Mathematics in the

modern world.
Brief History of Mathematics
The history of mathematics is nearly as old as
humanity itself. Since antiquity, mathematics has been
fundamental to advances in science, engineering,
and philosophy. It has evolved from simple counting,
measurement and calculation, and the systematic
study of the shapes and motions of physical objects,
through the application of abstraction, imagination
and logic, to the broad, complex and often abstract
discipline we know today.
Brief History of Mathematics
From the notched bones of early man to
the mathematical advances brought about
by settled agriculture in Mesopotamia and
Egypt and the revolutionary developments
of ancient Greece and its Hellenistic empire,
the story of mathematics is a long and
impressive one.
Brief History of Mathematics
The East carried on the baton, particularly China,
India and the medieval Islamic Empire, before the
focus of mathematical innovation moved back to
Europe in the late Middle ages and Renaissance. Then,
a whole new series of revolutionary developments
occurred 17th Century and 18th Century Europe, setting
the stage for the increasing complexity and
abstraction of 19th Century mathematics, and finally
the audacious and sometimes devastating discoveries
of the 20th Century.
Mathematics was born:
Egypt (3000 BC)
Babylon (1700 – 300 BC)
Greece (600 BC – 600 AD)
The Great Pyramid if Giza
Cairo, Egpyt
The Stonehenge
Mayan Pyramids at
Guatemala
Famous mathematicians:
Archimedes
The greatest scholar of the ancient era,
Archimedes made phenomenal contribution in
the field of mathematics. His works include finding
various computation techniques to determine
volume and area of several shapes, including the
conic section
Archimedes
287- BC
Nationality: Greek
Famous mathematicians:
Rene Descartes
The French philosopher and scholar, Rene
Descartes, was well-known for his method of
expressing geometric shapes in the form of
algebraic equation. It was because of Rene
Descartes that we got introduced to the beautiful
branch of co-ordinate geometry. The Cartesian
coordinates, in fact, refer to his name. Besides this,
Rene has contributed significantly in the field of
optics and energy conservation.
Rene Descartes
1956-1650
Nationality: French
Famous mathematicians:
Pythagoras
The Greek philosopher, known as the 'father of
numbers', is famous for the discovery of
Pythagorean theorem formula, which states that
in a right angled triangle, the square of the
hypotenuse (z), is equal to the sum of the squares
of the other two sides, x and y - that is, x2 + y2 = z2.
Pythagoras
570 BC
Nationality: Greek
Famous mathematicians:
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Famous For Infinitesimal calculus. The work of
Leibniz on infinitesimal calculus was one completely
separate from Isaac Newton. His mathematical
notation continues to be in use. He also proposed
the mathematical principle known as the
Transcendental Law of Homogeneity. His refining of
the binary system has become foundational in
mathematics.
Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz
1646-1716
Nationality: Scottish
Famous mathematicians:
Isaac Newton
Was one of the greatest contributors in the field of
maths and physics. His works are spread in almost every
field. He developed Calculus, both differential and
integral, that are still the most important aspects of
higher mathematics. Using Calculus, he made it easier
to find the area bounded by closed curves. In physics,
his most world-changing work was the discovery of
existence of gravitational force in our surrounding.
Isaac
Newton
1642-1727
Nationality: English
Famous mathematicians:
John Napier
Famous For Inventing “logarithms”. John Napier is
responsible for manufacturing logarithms. It was
also he who applied the everyday use of the
decimal point in mathematics and arithmetic.
Napier’s bones was an abacus created by John.
The device was used mainly for multiplication
problems.
John Napier
1550-1617
Nationality: Scottish
Famous mathematicians:
Blaise Pascal
A French philosopher, mathematician, and
physicist, contributed in several areas of mathematics,
but he is widely known for Pascal's triangle. He
invented the first mechanical adding machine in the
year 1642. The unit of atmospheric pressure, Pascal
(Pa) has been named in his honor. He also contributed
to the field of computers, and the programming
language Pascal was named after him, in 1972.
Blaise Pascal
1623-1662
Nationality: French
Famous mathematicians:
Euclid
The 'father of Geometry', wrote the book ,"Euclid's
Elements", that is considered to be the greatest
piece of historical works in mathematics. The book is
divided into 13 parts and in it, Euclid has discussed in
details about geometry (what is now called
Euclidean geometry).
His works are also well-known in the fields of
spherical geometry, conic sections, and number
theory.
