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Mathematics has been around since the development of written language and probably before that. The field of working with numbers and formulas first came from practical uses such as counting crops, measuring land, astronomical data for sailing, and trading in the market square.

The field of math, in its many forms, has developed in all parts of the world from the Mayans to the Mexican region to Africa and Europe and China. As more texts are found and translated, it will be very exciting to see what we will find.

Important developments in math includes counting, writing of numbers, calculating amounts, working with fractions, creating a number system, using variables, using graphs and applying these ideas to the real world.

Resources in This Category

• Arabic Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance?

  http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/HistTopics/Arabic_mathematics.html
  Explains contributions of Arabian mathematicians by translating early Greek texts, developing early algebraic ideas, number theory and astronomical calculations. Includes information about key people during this time period.

• Babylonian Math

  http://www.angelfire.com/il2/babylonianmath/
  This site was created to help people understand the Babylonian math system better.

• Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics

  http://jeff560.tripod.com/mathword.html
  Shows who coined a wide variety of commonly used terms. Organized by first letter.

• Earliest Uses of Mathematical Symbols

  http://jeff560.tripod.com/mathsym.html
  Discusses first known appearances of common expressions, such as operations, variables and trigonometric functions.

• Egyptian Mathematical Papyri

  http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/Ancient-Africa/mad_ancient_egyptpapyrus.html
  Includes a description of each written document, as well as some sample problems from the Rhind, Moscow and other papyri. These ancient written works were created between 1900 and 1800 BC.

• Famous Problems in the History of Mathematics

  http://mathforum.org/isaac/mathhist.html
  Describes what mathematicians have worked on, from ancient times to the present. Includes problems suitable for middle school and high school math students, with links to solutions.

• History of Mathematics

  http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/mathhist/
  An overview of the subject and a famous 1900 speech describing the main mathematical problems. Includes a chronological list of mathematicians and their work.

• MacTutor History of Mathematics

  http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/
  An extensive and searchable archive covering famous people and concepts, as well as describing the development of mathematics in various cultures.

• Maths is Good for You

  http://www.mathsisgoodforyou.com/
  Contains information on famous mathematicians, theorems, and topics.

• Mesopotamian Mathematics

  http://it.stlawu.edu/~dmelvill/mesomath/
  Discusses the development of numbers, addition tables, exercise problems and solutions for quadratic equations in one of the oldest known civilizations. Covers the period from 8000 B.C. to 364 A.D.

• Pre-Computer History of Pi

  http://personal.bgsu.edu/~carother/pi/Pi2.html
  Explains the early methods of approximating this famous constant, which is used in measuring the area of a circle. Page includes the dates and names of people who were influential in improving these calculations.

• The Mystery Of The Aleph

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/mysteryaleph.htm
  This article from the "Washington Post" covers the development of the concept of infinity, from the fifth to the second century B.C., and includes the main findings of Archimedes and the Pythagorean school. [Requires free registration.]

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