Early

Mathemat
ics
Cheenee Rivera
Jbey Velasquez
 What is Mathematics?
• Mathematics is the study of numbers,
shapes and patterns
• the abstract science that deals with the
logic of shape, quantity and arrangement
• comes from the Greek word máthema,
meaning "science, knowledge, or learning",
and is sometimes shortened to maths
 Story of Math
• history of mathematics is nearly as old as
humanity itself
• has evolved from simple counting,
measurement calculation, systematic study
of shapes, motions of physical objects,
through the application of abstraction,
imagination and logic, to the broad,
complex and often abstract discipline we
know today
 Pre-Historic Math
• Our prehistoric ancestors would have had
a general sensibility about amounts, and
would have instinctively known the
difference between one and two antelopes.
But the intellectual leap from the concrete
idea of two things to the invention of a
symbol or word for the abstract idea of
"two" took many ages to come about.
• Even today, there are isolated
hunter-gatherer tribes in Amazonia
which only have words for "one",
"two" and "many", and others which
only have words for numbers up to
five. In the absence of settled
agriculture and trade, there is little
need for a formal system of numbers.
 What is Early
Mathematics?
• known as the history of mathematics
• a study of the standard mathematical
methods and notation of the past.
• Greek and Hellenistic mathematics
is generally considered to be one of the
most important for greatly expanding
both the method and the subject matter
of mathematics.
 Greek and Hellenistic
mathematics
(c. 550 BC—AD 300)
• Greek mathematics refers to mathematics
written in Greek between about 600 BCE
and 450 CE.
• Greek mathematics is thought to have begun
with Thales (c. 624—c.546 BC) and
Pythagoras (c. 582—c. 507 BC).
• The Pythagoreans discovered the existence
of irrational numbers.
• Euclid (c. 300 BC) is the earliest example of
the format still used in mathematics today,
such as definition, axiom, theorem, proof.

• Some say the greatest of Greek

mathematicians, if not of all time, was
Arhimedes (c.287—212 BC) of Syracuse
Thales
• Thales, an engineer by trade, was the
first of the Seven Sages of Ancient
Greece. Thales is known as the first
Greek philosopher, mathematician
and scientist. He founded the
geometry of lines, so is given credit
for introducing abstract geometry.
Thales is credited with the following
five theorems of geometry:
• A circle is bisected by its diameter.
• Angles at the base of any isosceles
triangle are equal.
• If two straight lines intersect, the
opposite angles formed are equal.
• If one triangle has two angles and one
side equal to another triangle, the two
triangles are equal in all respects.
• Any angle inscribed in a semicircle is a
right angle. This is known as Thales'
Theorem.
Phytagor
as
• He is mainly remembered for what
has become known as Pythagoras'
Theorem (or the Pythagorean
Theorem)
• for any right-angled triangle, the
square of the length of the
hypotenuse is equal to the sum of
the square of the other two sides
Euclid
• Father of Geometry
• 5 Common Notions:
• Things which are equal to the same thing are also
equal to one another.
• If equals are added to equals, the sums are equal.
• If equals are subtracted from equals, the
remainders are equal.
• Things which coincide with one another are equal
to one another.
• The whole is greater than the part.
• 5 Remaining Postulates:
• You can draw a straight line between any two
points.
• You can extend the line indefinitely.
• You can draw a circle using any line segment as
the radius and one end point as the center.
• All right angles are equal.
• Given a line and a point, you can draw only one
line through the point that is parallel to the first
line.
Archimede
s
• Archimedes one of the most famous of
all of the Greek mathematicians,
contributing to the development of pure
math and calculus, but also showing a
great gift for using mathematics
practically.
• produced formulas to calculate the areas
of regular shapes, using a revolutionary
method of capturing new shapes by
using shapes he already understood.
Archimede
s
What about women?
• Women were able to contribute to the
"search for wisdom" during the period
between 800 BC and 500 BC in Greece.
• Greek women received their education
either in the home or from well educated
experts.
• Spartan girls received a formal
education more similar to the training
boys received.
 Who was Theano?
• Theano was the most famous woman of the
Pythagoreans
• She wrote on the "number theory" and
explained it as a principle to create order
that helped to distinguish one thing from
another.
• Theano also wrote about the ethics a
woman should adopt in daily life.
THE