Famous mathematicians:
Aryabhatta
The greatest Indian scholar in the field of maths, has been
famous for his theorems on astronomical bodies that have
been found to be very accurate in terms of modern
calculations. "Aryabhatiya", his only work to have survived has
given the world innumerable theorems and research subjects.
His two other major contributions are the introduction of zero
to the world and calculating the approximate value of pi. His
works are also spread in fields, like algebra, arithmetic,
trigonometry
Famous mathematicians:
Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar
The greatest Indian mathematician of 20th century,
contributed immensely in fields like number theory,
mathematical analysis, string theory, and
crystallography. His genius has been admired by some
greatest contemporaries of his time. He is hailed to be
one of the most famous in the field of number theory.
Although he lived for a short span of 32 years, he
compiled nearly 3900 phenomenal results that leave
even the best mathematical brains of today in sheer
awe!
Famous mathematicians:
Carl F. Gauss
A German expert, known as Princeps
mathematicorum meaning, "the Prince of
Mathematicians" or "the foremost of mathematicians"
was a child prodigy and a genius. Carl F. Gauss
made path-breaking contributions in fields, like set
theory, statistics, differential analysis, geophysics,
electrostatics, number theory, and astronomy. He
proved the fundamental theorem of Algebra and
also contributed to number theory.
Famous mathematicians:
Benjamin Banneker
A child prodigy, a watch designer, and an
intellectual in maths, Banneker discovered many
puzzles in fields of trigonometry. He was a genius
in logarithms and used them extensively in
trigonometry.
Benjamin Banneker
1731-1806
Nationality: African American
Famous mathematicians:
John Von Neumann
The Hungarian-American physicist, John has
contributed significantly in several fields, like set
theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics,
ergodic theory, continuous geometry, and statistics.
His operator theory in mechanics is still regarded as
one of his most pioneering works. He was also a key
figure in the development of game theory.
John Von Neumann
1903-1957
Nationality: Hungarian
Famous mathematicians:
Joseph Fourier
The Fourier's law and Fourier transform are named
after him. He is also accredited with the discovery of
the green house effect. He is popular for discovering
Fourier series and its uses in determining its application
of real life examples in heat transfer and vibrations.
Famous mathematicians:
Euler
A Swiss physicist and an expert in maths, is widely
acclaimed for his works in the field of function
notation. His mathematical genius has been proved
in the fields of infinitesimal calculus and graph
theory. His mathematical works and research in
optics, mechanics, and fluid dynamics have been
hailed to be very influential.
Famous mathematicians:
Sophie Germain
Especially known for her work on 'Fermat's Last
Theorem', Sophie was one of the initiators of the
elasticity theory and also contributed to number
theory and philosophy. She was regarded as the
'the revolutionary mathematician' of her times.
Sophie Germain
1776-1831
Nationality: French
Famous mathematicians:
Amalie Emmy Noether
She gave path-breaking theorems in algebra
field. The most popular, "Noether's Theorem"
connects symmetry and conservation laws in
Physics. She also contributed to the theories of
algebraic invariants and number fields.
Famous mathematicians:
Fibonacci
Leonardo of Pisa, the greatest European Italian
scholar, popularly known as Fibonacci, was the first to
introduce the Hindu - Arabic system in Europe, i.e., the
positional system of using ten digits with a decimal
point and zero. He is popular for using Fibonacci
number sequence, i.e., 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ... in the
book authored by him, known as Book of Calculation,
the Liber Abaci.
Famous mathematicians:
Almagest Ptolemy
was a mathematician of the highest order. In his
book Almagest, or The Mathematical Compilation,
Ptolemy provides mathematical theories related to
the solar system.
Almagest Ptolemy
168 AD
Nationality: Greco-Roman
Famous mathematicians:
Thales
Famous For Father of science & Thales theorem
Thales used principles of mathematics, specifically
geometry, to solve everyday problems. He is
considered as the “first true mathematician”. His
deductive reasoning principles are applied in
geometry that is a product of “Thales’ Theorem.”
Thales
624 BC
Nationality: Greek
Famous mathematicians:
Albert Einstein
The scientific world was amused by the Einstein's
theory of relativity. Although Albert Einstein was
physicist, his applied mathematical theorems to
reach to apt conclusions. Known as "father of Physics",
he can be best described as a mathematical
physicist. He also won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his
works in physics and the discovery of law of
photoelectric effect.
Albert Einstein
1879-1955
Nationality: Greco-Roman