What Did The Babylonians, Chinese Contribute To Mathematics Summary

Babylon was the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Some civilians were educated and can best be seen in their advanced irrigation system development. They invented the number 0 in the metric system because it was easy to write and understand. This led to measurements of time such as 60 seconds, 60 minutes, and 360 degrees in a circle. They knew mathematics, science, and astrology. They created the first calendar, the lunar calendar, based on the moon. The first real mechanical device was created, known as the potter’s wheel.

The Babylonians and Assyrians used a form of writing called cuneiform, one of the earliest known systems of writing, which was similar to the Egyptian hieroglyphics They used this picture writing system to record stories and historical events. Aside from literature achievements, they also made great leaps in science. They built bridges and irrigation system, recorded astronomical and meteorological observation, created the lunar calendar, and developed one of the first economic system. The lunar calendar was adopted by surrounding countries and their economic system helped keep Mesopotamia affluent.

There was an unexpected explosion in the math and science world in the 17th century across Europe, known as the Age of Reasoning. Scientists such as Galileo, Brahe and Kepler continued to increase our knowledge on mathematics and science, especially the solar system which led to Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. Isaac Newton also discovered the laws of physics explaining Kepler’s Laws, and brought together the concepts now known as calculus. The invention of the logarithm by John Napier contributed to the advances of science and astronomy and was one of the most significant developments of this time. Rene Descartes development of analytical geometry and Cartesian coordinates allowed the orbits of the planets to be plotted. Other mathematicians such as Fermat and Pascal formulated theorems which extended our knowledge on number theory. Pascal is most famous for his Pascal triangle even though similar figures had been done by the Chinese and Persian mathematicians before him. Newton and Leibniz revolutionized mathematics by developing infinitesimal calculus. Much more credit should be given to many other mathematicians at this time, but as said before, this was a time of severe increase in mathematics and these are only a few of the most important discoveries. (15)

Many of their temples had doorways, windows, and designs that aligned with celestial events, one of the first developments to understanding astronomy. They were also outstanding mathematicians. Along with their achievements in measuring time and astronomy, they developed a “base 20” number system using dots and bars/lines. They even took it one step further by discovering the concept of zero!

Would you want to wake up and work all day without machinery and/or electronics? Lifting blocks 1000’s of lbs? That is the daily life of most egyptians and mesopotamians thousands of years ago They invented many different things that we still use today including The Alphabet and Number system. Mesopotamia and Egypt may seem alike but there are many differences.

Egypt of the pharaohs is best known for its great monuments and feats of engineering (such as the Pyramids), but it also made great advances in many other fields too. The Egyptians produced early forms of paper and a written script. They developed the calendar too and made important contributions in various branches of mathematics, such as geometry and algebra, and it seems likely that they understood and perhaps invented the use of zero. They made important contributions in mechanics, philosophy, irrigation and architecture. In medicine, the Egyptians understood the body’s dependence on the brain over 1000 years before the Greek scholar Democritus. Some historians now believe that ancient Egypt had an important influence on ancient Greece, and they point to the fact that Greek scholars such as Pythagoras and Archimedes studied in Egypt, and that the work of Aristotle and Plato was largely based on earlier scholarship in Egypt. For example, what is commonly known as Pythagoras’ theorem, was known to the ancient Egyptians hundreds of years before Pythagoras’ birth.

The Babylonians were an interesting society with many amusing practices in life. They were a patriarchal society, however, the women did have a good amount of rights. Marriages were arranged by parents, however, a woman could leave her husband and keep her stuff if he was cruel. This was not considered divorce though. Some Babylonians were very skilled astronomers. The study of planets heavily influenced the Babylonians’ beliefs. Their religious beliefs were directly tied to astrology and this is where they developed their practices. The Babylonians were the first to invent the composite bow, and they made it out of wood and animal bone or horn to make it stronger. This weapon gave them a great advantage over their rivals in battle. They had

The Greeks made several inventions, most notably in the subject of math, which are still studied today and taught in school. Mathematician Euclid is often credited as the “Father of Geometry” for all his work and studies in this subject, which are compiled in his books called The Elements. He organized known geometrical statements called theorems and logically proved all of them. He proved the theorem of Pythagoras (another Greek mathematician), which stated that the equation (c2 = a2 + b2) is true for every right triangle.

