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2500 BCE
Babylonians - algebraic operations
The Babylonians started thinking more flexibly with numbers and developing the equality notation of algebraic operations. -
1650 BCE
Rhind Papyrus - first sighting
This was a paper that was found from Egypt. It provided some insight on the work that Egyptians were working on such as linear equations. -
776 BCE
WORLD EVENT: Ancient Olympic Games.
This was the year of the first recorded Ancient Olympic Games. -
450 BCE
Aryabhata - base-ten
This Indian mathematician created the place-value system we know today. -
200 BCE
WORLD EVENT: Paper
Paper was invented in China for the first time. -
79
WORLD EVENT: Pompeii destroyed
Pompeii was destroyed by the volcano Vesuvius in Italy. -
300
Diophantus - symbols
In his book, Arithmetica, the first to use words for unknown numbers as well as abbreviations for powers of numbers, relationships, and operations -
650
Brahmagupta - properties of zero
His work introduced the symbol for zero. He proved some of the essential properties of zero that are still important to us today: 1+ 0 = 1, 1-0= 1, 1*0= 0 and dividing by zero didn’t make sense. -
820
Al-Khwarizmi - algebra namesake
In this book, Al-jabr wa'l muqabalah, he published the hindu arabic numerals, which are the numbers 1-9 that we use today. His book is why we call Algebra what it is today. In it, he explains patterns that underline the mathematics and had new language to describe how math works. -
1202
Leonardo of Pisa - rhetorical
Leonardo of Pisa represented algebraic equations using purely words. This way of writing equations was called rhetorical. Eventually he began using abbreviations for some of the words, like square root. -
1439
WORLD EVENT: Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. -
François Viète - unknowns
Viete is known for introducing symbols for unknowns that we call today, variables. -
WORLD EVENT: Settling America
The first permanent colony on the Americas, Jamestown in Virginia, were settled in 1607. -
René Descartes - letters x, y, z
In his book, La Géométrie, Descartes was the first to introduce using x, y, and z as the variables used for unknowns. The known numbers, such as constants, were represented with letters in the beginning of the alphabet.
