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35,000 BCE
Earliest Evidence of Tallying/Counting
Tally marks in Bones and Sticks, evidence of concrete idea of value.
Abstract Concept of numbers would not come around for millennia. -
2700 BCE
Egyptian Numeral System
Earliest Base 10 system.
Basic Arithmetic, Multiplication and Division. -
800 BCE
Earliest Roman Numerals
Base 10 System, very similar to Egyptian in writing.
No significant mathematical advances, too complicated. -
530 BCE
Pythagoras Opens School in Croton
Pythagorean Theorem conceptualized by Pythagoras and his Students.
Logic-based system of Proofs. -
500 BCE
Hippasus Discovers Irrational Numbers
A student of Pythagoras, used Pythagorean Theorem to find √2.
Irrational numbers (Fractions without whole integers) conceptualized. -
450 BCE
Greek Numeral System Fully Established
Another Base 10 System.
Focus on Geometry, arithmetic complicated. -
387 BCE
Plato Opens School in Athens
Identified the Platonic Solids.
5 regular symmetrical 3-dimensional shapes -
380 BCE
Plato Invents the Alarm Water Clock
Students miss lectures in the morning.
Water Clock functionality added whistle to alert those sleeping nearby. -
300 BCE
Euclid Writes “The Elements”
First Publication of 465 theorems and proofs.
Known as the "Father of Geometry" -
660
Muhammad Al-Khwarizmi Uses Zero and Decimal System
Pushed for the use of 0-9 system.
Led to the use of Algebra for problem solving -
1202
Fibonacci Publishes "Liber Abaci"
Promoted European use of the 0-9 system (succeeded).
Expressed the Fibonacci sequence in nature. -
1425
Madhava Uses a Series of Fractions to Find Pi
Added and subtracted Odd Number Fractions leading to infinity.
Calculated the value of pi up to 13 decimals, (the largest at the time). -
1545
Gerolamo Cardano Publishes "Ars Magna"
First concept of Complex Numbers: √-1, a + bi.
Stole concept from Niccolò Fontana and worked with Lodovico Ferrari; failed to properly credit either for his publication. -
Pascal and Binomial Theorem
Created Pascal's Triangle for use in Binomial equations.
Used the Triangle to prove patterns of different number sequences. -
Leibniz Develops the Binary System
Base 2 System of 1's and 0's.
Became the main programming of computers. -
Leibniz Publishes his Work on Calculus
Worked on Calculus, knowing Newton was also working on it.
Published his version first. -
Newton Publishes his "Principia"
Discussed concepts of Gravity and his version of Calculus.
Accused Leibniz of Plagiarism.
Newton credited as first to discover Calculus, Leibniz credited as first to publish Calculus (We ironically use Leibniz's notation over Newton's). -
Euler Solves the Seven Bridges of Königsberg Problem
Crossing the seven bridges all in one path without recrossing any.
Euler proved this impossible. -
Einstein Publishes Theory of Relativity
Gravitational attraction is because of the warping of space and time.
Predicted the idea of Gravitational Waves(1915) . -
Alan Turing Theorizes a Programmable Computer
Used roll of tape with instructions to "Program."
Used to solve problems using Algorithms, impossible problems would never stop trying to be solved. -
Gravity Waves Proven!
Observed by LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) 100 years after Einstein's prediction! -
Kevin Researches Mathematics For Western Civ at AMDA
