are called roots of the cubic function defined by the left-hand side of the equation. If all of th ...
s. He also generalized the
Pythagorean theorem
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem or Pythagoras' theorem is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry between the three sides of a right triangle. It states that the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite t ...
, and discovered the
theorem
In mathematics and formal logic, a theorem is a statement (logic), statement that has been Mathematical proof, proven, or can be proven. The ''proof'' of a theorem is a logical argument that uses the inference rules of a deductive system to esta ...
by which pairs of
amicable numbers can be found, (i.e., two numbers such that each is the sum of the proper divisors of the other).
* c. 900 – Egypt,
Abu Kamil
Abū Kāmil Shujāʿ ibn Aslam ibn Muḥammad Ibn Shujāʿ ( Latinized as Auoquamel, , also known as ''Al-ḥāsib al-miṣrī''—lit. "The Egyptian Calculator") (c. 850 – c. 930) was a prominent Egyptian mathematician during the Islamic Go ...
had begun to understand what we would write in symbols as
* c. 900 – Mesopotamia,
al-Battani
Al-Battani (before 858929), archaically Latinized as Albategnius, was a Muslim astronomer, astrologer, geographer and mathematician, who lived and worked for most of his life at Raqqa, now in Syria. He is considered to be the greatest and mos ...
extended the Indian concepts of sine and cosine to other trigonometrical ratios, like tangent, secant and their inverse functions. Derived the formulae:
and
.
* 940 – Iran,
Abu al-Wafa' al-Buzjani extracts
roots
A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients.
Root or roots may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...
using the Indian numeral system.
* 953 – The arithmetic of the
Hindu–Arabic numeral system
The Hindu–Arabic numeral system (also known as the Indo-Arabic numeral system, Hindu numeral system, and Arabic numeral system) is a positional notation, positional Decimal, base-ten numeral system for representing integers; its extension t ...
at first required the use of a dust board (a sort of handheld
blackboard
A blackboard or a chalkboard is a reusable writing surface on which text or drawings are made with sticks of calcium sulphate or calcium carbonate, better known as chalk.
Blackboards were originally made of smooth, thin sheets of black or da ...
) because "the methods required moving the numbers around in the calculation and rubbing some out as the calculation proceeded."
Al-Uqlidisi modified these methods for pen and paper use. Eventually the advances enabled by the decimal system led to its standard use throughout the region and the world.
* 953 – Persia,
Al-Karaji
(; c. 953 – c. 1029) was a 10th-century Persian mathematician and engineer who flourished at Baghdad. He was born in Karaj, a city near Tehran. His three principal surviving works are mathematical: ''Al-Badi' fi'l-hisab'' (''Wonderful on ...
is the "first person to completely free algebra from geometrical operations and to replace them with the arithmetical type of operations which are at the core of algebra today. He was first to define the
monomial
In mathematics, a monomial is, roughly speaking, a polynomial which has only one term. Two definitions of a monomial may be encountered:
# A monomial, also called a power product or primitive monomial, is a product of powers of variables with n ...
s
,
,
, ... and
,
,
, ... and to give rules for
products
Product may refer to:
Business
* Product (business), an item that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer.
* Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution
...
of any two of these. He started a school of algebra which flourished for several hundreds of years". He also discovered the
binomial theorem
In elementary algebra, the binomial theorem (or binomial expansion) describes the algebraic expansion of powers of a binomial. According to the theorem, the power expands into a polynomial with terms of the form , where the exponents and a ...
for
integer
An integer is the number zero (0), a positive natural number (1, 2, 3, ...), or the negation of a positive natural number (−1, −2, −3, ...). The negations or additive inverses of the positive natural numbers are referred to as negative in ...
exponent
In mathematics, exponentiation, denoted , is an operation involving two numbers: the ''base'', , and the ''exponent'' or ''power'', . When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to repeated multiplication of the base: that is, i ...
s, which "was a major factor in the development of
numerical analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic computation, symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of ...
based on the decimal system".
Symbolic stage
1000–1500
* c. 1000 –
Abu Sahl al-Quhi (Kuhi) solves polynomial
equation
In mathematics, an equation is a mathematical formula that expresses the equality of two expressions, by connecting them with the equals sign . The word ''equation'' and its cognates in other languages may have subtly different meanings; for ...
s higher than the
second degree.
* c. 1000 –
Abu-Mahmud Khujandi first states a special case of
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive number, positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than . The cases ...
.
* c. 1000 –
Law of sines
In trigonometry, the law of sines (sometimes called the sine formula or sine rule) is a mathematical equation relating the lengths of the sides of any triangle to the sines of its angles. According to the law,
\frac \,=\, \frac \,=\, \frac \,=\ ...
is discovered by
Muslim mathematicians, but it is uncertain who discovers it first between
Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi,
Abu Nasr Mansur
Abū Naṣr Manṣūr ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿIrāq al-Jaʿdī (; c. 960 – 1036) was a Persian Muslim mathematician and astronomer. He is well known for his work with the spherical sine law.Bijli suggests that three mathematicians are in contention ...
, and
Abu al-Wafa' al-Buzjani.
* c. 1000 –
Pope Sylvester II
Pope Sylvester II (; – 12 May 1003), originally known as Gerbert of Aurillac, was a scholar and teacher who served as the bishop of Rome and ruled the Papal States from 999 to his death. He endorsed and promoted study of Science in the medieva ...
introduces the
abacus
An abacus ( abaci or abacuses), also called a counting frame, is a hand-operated calculating tool which was used from ancient times in the ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, until the adoption of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. A ...
using the
Hindu–Arabic numeral system
The Hindu–Arabic numeral system (also known as the Indo-Arabic numeral system, Hindu numeral system, and Arabic numeral system) is a positional notation, positional Decimal, base-ten numeral system for representing integers; its extension t ...
to Europe.
* 1000 –
Al-Karaji
(; c. 953 – c. 1029) was a 10th-century Persian mathematician and engineer who flourished at Baghdad. He was born in Karaj, a city near Tehran. His three principal surviving works are mathematical: ''Al-Badi' fi'l-hisab'' (''Wonderful on ...
writes a book containing the first known
proofs by
mathematical induction
Mathematical induction is a method for mathematical proof, proving that a statement P(n) is true for every natural number n, that is, that the infinitely many cases P(0), P(1), P(2), P(3), \dots all hold. This is done by first proving a ...
. He used it to prove the
binomial theorem
In elementary algebra, the binomial theorem (or binomial expansion) describes the algebraic expansion of powers of a binomial. According to the theorem, the power expands into a polynomial with terms of the form , where the exponents and a ...
