Mathematics

History

:Main article: History of mathematics

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The evolution of mathematics can be seen to be an ever increasing series of abstractions. The first abstraction was probably that of numbers. The realization that two apples and two oranges do have something in common, namely that they fill the hands of exactly one person, was a breakthrough in human thought.

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In addition to recognizing how to count concrete objects, prehistoric peoples also recognized how to count abstract quantities, like time -- days, seasons, years. From counting, naturally followed arithmetic (e.g. addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

Related Topics:
Count - Prehistoric - Time - Days - Seasons - Years - Arithmetic - Addition - Subtraction - Multiplication - Division

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However, mathematics undoubtedly could not have developed out of simple counting and arithmetic without writing and a way of writing numbers. Perhaps prehistoric peoples first expressed quantity by drawing lines in the ground or scratching wood. People of the Inca empire, which lacked any other writing system, represented and stored numerical data using a complex system of knots and rope called khipu.

Related Topics:
Writing - Writing numbers - Prehistoric - Quantity - Inca empire - Khipu

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Historically, the major disciplines within mathematics arose out of the need to do calculations in commerce, to measure land and to predict astronomical events. These three needs can be roughly related to the broad subdivision of mathematics into the studies of structure, space and change.

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Mathematical facts have been discovered throughout history. Mathematical innovations in the last hundred years have been major, of the same importance to the subject as all that had been developed in the years that went before.

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