Muslims greatly advanced the study of mathematics. Arabic numerals, the numbers the Western World uses today, were developed by the Muslims. Compared to earlier systems, such as Roman numerals, they made it easier for people to do calculations and check their work. Muslims also spread the Indian concept of zero. Zero also made it easier to write large numbers. Muslim scholar, Al-Khwarizmi, is best known as the “the father of Algebra”. Al-Khwarizmi’s famous book on algebra was translated into

The mathematics had been developed for four thousand years, and Muslim inherited mathematics from Egyptian, Mesopotamians, Sumerian and Babylonian. Greek geometry and Hindu arithmetic and algebra reached at an early stage in Muslim lands and were translated in centers such as Gondeshapur and Baghdad. Starting out at intellectual center of Islam, they soon criticizing those concepts and formulation by finding inaccurate and inconsistent information and adapt their own ideas. At the same period in Western Europe, they still use Roman numerals and abacus to calculate numbers. The Babylonian already had concept of bases sixty computation with place value numerals. Muslim then developed a decimal arithmetic based on place value and joint concept of zero. In the ninth century, Banu Musa brothers who were three gifted sons of Musa, Muhammad, Ahmad, and Hassan ibn Musa lived in Baghdad studied problems in constructing interrelated geometrical figures. Later the characteristic of those line, space of geometrical shape was given intense study and utilized sophisticated geometry in designing waterwheels, in improving farming equipment, in developing new type of weapon used at war. Another person who make significant contribution on mathematics is Muhammad ibn al-Khwarizmi, a Persian born in the eighth century. He was the first person who originated both terms “algebra”, and

The Mayans were legendary for their skill in mathematics. The Mayans created the concept of zero! They made zero because they said zero is the meaning of nothing. As you can tell, we still use zero a lot in present day so that was very important in our history. To add on in the math subject they had calendars. They put hieroglyphics(symbol that means a word), on days to say it was a good day or bad or a ceremony day or anything else. For making the calendars their priests studied the moon and stars to calculate the numbers of days and amount of years, months, and other sources of time.

Through the development of writing, mathematics, metalworking, detailed law codes, and the wheel, Mesopotamians have shown their ingenuity with many different achievements. The world as we know it could not survive without writing. I am writing right now in order to do this paper, and the economy and so much of our lives is dependent on writing. Although it goes hand-in-hand with writing, mathematics is also a very important achievement of the Mesopotamians. Mesopotamians based their math system on sixty, but it is just as important and influential regardless. Metal work is another great achievement

Babylonian civilization is considered as one of the most important civilizations in the ancient world. The Babylonians took and developed everything after the Sumerians civilization especially in the spiritual realm and in the field of building an integrated civilization. The earlier civilizations had big role in the Babylonians civilization period when Babylonians took all the cuneiform writing, mathematical and astronomical knowledge, in addition to that the method of building cities, dams and etc. they improved all of them. The development of knowledge continued by Babylonian where the Sumerians stop, and the Babylonian built an empire for themselves on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the southern part of Sumer (Iraq). "The first Amuriyahian family has ruled over Babylon in the period (1830- 1530 BC), when Babylon was a mini-states at the time." Then the greatest king of Babylonian Hammurabi appeared in the seventeenth century BC. He established a famous group of laws known by (Hammurabi code).Also he was the king who united this petty States and achieved an important architectural movement in the city of Babylon.

The Egyptians used sums of unit fractions (a), supplemented by the fraction B, to express all other fractions. For example, the fraction E was the sum of the fractions 3 and *. Using this system, the Egyptians were able to solve all problems of arithmetic that involved fractions, as well as some elementary problems in algebra. In geometry, the Egyptians calculated the correct areas of triangles, rectangles, and trapezoids and the volumes of figures such as bricks, cylinders, and pyramids. To find the area of a circle, the Egyptians used the square on U of the diameter of the circle, a value of about 3.16-close to the value of the ratio known as pi, which is about 3.14. The Babylonian system of numeration was quite different from the Egyptian system. In the Babylonian system-which, when using clay tablets, consisted of various wedge-shaped marks-a single wedge indicated 1 and an arrowlike wedge stood for 10 (see table). Numbers up through 59 were formed from these symbols through an additive process, as in Egyptian mathematics. The number 60, however, was represented by the same symbol as 1, and from this point on a positional symbol was used. That is, the value of one of the first 59 numerals depended henceforth on its position in the total numeral. For example, a numeral consisting of a symbol for 2 followed by one for 27 and ending in one for 10 stood for 2 × 602 + 27 × 60 + 10.

Some people may argue that literature and arts in the Muslim world innovated and effected the world today more than mathematics because according to My World History Textbook visual arts helped the creation of beautiful domes and arches, colored bricks, and decorated tiles that are still used today. The Muslim civilizations created many more useful things under the topic of mathematics that are still used today and most likely will be in the future . For example in the text it states “Arab mathematicians used a decimal system that was based on the Indian numerals and was sometimes referred to as Hindu numerals.” The Muslims created a new number system, this system included the concept zero and was much easier to use than Roman numerals. Then someone named Al-kharm introduced it to Europe. Another product is algebra, before algebra Europeans