,
Pascal's triangle
In mathematics, Pascal's triangle is an infinite triangular array of the binomial coefficients which play a crucial role in probability theory, combinatorics, and algebra. In much of the Western world, it is named after the French mathematician Bla ...
, and the sum of
integral
In mathematics, an integral is the continuous analog of a Summation, sum, which is used to calculate area, areas, volume, volumes, and their generalizations. Integration, the process of computing an integral, is one of the two fundamental oper ...
cubes
A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...
. He was "the first who introduced the theory of
algebra
Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...
ic
calculus
Calculus is the mathematics, mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations.
Originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the ...
".
* c. 1000 –
Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi studied a slight variant of
Thābit ibn Qurra
Thābit ibn Qurra (full name: , , ; 826 or 836 – February 19, 901), was a scholar known for his work in mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and translation. He lived in Baghdad in the second half of the ninth century during the time of the Abba ...
's theorem on
amicable numbers, and he also made improvements on the decimal system.
* 1020 –
Abu al-Wafa' al-Buzjani gave the formula: sin (α + β) = sin α cos β + sin β cos α. Also discussed the quadrature of the
parabola
In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is Reflection symmetry, mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. It fits several superficially different Mathematics, mathematical descriptions, which can all be proved to define exactl ...
and the volume of the
paraboloid
In geometry, a paraboloid is a quadric surface that has exactly one axial symmetry, axis of symmetry and no central symmetry, center of symmetry. The term "paraboloid" is derived from parabola, which refers to a conic section that has a similar p ...
.
* 1021 –
Ibn al-Haytham
Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham (Latinization of names, Latinized as Alhazen; ; full name ; ) was a medieval Mathematics in medieval Islam, mathematician, Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world, astronomer, and Physics in the medieval Islamic world, p ...
formulated and solved
Alhazen's problem
Alhazen's problem is a mathematical problem in optics concerning reflection in a spherical mirror. It asks for the point in the mirror where one given point reflects to another.
The special case of a concave spherical mirror is also known as ...
geometrically.
* 1030 –
Alī ibn Ahmad al-Nasawī writes a treatise on the
decimal
The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of th ...
and
sexagesimal
Sexagesimal, also known as base 60, is a numeral system with 60 (number), sixty as its radix, base. It originated with the ancient Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC, was passed down to the ancient Babylonians, and is still used—in a modified fo ...
number systems. His arithmetic explains the division of fractions and the extraction of square and cubic roots (square root of 57,342; cubic root of 3,652,296) in an almost modern manner.
* 1070 –
Omar Khayyam
Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīshābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) (Persian language, Persian: غیاث الدین ابوالفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابورﻯ), commonly known as Omar ...
begins to write ''Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra'' and classifies cubic equations.
* c. 1100 – Omar Khayyám "gave a complete classification of
cubic equation
In algebra, a cubic equation in one variable is an equation of the form
ax^3+bx^2+cx+d=0
in which is not zero.
The solutions of this equation are called roots of the cubic function defined by the left-hand side of the equation. If all of th ...
s with geometric solutions found by means of intersecting
conic section
A conic section, conic or a quadratic curve is a curve obtained from a cone's surface intersecting a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a special case of the ellipse, tho ...
s". He became the first to find general
geometric
Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
solutions of cubic equations and laid the foundations for the development of
analytic geometry
In mathematics, analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. This contrasts with synthetic geometry.
Analytic geometry is used in physics and engineering, and als ...
and
non-Euclidean geometry
In mathematics, non-Euclidean geometry consists of two geometries based on axioms closely related to those that specify Euclidean geometry. As Euclidean geometry lies at the intersection of metric geometry and affine geometry, non-Euclidean ge ...
. He also extracted
roots
A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients.
Root or roots may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...
using the decimal system (Hindu–Arabic numeral system).
* 12th century –
Indian numerals
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Associated with India
* of or related to India
** Indian people
** Indian diaspora
** Languages of India
** Indian English, a dialect of the English language
** Indian cuisine
Associated with indigenous peopl ...
have been modified by Arab mathematicians to form the modern
Arabic numeral
The ten Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) are the most commonly used symbols for writing numbers. The term often also implies a positional notation number with a decimal base, in particular when contrasted with Roman numerals. ...
system.
* 12th century – the Arabic numeral system reaches Europe through the
Arabs
Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world.
Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...
.
* 12th century –
Bhaskara Acharya writes the
Lilavati, which covers the topics of definitions, arithmetical terms, interest computation, arithmetical and geometrical progressions, plane geometry,
solid geometry
Solid geometry or stereometry is the geometry of Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional Euclidean space (3D space).
A solid figure is the region (mathematics), region of 3D space bounded by a two-dimensional closed surface; for example, a ...
, the shadow of the
gnomon
A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields, typically to measure directions, position, or time.
History
A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was ...
, methods to solve indeterminate equations, and
combinations
In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are t ...
.
* 12th century –
Bhāskara II
Bhāskara II ('; 1114–1185), also known as Bhāskarāchārya (), was an Indian people, Indian polymath, Indian mathematicians, mathematician, astronomer and engineer. From verses in his main work, Siddhānta Śiromaṇi, it can be inferre ...
(Bhaskara Acharya) writes the ''
Bijaganita'' (''
Algebra
Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...
''), which is the first text to recognize that a positive number has two square roots. Furthermore, it also gives the ''
Chakravala method
The ''chakravala'' method () is a cyclic algorithm to solve indeterminate quadratic equations, including Pell's equation. It is commonly attributed to Bhāskara II, (c. 1114 – 1185 CE)Hoiberg & Ramchandani – Students' Britannica India: Bhask ...
'' which was the first generalized solution of so-called ''
Pell's equation
Pell's equation, also called the Pell–Fermat equation, is any Diophantine equation of the form x^2 - ny^2 = 1, where ''n'' is a given positive Square number, nonsquare integer, and integer solutions are sought for ''x'' and ''y''. In Cartesian ...
.''
* 12th century – Bhaskara Acharya develops preliminary concepts of
differentiation, and also develops
Rolle's theorem,
Pell's equation
Pell's equation, also called the Pell–Fermat equation, is any Diophantine equation of the form x^2 - ny^2 = 1, where ''n'' is a given positive Square number, nonsquare integer, and integer solutions are sought for ''x'' and ''y''. In Cartesian ...
, a proof for the
Pythagorean theorem
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem or Pythagoras' theorem is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry between the three sides of a right triangle. It states that the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite t ...
, proves that division by zero is infinity, computes
π to 5 decimal places, and calculates the time taken for the Earth to orbit the Sun to 9 decimal places.
