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History
of Mathematics David
E. Joyce - djoyce@clarku.edu Every
culture on earth has developed some mathematics. In some cases,
this mathematics has spread from one culture to another. Now
there is one predominant international mathematics, and this
mathematics has quite a history. It has roots in ancient Egypt
and Babylonia, then grew rapidly in ancient Greece.
Mathematics written in ancient Greek was translated into
Arabic. About the same time some mathematics of India was
translated into Arabic. Later some of this mathematics was
translated into Latin and became the mathematics of Western
Europe. Over a period of several hundred years, it became the
mathematics of the world.
By far, the
most significant development in mathematics was giving it firm
logical foundations. This took place in ancient Greece in the
centuries preceding Euclid. See Euclid's
Elements.
By the 20th
century the edge of that unknown had receded to where only a
few could see. One was David Hilbert, a leading mathematician
of the turn of the century. In 1900 he addressed the
International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris, and
described 23
important mathematical problems.
