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Mathematics is the study of topics such as quantity, structure, space, and change. It involves seeking patterns to formulate conjectures and using logic and proof to determine their truth. Mathematics has developed from counting, calculation, measurement, and studying shapes and motions, and is essential in many fields including science, engineering, and finance. It has a long history dating back to early civilizations, with important developments in geometry by the Greeks and the evolution of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system in India.

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62 views4 pages

Mathematics: Jump To Navigationjump To Search

Mathematics is the study of topics such as quantity, structure, space, and change. It involves seeking patterns to formulate conjectures and using logic and proof to determine their truth. Mathematics has developed from counting, calculation, measurement, and studying shapes and motions, and is essential in many fields including science, engineering, and finance. It has a long history dating back to early civilizations, with important developments in geometry by the Greeks and the evolution of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system in India.

Uploaded by

Lawrence Decano
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Mathematics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This article is about the field of study. For other uses, see Mathematics
(disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation).

Euclid (holding calipers), Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by Raphael in this detail from The
School of Athens (1509–1511)[a]

Mathematics

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Mathematics (from Greek μάθημα máthēma, "knowledge, study, learning") includes the
study of such topics as quantity (number theory),[1] structure (algebra),
[2]
 space (geometry),[1] and change (mathematical analysis).[3][4][5] It has no generally
accepted definition.[6][7]
Mathematicians seek and use patterns[8][9] to formulate new conjectures; they resolve the
truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proof. When mathematical structures are
good models of real phenomena, mathematical reasoning can be used to provide
insight or predictions about nature. Through the use of abstraction and logic,
mathematics developed from counting, calculation, measurement, and the systematic
study of the shapes and motions of physical objects. Practical mathematics has been a
human activity from as far back as written records exist. The research required to solve
mathematical problems can take years or even centuries of sustained inquiry.
Rigorous arguments first appeared in Greek mathematics, most notably
in Euclid's Elements.[10] Since the pioneering work of Giuseppe Peano (1858–
1932), David Hilbert (1862–1943), and others on axiomatic systems in the late
19th century, it has become customary to view mathematical research as
establishing truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately
chosen axioms and definitions. Mathematics developed at a relatively slow pace until
the Renaissance, when mathematical innovations interacting with new scientific
discoveries led to a rapid increase in the rate of mathematical discovery that has
continued to the present day.[11]
Mathematics is essential in many fields, including natural
science, engineering, medicine, finance, and the social sciences. Applied
mathematics has led to entirely new mathematical disciplines, such
as statistics and game theory. Mathematicians engage in pure
mathematics (mathematics for its own sake) without having any application in mind, but
practical applications for what began as pure mathematics are often discovered later. [12][13]

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Etymology
 2Definitions of mathematics
o 2.1Mathematics as science
 3Inspiration, pure and applied mathematics, and aesthetics
 4Notation, language, and rigor
 5Fields of mathematics
o 5.1Foundations and philosophy
o 5.2Pure mathematics
o 5.3Applied mathematics
 6Mathematical awards
 7See also
 8Notes
 9References
 10Bibliography
 11Further reading

History
Main article: History of mathematics

The history of mathematics can be seen as an ever-increasing series of abstractions.


The first abstraction, which is shared by many animals, [14] was probably that of numbers:
the realization that a collection of two apples and a collection of two oranges (for
example) have something in common, namely quantity of their members.
As evidenced by tallies found on bone, in addition to recognizing how to count physical
objects, prehistoric peoples may have also recognized how to count abstract quantities,
like time—days, seasons, or years.[15]

The Babylonian mathematical tablet Plimpton 322, dated to 1800 BC.

Evidence for more complex mathematics does not appear until around 3000 BC, when
the Babylonians and Egyptians began using arithmetic, algebra and geometry for
taxation and other financial calculations, for building and construction, and
for astronomy.[16] The most ancient mathematical texts from Mesopotamia and Egypt are
from 2000–1800 BC.[17] Many early texts mention Pythagorean triples and so, by
inference, the Pythagorean theorem seems to be the most ancient and widespread
mathematical development after basic arithmetic and geometry. [18] It is in Babylonian
mathematics that elementary
arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) first appear in the
archaeological record. The Babylonians also possessed a place-value system, and
used a sexagesimal numeral system [18] which is still in use today for measuring angles
and time.[19]

Archimedes used the method of exhaustion to approximate the value of pi.


Beginning in the 6th century BC with the Pythagoreans, the Ancient Greeks began a
systematic study of mathematics as a subject in its own right with Greek mathematics.
[20]
 Around 300 BC, Euclid introduced the axiomatic method still used in mathematics
today, consisting of definition, axiom, theorem, and proof. His textbook Elements is
widely considered the most successful and influential textbook of all time. [21] The greatest
mathematician of antiquity is often held to be Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC) of Syracuse.
[22]
 He developed formulas for calculating the surface area and volume of solids of
revolution and used the method of exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of
a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, in a manner not too dissimilar from
modern calculus.[23] Other notable achievements of Greek mathematics are conic
sections (Apollonius of Perga, 3rd century BC),[24] trigonometry (Hipparchus of
Nicaea (2nd century BC),[25] and the beginnings of algebra (Diophantus, 3rd century AD).
[26]

The numerals used in the Bakhshali manuscript, dated between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD.

The Hindu–Arabic numeral system and the rules for the use of its operations, in use
throughout the world today, evolved over the course of the first millennium AD
in India and were transmitted to the Western world via Islamic mathematics.[27] Other
notable developments of Indian mathematics include the modern definition and
approximation of sine and cosine,[27]

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