* 1130 –
Al-Samawal al-Maghribi
Al-Samawʾal ibn Yaḥyā al-Maghribī (, c. 1130 – c. 1180), commonly known as Samawʾal al-Maghribi, was a mathematician, astronomer and physician. Born to a Jewish family of North African origin, he concealed his conversion to Islam for ma ...
gave a definition of algebra: "
t is concernedwith operating on unknowns using all the arithmetical tools, in the same way as the arithmetician operates on the known."
[
* 1135 – Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi followed al-Khayyam's application of algebra to geometry, and wrote a treatise on cubic equations that "represents an essential contribution to another algebra which aimed to study curves by means of equations, thus inaugurating the beginning of algebraic geometry."][Arabic mathematics]
'' MacTutor History of Mathematics archive'', University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
, Scotland
* 1202 – Leonardo Fibonacci demonstrates the utility of Hindu–Arabic numerals in his Liber Abaci
The or (Latin for "The Book of Calculation") was a 1202 Latin work on arithmetic by Leonardo of Pisa, posthumously known as Fibonacci. It is primarily famous for introducing both base-10 positional notation and the symbols known as Arabic n ...
(''Book of the Abacus'').
* 1247 – Qin Jiushao
Qin Jiushao (, ca. 1202–1261), courtesy name Daogu (道古), was a Chinese mathematician, meteorologist, inventor, politician, and writer. He is credited for discovering Horner's method as well as inventing Tianchi basins, a type of rain gau ...
publishes ''Shùshū Jiǔzhāng'' (''Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections
The ''Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections'' () is a mathematical text written by Chinese Southern Song dynasty mathematician Qin Jiushao in the year 1247. The mathematical text has a wide range of topics and is taken from all aspects of th ...
'').
* 1248 – Li Ye writes '' Ceyuan haijing'', a 12 volume mathematical treatise containing 170 formulas and 696 problems mostly solved by polynomial equations using the method tian yuan shu
''Tian yuan shu'' () is a Chinese system of algebra for polynomial equations. Some of the earliest existing writings were created in the 13th century during the Yuan dynasty. However, the tianyuanshu method was known much earlier, in the Song dy ...
.
* 1260 – Al-Farisi gave a new proof of Thabit ibn Qurra's theorem, introducing important new ideas concerning factorization
In mathematics, factorization (or factorisation, see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), English spelling differences) or factoring consists of writing a number or another mathematical object as a p ...
and combinatorial
Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and as an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many ...
methods. He also gave the pair of amicable numbers 17296 and 18416 that have also been jointly attributed to Fermat
Pierre de Fermat (; ; 17 August 1601 – 12 January 1665) was a French mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus, including his technique of adequality. In particular, he is recognized for his d ...
as well as Thabit ibn Qurra.[Various AP Lists and Statistics](_blank)
* c. 1250 – Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī (1201 – 1274), also known as Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (; ) or simply as (al-)Tusi, was a Persians, Persian polymath, architect, Early Islamic philosophy, philosopher, Islamic medicine, phy ...
attempts to develop a form of non-Euclidean geometry.
*1280 – Guo Shoujing
Guo Shoujing (, 1231–1316), courtesy name Ruosi (), was a Chinese astronomer, hydraulic engineer, mathematician, and politician of the Yuan dynasty. The later Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1591–1666) was so impressed with the preserved astro ...
and Wang Xun use cubic interpolation for generating sine.
* 1303 – Zhu Shijie publishes '' Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns'', which contains an ancient method of arranging binomial coefficient
In mathematics, the binomial coefficients are the positive integers that occur as coefficients in the binomial theorem. Commonly, a binomial coefficient is indexed by a pair of integers and is written \tbinom. It is the coefficient of the t ...
s in a triangle.
*1356- Narayana Pandita completes his treatise Ganita Kaumudi, generalized Fibonacci sequence, and the first ever algorithm to systematically generate all permutations as well as many new magic figure techniques.
* 14th century – Madhava discovers the power series
In mathematics, a power series (in one variable) is an infinite series of the form
\sum_^\infty a_n \left(x - c\right)^n = a_0 + a_1 (x - c) + a_2 (x - c)^2 + \dots
where ''a_n'' represents the coefficient of the ''n''th term and ''c'' is a co ...
expansion for , , and This theory is now well known in the Western world as the Taylor series
In mathematics, the Taylor series or Taylor expansion of a function is an infinite sum of terms that are expressed in terms of the function's derivatives at a single point. For most common functions, the function and the sum of its Taylor ser ...
or infinite series.
* 14th century – Parameshvara Nambudiri, a Kerala school mathematician, presents a series form of the sine function
In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side opposite that ...
that is equivalent to its Taylor series
In mathematics, the Taylor series or Taylor expansion of a function is an infinite sum of terms that are expressed in terms of the function's derivatives at a single point. For most common functions, the function and the sum of its Taylor ser ...
expansion, states the mean value theorem
In mathematics, the mean value theorem (or Lagrange's mean value theorem) states, roughly, that for a given planar arc (geometry), arc between two endpoints, there is at least one point at which the tangent to the arc is parallel to the secant lin ...
of differential calculus, and is also the first mathematician to give the radius of circle with inscribed cyclic quadrilateral
In geometry, a cyclic quadrilateral or inscribed quadrilateral is a quadrilateral (four-sided polygon) whose vertex (geometry), vertices all lie on a single circle, making the sides Chord (geometry), chords of the circle. This circle is called ...
.
15th century
* 1400 – Madhava discovers the series expansion for the inverse-tangent function, the infinite series for arctan and sin, and many methods for calculating the circumference of the circle, and uses them to compute π correct to 11 decimal places.
* c. 1400 – Jamshid al-Kashi "contributed to the development of decimal fraction
The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of the ...
s not only for approximating algebraic number
In mathematics, an algebraic number is a number that is a root of a function, root of a non-zero polynomial in one variable with integer (or, equivalently, Rational number, rational) coefficients. For example, the golden ratio (1 + \sqrt)/2 is ...
s, but also for real number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one- dimensional quantity such as a duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every re ...
s such as π. His contribution to decimal fractions is so major that for many years he was considered as their inventor. Although not the first to do so, al-Kashi gave an algorithm for calculating nth roots, which is a special case of the methods given many centuries later by aoloRuffini and illiam GeorgeHorner." He is also the first to use the decimal point
FIle:Decimal separators.svg, alt=Four types of separating decimals: a) 1,234.56. b) 1.234,56. c) 1'234,56. d) ١٬٢٣٤٫٥٦., Both a comma and a full stop (or period) are generally accepted decimal separators for international use. The apost ...
notation in arithmetic
Arithmetic is an elementary branch of mathematics that deals with numerical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In a wider sense, it also includes exponentiation, extraction of roots, and taking logarithms.
