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30,000 B.C. - 25,000 B.C.
Palaeolithic people, (stone age people), draw number figures on bones which are later found in central Europe and France . There markings demonstrated the knowledge that the ancient people actually had. -
4,000 B.C.
Babylonian and Egyptian calendars are likely in use. This allowed the ancient people to keep track of time passing. The Egyptian calendar was first based on the moon cycle, but was later based upon a star called Sirius. The Babylonian calendar was also based on the moon cycles and had 29-30 day months. The calendar we use today is called the Gregorian calendar. -
3,000 B.C.
Heiroglyphics are used in ancient Egypt. Heiroglyphics were based on a ten number system. Many heiroglyphics can still be seen today and may look to you like chicken stratch. -
2,400 B.C.
Babylonians start to use a 60-number based system which they represent with wedge patterns. -
1,800 B.C.
Babylonians understand Pythagoras's Theroem which states that the hypotenuse of a triangle is equal to the square of the other two sides. Hence the thereom: side one, plus side two, equals hypotenuse squared or a2 + b2 + c2. -
1,750 B.C.
Babylonians use mutliplication tables, they can solve linear and quadratic equations, and made tables for square and cube roots. They made these on clay tablets that were rectangular and fit comfortably in their hands. They used wedge shaped figures to represent numbers. -
1,600 B.C.
The Rhind Papyrus is written. This ancient document is important because it shows over 80 mathematical problems with solutions as well as fractions in the form of 2/n. -
585 B.C.
Thales of Miletus was a Greek mathematician that is famous for coming up with the basic rules for geomentry. He lived from 624- 547 B.C. -
518 B.C.
Pythagoras was a mathematician that developed cult-like followers. In order to learn from him, his followers were made to follow strict, religous rules. On the other hand, he is credited with proving that the hypotenuse of a triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. -
150 B.C.
Hypsicles of Alexandria was the first person to name degrees when he divided the zodiac sign into 360 degrees. -
263 A.D.E.
Liu Hui, a chinese mathematician, calculates the value of pi as 3.14159. He accomplished this by using a regular polygon with 192 sides. He was correct to the first 5 decimal places as pi goes on forever. -
400 A.D.E.
Hypatia of Alexandria was considered the first woman that made a contribution to the world of mathematics. She assisted mathematicians such as Diophantus, Appollonius, and Theon in their work. She specialized in mathematics and philosophy. -
2,000 A.D.E.
Math today affects everything people do. People use it everyday when dealing with money and many other important things. Math has advanced so much since the beginning of time that nowadays only a few select mathematicians can even comprehend all the theorems that exist.
