History of Math in Warfare

On the surface, it would seem as though that the two human activities that would be the greatest distance apart from each other are mathematics and war. On one end, you have the utter violence and destructive and chaotic force that is war. Its main objectives are to kill people and destroy things, as well as ultimately bringing one nation’s or group’s military (or often times, their whole society) under the control of another. On the other hand there is mathematics, which, by contrast, would seem as a path of human achievement and enlightenment. Mathematics describes the world around us with a clean precision, in angles, lines, and equations. You might wonder how, of all things, the peaceful study of math could possibly have an influence over the brutish nature of war. For the answer, you need only to examine the various tools and plans that have been developed and used in warfare throughout history. It can be seen that advancements in mathematics and technology throughout history has had a profound effect on what kinds of weapons, from axes and metal swords to Intercontinental missiles, warfare has been fought with and what strategies have been used to fight wars and maintain armies.

Part I: Weapons The most obvious thing that comes to mind when you think of war is weapons. From wood and stone clubs to laser guided missiles and tanks, the overall purpose of weapons has not changed at all since the time of our ancient ancestors, but they have indeed changed and evolved to go with the times, to better suit the needs of the societies using them. Underneath it all, mathematics and technology have always been the driving forces behind the innovation of weaponry. Granted, it has been the needs of society that has pushed for deadlier, larger, and more innovative weapons, but math has always been the biggest driving force in getting to those goals. There is proof that Prehistoric humans had been using primitive weapons for thousands of years to hunt and fight,

Bibliography: 1. Lambert, Tim. “A Brief History of Inventions.” A World History Encyclopedia (2001). Local Histories. Web. 15 March. 2013 2. Lambert, Tim. “A Brief History of Weapons.” A World History Encyclopedia (2001). Local Histories. Web. 15 March. 2013 3. Gabriel, Richard A. & Metz, Karen S. “A Short History of War: The Evolution of Warfare and Weapons.” Professional Readings in Military Strategy, No. 5. (1992). Web. 2 March. 2013 4. “The War That Changed Your World: The Science and Technology of WWII.” The National WWII Museum. Web. 13 March, 2013