...
and Arabic numerals
The ten Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) are the most commonly used symbols for writing numbers. The term often also implies a positional notation number with a decimal base, in particular when contrasted with Roman numera ...
. His works include ''The Key of arithmetics, Discoveries in mathematics, The Decimal point'', and ''The benefits of the zero''. The contents of the ''Benefits of the Zero'' are an introduction followed by five essays: "On whole number arithmetic", "On fractional arithmetic", "On astrology", "On areas", and "On finding the unknowns nknown variables. He also wrote the ''Thesis on the sine and the chord'' and ''Thesis on finding the first degree sine''.
* 15th century – Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi
Ibn al‐Bannāʾ al‐Marrākushī (), full name: Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi al-Marrakushi () (29 December 1256 – 31 July 1321), was an Arab Muslim polymath who was active as a mathematician, astronomer, Islamic schol ...
and Abu'l-Hasan ibn Ali al-Qalasadi introduced symbolic notation for algebra and for mathematics in general.[
* 15th century – ]Nilakantha Somayaji
Keļallur Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji (14 June 1444 – 1544), also referred to as Keļallur Comatiri, was a mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. One of his most influential works was the comprehens ...
, a Kerala school mathematician, writes the ''Aryabhatiya Bhasya'', which contains work on infinite-series expansions, problems of algebra, and spherical geometry.
* 1424 – Jamshid al-Kashi computes π to sixteen decimal places using inscribed and circumscribed polygons.
* 1427 – Jamshid al-Kashi completes ''The Key to Arithmetic'' containing work of great depth on decimal fractions. It applies arithmetical and algebraic methods to the solution of various problems, including several geometric ones.
* 1464 – Regiomontanus
Johannes Müller von Königsberg (6 June 1436 – 6 July 1476), better known as Regiomontanus (), was a mathematician, astrologer and astronomer of the German Renaissance, active in Vienna, Buda and Nuremberg. His contributions were instrument ...
writes ''De Triangulis omnimodus'' which is one of the earliest texts to treat trigonometry as a separate branch of mathematics.
* 1478 – An anonymous author writes the '' Treviso Arithmetic''.
* 1494 – Luca Pacioli
Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli, O.F.M. (sometimes ''Paccioli'' or ''Paciolo''; 1447 – 19 June 1517) was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an early contributor to the field now known as account ...
writes '' Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalità''; introduces primitive symbolic algebra using "co" (cosa) for the unknown.
Modern
16th century
* 1501 – Nilakantha Somayaji
Keļallur Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji (14 June 1444 – 1544), also referred to as Keļallur Comatiri, was a mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. One of his most influential works was the comprehens ...
writes the Tantrasamgraha
Tantrasamgraha, or Tantrasangraha, (literally, ''A Compilation of the System'') is an important astronomy, astronomical treatise written by Nilakantha Somayaji, an astronomer/mathematician belonging to the Kerala school of astronomy and mathemat ...
which is the first treatment of all 10 cases in spherical trigonometry.
* 1520 – Scipione del Ferro develops a method for solving "depressed" cubic equations (cubic equations without an x2 term), but does not publish.
* 1522 – Adam Ries explained the use of Arabic digits and their advantages over Roman numerals.
* 1535 – Nicolo Tartaglia
Nicolo, known as Tartaglia (; 1499/1500 – 13 December 1557), was an Italian mathematician, engineer (designing fortifications), a surveyor (of topography, seeking the best means of defense or offense) and a bookkeeper from the then Republi ...
independently develops a method for solving depressed cubic equations but also does not publish.
* 1539 – Gerolamo Cardano
Gerolamo Cardano (; also Girolamo or Geronimo; ; ; 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, as ...
learns Tartaglia's method for solving depressed cubics and discovers a method for depressing cubics, thereby creating a method for solving all cubics.
* 1540 – Lodovico Ferrari
Lodovico de Ferrari (2 February 1522 – 5 October 1565) was an Italians, Italian mathematician best known today for solving the biquadratic equation.
Biography
Born in Bologna, Lodovico's grandfather, Bartolomeo Ferrari, was forced out of M ...
solves the quartic equation
In mathematics, a quartic equation is one which can be expressed as a ''quartic function'' equaling zero. The general form of a quartic equation is
:ax^4+bx^3+cx^2+dx+e=0 \,
where ''a'' ≠ 0.
The quartic is the highest order polynom ...
.
* 1544 – Michael Stifel
Michael Stifel or Styfel (1487 – April 19, 1567) was a German monk, Protestant reformer and mathematician. He was an Augustinians, Augustinian who became an early supporter of Martin Luther. He was later appointed professor of mathematics at Je ...
publishes ''Arithmetica integra''.
* 1545 – Gerolamo Cardano
Gerolamo Cardano (; also Girolamo or Geronimo; ; ; 24 September 1501– 21 September 1576) was an Italian polymath whose interests and proficiencies ranged through those of mathematician, physician, biologist, physicist, chemist, astrologer, as ...
conceives the idea of complex number
In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the for ...
s.
* 1550 – Jyeṣṭhadeva
Jyeṣṭhadeva () was an astronomer-mathematician of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics founded by Madhava of Sangamagrama (). He is best known as the author of '' Yuktibhāṣā'', a commentary in Malayalam of Tantrasamgraha by ...
, a Kerala school mathematician, writes the ''Yuktibhāṣā
''Yuktibhāṣā'' (), also known as Gaṇita-yukti-bhāṣā and ( English: ''Compendium of Astronomical Rationale''), is a major treatise on mathematics and astronomy, written by the Indian astronomer Jyesthadeva of the Kerala school of mat ...
'' which gives proofs of power series expansion of some trigonometry functions.
* 1572 – Rafael Bombelli
Rafael Bombelli (baptised on 20 January 1526; died 1572) was an Italian mathematician. Born in Bologna, he is the author of a treatise on algebra and is a central figure in the understanding of imaginary numbers.
He was the one who finally manag ...
writes ''Algebra'' treatise and uses imaginary numbers to solve cubic equations.
* 1584 – Zhu Zaiyu
Zhu Zaiyu (; 1536 – 19 May 1611) was a Chinese scholar, mathematician and music theorist. He was a prince of the Chinese Ming dynasty. In 1584, Zhu innovatively described the equal temperament via accurate mathematical calculation.
無� ...
calculates equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament or Musical tuning#Tuning systems, tuning system that approximates Just intonation, just intervals by dividing an octave (or other interval) into steps such that the ratio of the frequency, frequencie ...
.
* 1596 – Ludolph van Ceulen
Ludolph van Ceulen (, ; 28 January 1540 – 31 December 1610) was a German- Dutch mathematician from Hildesheim. He emigrated to the Netherlands.
