Mathematics Through Time

Mathematics, as what we all know it, is one of the most important matters which exist in this world, in our community, and in our lives. All of us are using mathematics: in the school to answer problems, in the market by weighing and accounting as to how much the goods cost. We are using mathematics even in our homes, in our daily lives. We are using and applying mathematics everyday and yet most of us don’t know the story behind the construction or the formulation of the fundamentals of mathematics.

I was really amazed on how the Egyptians solve using only their ten fingers and their unusual method of multiplication and division. Dividing the ‘pie’ which eventually forms pieces which lead to the understanding of fractions is amazing. And most importantly understanding the pyramid, they spent great minds and effort in constructing the great pyramids. They understood each part of the solid in order to create a very beautiful whole.

Babylonians are the ones responsible that we have 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour – that’s how we tell time today. This is based on the Babylonian Base 60 number system.  Thanks to them that we are able to tell time today easily and without complications. In measuring their lands they used quadratic equations. Babylonians have great minds that they thought and used this concept in their lands.

Some of the great men in mathematics are credited when the documentary shifted in Greece.  These men include Plato, Euclid, Archimedes, and Pythagoras. They are considered as the greats or the giants in mathematics since they greatly contributed from the mathematics as a tool into analytical mathematics that we are now dealing today. Thanks to them that we had to solve complicated problems using complex mathematical formulas in obtaining large numbers, moderate numbers or even worse, small numbers, very small numbers that even though they are very small and tiny yet they manage to significantly affect the whole to pass an exam or a course. Pythagoras’ great understanding on the properties of right-angled triangles is one of his huge contributions in the world of mathematics revealing the so called Pythagorean Theorem which somehow contributed to the agony of a typical student. Plus the discovery of irrational numbers which was discovered by one of the followers of Pythagoras, Hippasus, made our lives miserable at some point in our student lives. Even though we had to or we have to endure all these things, it is worth it. This complex mathematics made our minds sharpen a bit more making us more prepared by the time we are greatly exposed to the outside world.

Knowing and fully opening our minds to the history of the formulation and how the fundamentals of mathematics are applied by ancient beings make us appreciate, makes me appreciate mathematics a bit more. How they used mathematics, from the very beginning, as a tool and as time goes by used to analyze complex things. How the transformation of mathematics affected lives of people. History makes us appreciate many things that exist in the present day. If not greatly then at least a bit. In my case, history really affects the impression to or of a thing before and after the history is revealed. How those men back from the past strive and think hard just to solve things that are once unknown. Because of their hard and admirable works, we now have mathematics that are learned and soon enough hopefully be appreciated of what its worth.