How Did The Babylonians Use A Decimal Number System
Assignment#2
June 18, 2013
History of MathEMATICS Time Line
30,000 B.C. -- 2001 B.C. circa 30,000 B.C.: Paleolithic peoples in Europe etch markings on bones to represent numbers. circa 5,000 B.C.: The Egyptians use a decimal number system, a precursor to modern number systems which are also based on the number 10. The Ancient Egyptians also made use of a multiplication system that relied on successive doublings and additions in order to find the products of relatively large numbers. For example, 176 x 313 might be calculated by first finding the double of 313 (313 x 2 = 626), then finding the double of that number (313 x 4 = 1252), the double of that number (313 x 8 = 2,504) and so on (313 x 16 = 5,008; 313 x 32 = 10,016; 313 x 64 …show more content…
-- 501 B.C. circa 1850 B.C.: The Babylonians possess knowledge of what will later be known as "The Pythagorean Theorem," an equation that relates the sides of right triangles whereby the sum of the squares of the two "legs" (the shortest sides) of the right triangle equal the square of the …show more content…
Al-Tusi was famous in his day for travelling throughout the Middle East as a teacher of mathematics. It has been said that some would travel great distances to be his pupil. He settled in Baghdad later in life, where he wrote down his own contributions to mathematics. The original treatise of al-Tusi is no longer extant; although we have general knowledge of its contents in the form of briefer summaries and commentaries. Al-Tusi departs from the school of algebra delineated by al-Karaji by focusing on cubic equations as a way of studying curves. His method was unique, first by dividing equations into several different types, then by examining some of these types he is able to explore equation parameters by utilizing the derivative of a function, perhaps the first person in history to use this method.
1501 A.D. -- 1800 A.D.
1718 -- 1799: The life of Maria Gaetana Agnesi. The daughter of an affluent merchantman, and the eldest of the twenty-one children begot by her father (via three wives), Maria Gaetana Agnesi 's main contribution to mathematics consisted of compiling a clearly-explained and comprehensive text on differential calculus. In the opinion of all, she succeeded at this much-needed task, and for her effort was offered a chair in mathematics at the University of Bologna. Apparently she never accepted this post, however, and instead devoted her energies, for the remainder of her life, to
June 18, 2013
History of MathEMATICS Time Line
30,000 B.C. -- 2001 B.C. circa 30,000 B.C.: Paleolithic peoples in Europe etch markings on bones to represent numbers. circa 5,000 B.C.: The Egyptians use a decimal number system, a precursor to modern number systems which are also based on the number 10. The Ancient Egyptians also made use of a multiplication system that relied on successive doublings and additions in order to find the products of relatively large numbers. For example, 176 x 313 might be calculated by first finding the double of 313 (313 x 2 = 626), then finding the double of that number (313 x 4 = 1252), the double of that number (313 x 8 = 2,504) and so on (313 x 16 = 5,008; 313 x 32 = 10,016; 313 x 64 …show more content…
-- 501 B.C. circa 1850 B.C.: The Babylonians possess knowledge of what will later be known as "The Pythagorean Theorem," an equation that relates the sides of right triangles whereby the sum of the squares of the two "legs" (the shortest sides) of the right triangle equal the square of the …show more content…
Al-Tusi was famous in his day for travelling throughout the Middle East as a teacher of mathematics. It has been said that some would travel great distances to be his pupil. He settled in Baghdad later in life, where he wrote down his own contributions to mathematics. The original treatise of al-Tusi is no longer extant; although we have general knowledge of its contents in the form of briefer summaries and commentaries. Al-Tusi departs from the school of algebra delineated by al-Karaji by focusing on cubic equations as a way of studying curves. His method was unique, first by dividing equations into several different types, then by examining some of these types he is able to explore equation parameters by utilizing the derivative of a function, perhaps the first person in history to use this method.
1501 A.D. -- 1800 A.D.
1718 -- 1799: The life of Maria Gaetana Agnesi. The daughter of an affluent merchantman, and the eldest of the twenty-one children begot by her father (via three wives), Maria Gaetana Agnesi 's main contribution to mathematics consisted of compiling a clearly-explained and comprehensive text on differential calculus. In the opinion of all, she succeeded at this much-needed task, and for her effort was offered a chair in mathematics at the University of Bologna. Apparently she never accepted this post, however, and instead devoted her energies, for the remainder of her life, to