Mathematics is the science of numbers, and there are many different currents of mathematical science including algebra, geometry, and calculus. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines mathematics as the science of numbers and operations, interrelationships, combinations, generalizations, and abstractions, and spatial configurations and their structures, measures, transformations, and generalizations.

Who Invented Mathematics?

Mathematics is not an invention, discoveries and scientific laws are not considered inventions. Inventions are material things and processes. However there is a history of mathematics, a relationship between mathematics and inventions, and mathematical instruments are considered inventions.

According to “Mathematics through antiquity to the Modern age”, mathematics as an organized science did not exist before the classical Greek, from the period of 600 to 300 BC. of C., in this time the mathematics enter scene. There were, however, earlier civilizations in which the beginnings of mathematics were created. When civilization began to enter commerce, a need arose to count. When humans traded goods, they needed a way to count them and calculate their costs. The first counting device was the human hand, counting on the fingers. To count beyond ten, humanity used natural artifacts, such as rocks or shells. From this point on, counting tables and abacus were invented.

The Abacus

One of the first invented counting tools, the abacus, which originates from 2700-2300 BC.

Accountants

The Italian inventors of the Renaissance (14th to 16th centuries) are widely known as the fathers of modern accounting.

Algebra

The first algebra treatise was written by Diophantus of Alexandria in the 3rd century AD. C. Algebra comes from the Arabic word “al-jabr” an ancient medical term meaning “the meeting of the broken parts.”

Archimedes

Archimedes was a mathematician and inventor of ancient Greece, best known for his discovery of the relationship between the surface and volume of a sphere and its circumference, for his formula of the hydrostatic principle (The Archimedean principle), and for the invention of the screw Archimedean (a device to raise water).

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Differential Calculus

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was a German philosopher, mathematician, and logician who is probably best known for having invented differential and integral calculus (independently of Sir Isaac Newton).

Graph

A graph is a pictorial representation of statistical data or the functional relationship between variables. William Playfair (1759-1823) is generally seen as the inventor of most graphical forms used to display data, including line graphs, bar graphs, and pie charts.

Logarithms and the Decimal Point

John Napier was the Scottish mathematician who invented logarithms and the decimal point.

Pythagoreanism

Pythagoreanism is a school of philosophy and religious fraternity that is believed to have been founded by Pythagoras of Samos, who lived in Croton in southern Italy in 525 BC. C. The group had a deep inclination for the development of mathematics.

Conveyor

An instrument used to construct and measure angles on planes. The simple protractor looks like a semicircular disc marked with degrees, from 0º to 180º. The simple protractor is an old device; The first complex transporter was created to map the position of a boat in a navigation box. Called a three-armed transporter or a station pointer, it was invented in 1801 by Joseph Huddart, an American naval captain. The central arm was fixed, while the two outer arms were rotatable, capable of being positioned at any angle relative to the central arm.

Rules

Circular and rectangular rulers, an instrument used for mathematical calculation, both invented by mathematician William Oughtred.

The Zero

Zero was invented by Hindu mathematicians Aryabhata and Varamihara in India around or after 520 AD. C.

Equal Sign

In 1557, the equals sign (=) was first used by Robert Record. In 1631, the <,> signs were introduced by Thomas Harriot.