Biography
Van Ceulen moved to Delft most likely in 1576 to teach fencing and mathematics and in 1 ...
computes π to twenty decimal places using inscribed and circumscribed polygons.
17th century
* 1614 – John Napier
John Napier of Merchiston ( ; Latinisation of names, Latinized as Ioannes Neper; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8 ...
publishes a table of Napierian logarithm
In mathematics, the logarithm of a number is the exponent by which another fixed value, the base, must be raised to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of to base is , because is to the rd power: . More generally, if , the ...
s in ''Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio
''Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio'' (Description of the Wonderful Canon of Logarithms, 1614) and ''Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Constructio'' (Construction of the Wonderful Canon of Logarithms, 1619) are two books in Latin by John N ...
''.
* 1617 – Henry Briggs discusses decimal logarithms in ''Logarithmorum Chilias Prima''.
* 1618 – John Napier publishes the first references to ''e'' in a work on logarithms
In mathematics, the logarithm of a number is the exponent by which another fixed value, the base, must be raised to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of to base is , because is to the rd power: . More generally, if , the ...
.
* 1619 – René Descartes
René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...
discovers analytic geometry
In mathematics, analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. This contrasts with synthetic geometry.
Analytic geometry is used in physics and engineering, and als ...
(Pierre de Fermat
Pierre de Fermat (; ; 17 August 1601 – 12 January 1665) was a French mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus, including his technique of adequality. In particular, he is recognized for his d ...
claimed that he also discovered it independently).
* 1619 – Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best know ...
discovers two of the Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra.
* 1629 – Pierre de Fermat develops a rudimentary differential calculus
In mathematics, differential calculus is a subfield of calculus that studies the rates at which quantities change. It is one of the two traditional divisions of calculus, the other being integral calculus—the study of the area beneath a curve. ...
.
* 1634 – Gilles de Roberval
Gilles Personne de Roberval (August 10, 1602 – October 27, 1675) was a French mathematician born at Roberval near Beauvais, France. His name was originally Gilles Personne or Gilles Personier, with Roberval the place of his birth.
Biography
L ...
shows that the area under a cycloid
In geometry, a cycloid is the curve traced by a point on a circle as it Rolling, rolls along a Line (geometry), straight line without slipping. A cycloid is a specific form of trochoid and is an example of a roulette (curve), roulette, a curve g ...
is three times the area of its generating circle.
* 1636 – Muhammad Baqir Yazdi jointly discovered the pair of amicable numbers 9,363,584 and 9,437,056 along with René Descartes, Descartes (1636).
* 1637 – Pierre de Fermat claims to have proven Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive number, positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than . The cases ...
in his copy of Diophantus
Diophantus of Alexandria () (; ) was a Greek mathematician who was the author of the '' Arithmetica'' in thirteen books, ten of which are still extant, made up of arithmetical problems that are solved through algebraic equations.
Although Jose ...
' ''Arithmetica''.
* 1637 – First use of the term imaginary number by René Descartes; it was meant to be derogatory.
* 1643 – René Descartes develops Descartes' theorem.
* 1654 – Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat create the theory of probability.
* 1655 – John Wallis writes ''Arithmetica Infinitorum''.
* 1658 – Christopher Wren shows that the length of a cycloid is four times the diameter of its generating circle.
* 1665 – Isaac Newton works on the fundamental theorem of calculus and develops his version of infinitesimal calculus.
* 1668 – Nicholas Mercator and William Brouncker, 2nd Viscount Brouncker, William Brouncker discover an infinite series for the logarithm while attempting to calculate the area under a hyperbolic segment.
* 1671 – James Gregory (astronomer and mathematician), James Gregory develops a series expansion for the inverse-tangent (trigonometric function), tangent function (originally discovered by Madhava).
* 1671 – James Gregory discovers Taylor's theorem.
* 1673 – Gottfried Leibniz also develops his version of infinitesimal calculus.
* 1675 – Isaac Newton invents an algorithm for the Newton's method, computation of functional roots.
* 1680s – Gottfried Leibniz works on symbolic logic.
* 1683 – Seki Takakazu discovers the resultant and determinant.
* 1683 – Seki Takakazu develops elimination theory.
* 1691 – Gottfried Leibniz discovers the technique of separation of variables for ordinary differential equations.
* 1693 – Edmund Halley prepares the first mortality tables statistically relating death rate to age.
* 1696 – Guillaume de l'Hôpital states L'Hôpital's rule, his rule for the computation of certain limit (mathematics), limits.
* 1696 – Jakob Bernoulli and Johann Bernoulli solve brachistochrone curve, brachistochrone problem, the first result in the calculus of variations.
* 1699 – Abraham Sharp calculates π to 72 digits but only 71 are correct.
18th century
* 1706 – John Machin develops a quickly converging inverse-tangent series for π and computes π to 100 decimal places.
* 1708 – Seki Takakazu discovers Bernoulli numbers. Jacob Bernoulli whom the numbers are named after is believed to have independently discovered the numbers shortly after Takakazu.
* 1712 – Brook Taylor develops Taylor series
In mathematics, the Taylor series or Taylor expansion of a function is an infinite sum of terms that are expressed in terms of the function's derivatives at a single point. For most common functions, the function and the sum of its Taylor ser ...
.
* 1722 – Abraham de Moivre states de Moivre's formula connecting trigonometric functions and complex number
In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the for ...
s.
* 1722 – Takebe Kenko introduces Richardson extrapolation.
* 1724 – Abraham De Moivre studies mortality statistics and the foundation of the theory of annuities in ''Annuities on Lives''.
* 1730 – James Stirling (mathematician), James Stirling publishes ''The Differential Method''.
* 1733 – Giovanni Gerolamo Saccheri studies what geometry would be like if parallel postulate, Euclid's fifth postulate were false.
* 1733 – Abraham de Moivre introduces the normal distribution to approximate the binomial distribution in probability.
* 1734 – Leonhard Euler introduces the integrating factor technique for solving first-order ordinary differential equations.
* 1735 – Leonhard Euler solves the Basel problem, relating an infinite series to π.
* 1736 – Leonhard Euler solves the problem of the Seven bridges of Königsberg, in effect creating graph theory.
* 1739 – Leonhard Euler solves the general Homogeneous differential equation#Homogeneous linear differential equations, homogeneous linear ordinary differential equation with constant coefficients.
* 1742 – Christian Goldbach conjectures that every even number greater than two can be expressed as the sum of two primes, now known as Goldbach's conjecture.
* 1747 – Jean le Rond d'Alembert d'Alembert's formula, solves the String vibration, vibrating string problem (one-dimensional wave equation).
