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The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past.Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments have come to light only in a few locales.
The word mathematics comes from the Ancient Greek word máthēma (μάθημα), meaning ' something learned, knowledge, mathematics ', and the derived expression mathēmatikḗ tékhnē (μαθηματικὴ τέχνη), meaning ' mathematical science '. It entered the English language during the Late Middle English period through French and ...
The area of study known as the history of mathematics is primarily an investigation into the origin of discoveries in mathematics and, to a lesser extent, an investigation into the mathematical methods and notation of the past.
The origin of the word, according to Papert, is not from "mathematics," but from the Greek, mathēmatikos, which means "disposed to learn." He feels this word (or one like it) should become as much part of the vocabulary about education as is the word pedagogy or instructional design .
This is a timeline of pure and applied mathematics history.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 ...
Greek mathematics constitutes an important period in the history of mathematics: fundamental in respect of geometry and for the idea of formal proof. [44] Greek mathematicians also contributed to number theory , mathematical astronomy , combinatorics , mathematical physics , and, at times, approached ideas close to the integral calculus .
The history of mathematical notation [1] covers the introduction, ... Thus, the integral symbol is an elongated S, representing the Latin word summa, meaning "sum".
The History of Mathematics consists of seven chapters, [1] featuring many case studies. [2] [3] Its first, "Mathematics: myth and history", gives a case study of the history of Fermat's Last Theorem and of Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, [4] making a case that the proper understanding of this history should go beyond a chronicle of individual mathematicians and their accomplishments ...