* 1748 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi discusses analysis in ''Instituzioni Analitiche ad Uso della Gioventu Italiana''.
* 1761 – Thomas Bayes proves Bayes' theorem.
* 1761 – Johann Heinrich Lambert proves that π is irrational.
* 1762 – Joseph-Louis Lagrange discovers the divergence theorem.
* 1789 – Jurij Vega improves Machin's formula and computes π to 140 decimal places, 136 of which were correct.
* 1794 – Jurij Vega publishes ''Thesaurus Logarithmorum Completus''.
* 1796 – Carl Friedrich Gauss proves that the heptadecagon, regular 17-gon can be constructed using only a compass and straightedge.
* 1796 – Adrien-Marie Legendre conjectures the prime number theorem.
* 1797 – Caspar Wessel associates vectors with complex numbers and studies complex number operations in geometrical terms.
* 1799 – Carl Friedrich Gauss proves the fundamental theorem of algebra (every polynomial equation has a solution among the complex numbers).
* 1799 – Paolo Ruffini (mathematician), Paolo Ruffini partially proves the Abel–Ruffini theorem that Quintic equation, quintic or higher equations cannot be solved by a general formula.
19th century
* 1801 – ''Disquisitiones Arithmeticae'', Carl Friedrich Gauss's number theory treatise, is published in Latin.
* 1805 – Adrien-Marie Legendre introduces the method of least squares for fitting a curve to a given set of observations.
* 1806 – Louis Poinsot discovers the two remaining Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra.
* 1806 – Jean-Robert Argand publishes proof of the Fundamental theorem of algebra and the Argand diagram.
* 1807 – Joseph Fourier announces his discoveries about the Fourier series, trigonometric decomposition of functions.
* 1811 – Carl Friedrich Gauss discusses the meaning of integrals with complex limits and briefly examines the dependence of such integrals on the chosen path of integration.
* 1815 – Siméon Denis Poisson carries out integrations along paths in the complex plane.
* 1817 – Bernard Bolzano presents the intermediate value theorem—a continuous function that is negative at one point and positive at another point must be zero for at least one point in between. Bolzano gives a first formal (ε, δ)-definition of limit.
* 1821 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy publishes Cours d'Analyse which purportedly contains an erroneous “proof” that the Pointwise convergence, pointwise limit of continuous functions is continuous.
* 1822 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy presents the Cauchy's integral theorem for integration around the boundary of a rectangle in the complex plane.
* 1822 – Irisawa Shintarō Hiroatsu analyzes Soddy's hexlet in a Sangaku.
* 1823 – Sophie Germain's theorem, Sophie Germain's Theorem is published in the second edition of Adrien-Marie Legendre, Adrien-Marie Legendre's Essai sur la théorie des nombres
* 1824 – Niels Henrik Abel partially proves the Abel–Ruffini theorem that the general Quintic equation, quintic or higher equations cannot be solved by a general formula involving only arithmetical operations and roots.
* 1825 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy presents the Cauchy's integral theorem, Cauchy integral theorem for general integration paths—he assumes the function being integrated has a continuous derivative, and he introduces the theory of residue (complex analysis), residues in complex analysis.
* 1825 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet and Adrien-Marie Legendre prove Fermat's Last Theorem for ''n'' = 5.
* 1825 – André-Marie Ampère discovers Stokes' theorem.
* 1826 – Niels Henrik Abel gives counterexamples to Augustin-Louis Cauchy’s purported “proof” that the Limit of a function#Pointwise limits and uniform limits, pointwise limit of continuous functions is continuous.
* 1828 – George Green proves Green's theorem.
* 1829 – János Bolyai, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Gauss, and Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Lobachevsky invent hyperbolic non-Euclidean geometry
In mathematics, non-Euclidean geometry consists of two geometries based on axioms closely related to those that specify Euclidean geometry. As Euclidean geometry lies at the intersection of metric geometry and affine geometry, non-Euclidean ge ...
.
* 1831 – Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky rediscovers and gives the first proof of the divergence theorem earlier described by Lagrange, Gauss and Green.
* 1832 – Évariste Galois presents a general condition for the solvability of algebraic equations, thereby essentially founding group theory and Galois theory.
* 1832 – Lejeune Dirichlet proves Fermat's Last Theorem for ''n'' = 14.
* 1835 – Lejeune Dirichlet proves Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressions, Dirichlet's theorem about prime numbers in arithmetical progressions.
* 1837 – Pierre Wantzel proves that doubling the cube and trisecting the angle are impossible with only a compass and straightedge, as well as the full completion of the problem of constructability of regular polygons.
* 1837 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet develops Analytic number theory.
* 1838 – First mention of uniform convergence in a paper by Christoph Gudermann; later formalized by Karl Weierstrass. Uniform convergence is required to fix Augustin-Louis Cauchy erroneous “proof” that the Pointwise convergence, pointwise limit of continuous functions is continuous from Cauchy's 1821 Cours d'Analyse.
* 1841 – Karl Weierstrass discovers but does not publish the Laurent expansion theorem.
* 1843 – Pierre-Alphonse Laurent discovers and presents the Laurent expansion theorem.
* 1843 – William Rowan Hamilton, William Hamilton discovers the calculus of quaternions and deduces that they are non-commutative.
* 1844 - Hermann Grassmann publishes his ''Ausdehnungslehre'', from which linear algebra is later developed.
* 1847 – George Boole formalizes symbolic logic in ''The Mathematical Analysis of Logic'', defining what is now called Boolean algebra (logic), Boolean algebra.
* 1849 – George Gabriel Stokes shows that soliton, solitary waves can arise from a combination of periodic waves.
* 1850 – Victor Alexandre Puiseux distinguishes between poles and branch points and introduces the concept of mathematical singularity, essential singular points.
* 1850 – George Gabriel Stokes rediscovers and proves Stokes' theorem.
* 1854 – Bernhard Riemann introduces Riemannian geometry.
* 1854 – Arthur Cayley shows that quaternions can be used to represent rotations in four-dimensional space.
* 1858 – August Ferdinand Möbius invents the Möbius strip.
* 1858 – Charles Hermite solves the general quintic equation by means of elliptic and modular functions.
* 1859 – Bernhard Riemann formulates the Riemann hypothesis, which has strong implications about the distribution of prime number
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime ...
s.
* 1868 – Eugenio Beltrami demonstrates Independence (mathematical logic), independence of Euclid
Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...
’s parallel postulate from the other axioms of Euclidean geometry.
* 1870 – Felix Klein constructs an analytic geometry for Lobachevski's geometry thereby establishing its self-consistency and the logical independence of Euclid's fifth postulate.
* 1872 – Richard Dedekind invents what is now called the Dedekind cut, Dedekind Cut for defining irrational numbers, and now used for defining surreal numbers.
* 1873 – Charles Hermite proves that e (mathematical constant), e is Transcendental number, transcendental.
* 1873 – Georg Frobenius presents his method for finding series solutions to linear differential equations with regular singular points.
* 1874 – Georg Cantor proves that the set of all real number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one- dimensional quantity such as a duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every re ...
s is uncountable, uncountably infinite but the set of all real algebraic number
In mathematics, an algebraic number is a number that is a root of a function, root of a non-zero polynomial in one variable with integer (or, equivalently, Rational number, rational) coefficients. For example, the golden ratio (1 + \sqrt)/2 is ...
s is countable, countably infinite. Cantor's first uncountability proof, His proof does not use his Cantor's diagonal argument, diagonal argument, which he published in 1891.
* 1882 – Ferdinand von Lindemann proves that π is transcendental and that therefore the circle cannot be squared with a compass and straightedge.
* 1882 – Felix Klein invents the Klein bottle.
* 1888 - Sophus Lie publishes work on transformation groups, serving as the foundation for the modern theory of Lie groups.
* 1895 – Diederik Korteweg and Gustav de Vries derive the Korteweg–de Vries equation to describe the development of long solitary water waves in a canal of rectangular cross section.
* 1895 – Georg Cantor publishes a book about set theory containing the arithmetic of infinite cardinal numbers and the continuum hypothesis.
* 1895 – Henri Poincaré publishes paper "Analysis Situs (paper), Analysis Situs" which started modern topology.
* 1896 – Jacques Hadamard and Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin independently prove the prime number theorem.
* 1896 – Hermann Minkowski presents ''Geometry of numbers''.
* 1899 – Georg Cantor discovers a contradiction in his set theory.
* 1899 – David Hilbert presents a set of self-consistent geometric axioms in ''Foundations of Geometry''.
* 1900 – David Hilbert states his Hilbert's problems, list of 23 problems, which show where some further mathematical work is needed.
Contemporary
20th century
* 1901 – Élie Cartan develops the exterior derivative.
* 1901 – Henri Lebesgue publishes on Lebesgue integration.
* 1903 – Edmund Georg Hermann Landau gives considerably simpler proof of the prime number theorem.
* 1908 – Ernst Zermelo axiomizes set theory, thus avoiding Cantor's contradictions.
* 1908 – Josip Plemelj solves the Riemann problem about the existence of a differential equation with a given monodromic group and uses Sokhotsky – Plemelj formulae.
* 1912 – Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer presents the Brouwer fixed-point theorem.
* 1912 – Josip Plemelj publishes simplified proof for the Fermat's Last Theorem for exponent ''n'' = 5.
* 1915 – Emmy Noether proves Noether's theorem, her symmetry theorem, which shows that every symmetry in physics has a corresponding conservation law.
* 1916 – Srinivasa Ramanujan introduces Ramanujan conjecture. This conjecture is later generalized by Hans Petersson.
* 1919 – Viggo Brun defines Brun's constant ''B''2 for twin primes.
* 1921 – Emmy Noether introduces the first general definition of a commutative ring.
* 1928 – John von Neumann begins devising the principles of game theory and proves the minimax theorem.
* 1929 – Emmy Noether introduces the first general representation theory of groups and algebras.
* 1930 – Casimir Kuratowski shows that the three-cottage problem has no solution.
* 1931 – Kurt Gödel proves Gödel's incompleteness theorem, his incompleteness theorem, which shows that every axiomatic system for mathematics is either incomplete or inconsistent.
* 1931 – Georges de Rham develops theorems in cohomology and characteristic classes.
* 1932 - Stefan Banach brought the abstract study of functional analysis to the broader mathematical community.
* 1933 – Karol Borsuk and Stanislaw Ulam present the Borsuk–Ulam theorem, Borsuk–Ulam antipodal-point theorem.
* 1933 – Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov publishes his book ''Basic notions of the calculus of probability'' (''Grundbegriffe der Wahrscheinlichkeitsrechnung''), which contains an probability axiom, axiomatization of probability based on measure theory.
* 1936 – Alonzo Church and Alan Turing create, respectively, the Lambda calculus, λ-calculus and the Turing machine, formalizing the notion of computation and computability.
* 1938 – Tadeusz Banachiewicz introduces LU decomposition.
* 1940 – Kurt Gödel shows that neither the continuum hypothesis nor the axiom of choice can be disproven from the standard axioms of set theory.
* 1941 – Cahit Arf defines the Arf invariant.
* 1942 – G.C. Danielson and Cornelius Lanczos develop a fast Fourier transform algorithm.
* 1943 – Kenneth Levenberg proposes a method for nonlinear least squares fitting.
* 1945 – Stephen Cole Kleene introduces realizability.
* 1945 – Saunders Mac Lane and Samuel Eilenberg start category theory.
* 1945 – Norman Steenrod and Samuel Eilenberg give the Eilenberg–Steenrod axioms for (co-)homology.
* 1946 – Jean Leray introduces the Spectral sequence.
* 1947 – George Dantzig publishes the simplex method for linear programming.
* 1948 – John von Neumann mathematically studies Self-replicating machine, self-reproducing machines.
* 1948 - Norbert Wiener begins the study of cybernetics, the science of communication as it relates to living things and machines.
* 1948 – Atle Selberg and Paul Erdős prove independently in an elementary way the prime number theorem.
* 1949 - André Weil proposed his famous conjectures.
* 1949 – John Wrench and L. R. Smith compute π to 2,037 decimal places using ENIAC.
* 1949 – Claude Shannon develops notion of information theory.
* 1950 – Stanisław Ulam and John von Neumann present cellular automata dynamical systems.
* 1953 – Nicholas Metropolis introduces the idea of thermodynamic simulated annealing algorithms.
* 1955 – H. S. M. Coxeter et al. publish the complete list of uniform polyhedron.
* 1955 – Enrico Fermi, John Pasta, Stanisław Ulam, and Mary Tsingou numerically study a nonlinear spring model of heat conduction and discover solitary wave type behavior.
* 1956 – Noam Chomsky describes a Chomsky hierarchy, hierarchy of formal languages.
* 1956 – John Milnor discovers the existence of an Exotic sphere in seven dimensions, inaugurating the field of differential topology.
* 1957 – Kiyosi Itô develops Itô calculus.
* 1957 – Stephen Smale provides the existence proof for crease-free sphere eversion.
* 1958 – Alexander Grothendieck's proof of the Grothendieck–Riemann–Roch theorem is published.
* 1959 – Kenkichi Iwasawa creates Iwasawa theory.
* 1960 – Tony Hoare invents the quicksort algorithm.
* 1960 - Rudolf Kalman introduced the Kalman filter in his "A New Approach to Linear Filtering and Prediction Problems".
* 1960 – Irving S. Reed and Gustave Solomon present the Reed–Solomon code, Reed–Solomon error-correcting code.
* 1961 – Daniel Shanks and John Wrench compute π to 100,000 decimal places using an inverse-tangent identity and an IBM 7090 computer.
* 1961 – John G. F. Francis and Vera Kublanovskaya independently develop the QR algorithm to calculate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a matrix.
* 1961 – Stephen Smale proves the Poincaré conjecture for all dimensions greater than or equal to 5.
* 1962 – Donald Marquardt proposes the Levenberg–Marquardt nonlinear least squares fitting algorithm.
* 1963 – Paul Cohen (mathematician), Paul Cohen uses his technique of forcing (mathematics), forcing to show that neither the continuum hypothesis nor the axiom of choice can be proven from the standard axioms of set theory.
* 1963 – Martin Kruskal and Norman Zabusky analytically study the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou problem, Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou heat conduction problem in the continuum limit and find that the KdV equation governs this system.
* 1963 – meteorologist and mathematician Edward Norton Lorenz published solutions for a simplified mathematical model of atmospheric turbulence – generally known as chaotic behaviour and strange attractors or Lorenz attractor – also the butterfly effect.
* 1965 – Iranian mathematician Lotfi Asker Zadeh founded fuzzy set theory as an extension of the classical notion of Set (mathematics), sets and he founded the field of fuzzy mathematics.
* 1965 – Martin Kruskal and Norman Zabusky numerically study colliding Soliton, solitary waves in Plasma (physics), plasmas and find that they do not disperse after collisions.
* 1965 – James Cooley and John Tukey present an influential fast Fourier transform algorithm.
* 1966 – E. J. Putzer presents two methods for computing the Matrix exponential, exponential of a matrix in terms of a polynomial in that matrix.
* 1966 – Abraham Robinson presents non-standard analysis.
* 1967 – Robert Langlands formulates the influential Langlands program of conjectures relating number theory and representation theory.
* 1968 – Michael Atiyah and Isadore Singer prove the Atiyah–Singer index theorem about the index of elliptic operators.
* 1970 – Yuri Matiyasevich proves that there exists no general algorithm to solve all Diophantine equations, thus giving a negative answer to Hilbert's 10th problem.
* 1973 – Lotfi Zadeh founded the field of fuzzy logic.
* 1974 – Pierre Deligne solves the last and deepest of the Weil conjectures, completing the program of Grothendieck.
* 1975 – Benoit Mandelbrot publishes ''Les objets fractals, forme, hasard et dimension''.
* 1976 – Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken use a computer to prove the Four color theorem.
* 1981 – Richard Feynman gives an influential talk "Simulating Physics with Computers" (in 1980 Yuri Manin proposed the same idea about quantum computations in "Computable and Uncomputable" (in Russian)).
* 1983 – Gerd Faltings proves the Mordell conjecture and thereby shows that there are only finitely many whole number solutions for each exponent of Fermat's Last Theorem.
* 1984 – Vaughan Jones discovers the Jones polynomial in knot theory, which leads to other new knot polynomials as well as connections between knot theory and other fields.
* 1985 – Louis de Branges de Bourcia proves the Bieberbach conjecture.
* 1986 – Ken Ribet proves Ribet's theorem.
* 1987 – Yasumasa Kanada, David H. Bailey (mathematician), David Bailey, Jonathan Borwein, and Peter Borwein use iterative modular equation approximations to elliptic integrals and a NEC SX-2 supercomputer to compute π to 134 million decimal places.
* 1991 – Alain Connes and John Lott (mathematician), John W. Lott develop non-commutative geometry.
* 1992 – David Deutsch and Richard Jozsa develop the Deutsch–Jozsa algorithm, one of the first examples of a quantum algorithm that is exponentially faster than any possible deterministic classical algorithm.
* 1994 – Andrew Wiles proves part of the Taniyama–Shimura conjecture and thereby proves Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive number, positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than . The cases ...
.
* 1994 – Peter Shor formulates Shor's algorithm, a quantum algorithm for integer factorization.
* 1995 – Simon Plouffe discovers Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula capable of finding the ''n''th binary digit of π.
* 1998 – Thomas Callister Hales (almost certainly) proves the Kepler conjecture.
* 1999 – the full Taniyama–Shimura conjecture is proven.
* 2000 – the Clay Mathematics Institute proposes the seven Millennium Prize Problems of unsolved important classic mathematical questions.
21st century
* 2002 – Manindra Agrawal, Nitin Saxena, and Neeraj Kayal of IIT Kanpur present an unconditional deterministic polynomial time algorithm to determine whether a given number is prime number, prime (the AKS primality test).
* 2002 – Preda Mihăilescu proves Catalan's conjecture.
* 2003 – Grigori Perelman proves the Poincaré conjecture.
* 2004 – the classification of finite simple groups, a collaborative work involving some hundred mathematicians and spanning fifty years, is completed.
* 2004 – Ben Green (mathematician), Ben Green and Terence Tao prove the Green–Tao theorem.
* 2009 – Fundamental lemma (Langlands program) is Mathematical proof, proved by Ngô Bảo Châu.
* 2010 – Larry Guth and Nets Hawk Katz solve the Erdős distinct distances problem.
* 2013 – Yitang Zhang proves the first finite bound on gaps between prime numbers.
* 2014 – Project Flyspeck announces that it completed a proof of Kepler conjecture, Kepler's conjecture.Solved: 400-Year-Old Maths Theory Finally Proven.
Sky News, 16:39, UK, Tuesday 12 August 2014.
* 2015 – Terence Tao solves the Paul Erdős, Erdős Sign sequence#Erdős discrepancy problem, discrepancy problem.
* 2015 – László Babai finds that a quasipolynomial complexity algorithm would solve the Graph isomorphism problem.
* 2016 – Maryna Viazovska solves the sphere packing problem in dimension 8. Subsequent work building on this leads to a solution for dimension 24.
* 2023 – Elia Bruè, Aaron Naber, and Daniele Semola disprove the Milnor conjecture (Ricci curvature), Milnor conjecture for six or more dimensions.
See also
* History of mathematical notation explains Rhetorical, Syncopated and Symbolic
*
* Timeline of mathematical innovation in South and West Asia
*
* Timeline of women in mathematics
* Timeline of women in mathematics in the United States
References
* David Eugene Smith, 1929 and 1959, ''A Source Book in Mathematics'', Dover Publications. .
External links
*
{{History of mathematics
Mathematics timelines,
History of mathematics,