UNIT

1 The Beginning
History of
Mathematics

In this unit, you are expected to attain the following learning objectives:
a. acquire knowledge and understanding on the foundations and history of mathematics; and
b. gain knowledge on the specific development of the different fields in mathematics.

INTRODUCTION
Our prehistoric ancestors would have had a general sensibility about amounts, and would have instinctively
known the difference between, say, one and two antelopes. But the intellectual leap from the concrete idea of
two things to the invention of a symbol or word for the abstract idea of “two” took many ages to come about.
Even today, there are isolated hunter-gatherer tribes in Amazonia which only have words for “one”, “two”
and “many”, and others which only have words for numbers up to five. In the absence of settled agriculture and
trade, there is little need for a formal system of numbers.
Early man kept track of regular occurrences such as the phases of the moon and the seasons. Some of the
very earliest evidence of mankind thinking about numbers is from notched bones in Africa dating back to 35,000
to 20,000 years ago. But this is really mere counting and tallying rather than mathematics as such.
Earth’s beginnings can be traced back 4.5 billion years, but human evolution only counts for a tiny speck of
its history. The Prehistoric Period—or when there was human life before records documented human activity—
roughly dates from 2.5 million years ago to 1,200 B.C. It is generally categorized in three archaeological periods:
the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age.
From the invention of tools made for hunting to advances in food production and agriculture to early
examples of art and religion, this enormous time span—ending roughly 3,200 years ago (dates vary upon region)
—was a period of great transformation.

THE STONE AGE

Divided into three periods: Paleolithic (or Old Stone A ge),
Mesolithic (or M iddle Stone A ge), and Neolithic (or New
Stone Age), this era is marked by the use of tools by our early
human ancestors (who evolved around 300,000 B.C.) and the
eventual transformation from a culture of hunting and gathering
to farming and food production. During this era, early humans
shared the planet with a number of now-extinct hominin
relatives, including Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Source: https://www.history.com/topics/
pre-history/stone-age

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 Paleolithic Age Mesolithic Age
(roughly 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 B.C.)  humans used small stone tools, now also
 people had no permanent places to live
polished and sometimes crafted with points and
 lived in caves or simple huts or tepees and made
attached to antlers, bone or wood to serve as
temporary homes using plants and animal skins to spears and arrows
make tents
 often lived nomadically in camps near rivers and
 people were hunters and gatherers and more
other bodies of water
preoccupied with looking for food in order to
 agriculture was introduced during this time,
survive and made weapons for hunting like
which led to more permanent settlements in
daggers and spears made of stones, bones, or sticks
villages
 used basic stone and bone tools, as well as crude
stone axes, for hunting birds and wild animals Neolithic Age
 cooked their prey, including woolly mammoths, (roughly 8,000 B.C. to 3,000 B.C.)
deer and bison, using controlled fire  ancient humans switched from hunter/gatherer
 fished and collected berries, fruit and nuts mode to agriculture and food production
 used combinations of minerals, ochres, burnt bone  domesticated animals and cultivated cereal grains
meal and charcoal mixed into water, blood, animal  used polished hand axes, adzes for ploughing and
fats and tree saps to etch humans, animals and tilling the land and started to settle in the plains
signs  advancements were made not only in tools but
 carved small figurines from stones, clay, bones also in farming, home construction and art,
and antlers including pottery, sewing and weaving.
 the end of this period marked the end of the last  often referred to as the New Stone Age
Ice Age, which resulted in the extinction of many  marked with changes from crude ways of doing
large mammals and rising sea levels and climate things to a more refined form
change that eventually caused man to migrate  developed ideas of trade, private property, and
 often referred to as the Old Stone Age quantity
 the longest part of prehistoric times

THE BRONZE AGE

During the Bronze Age (about 3,000 B.C. to 1,300
B.C.), metalworking advances were made, as bronze, a
copper and tin alloy, was discovered. Now used for
weapons and tools, the harder metal replaced its stone
predecessors, and helped spark innovations including the
ox-drawn plow and the wheel. Source: https://www.ancient-origins.net
This time period also brought advances in architecture and art, including the invention of the potter’s wheel,
and textiles—clothing consisted of mostly wool items such as skirts, kilts, tunics and cloaks. Home dwellings
morphed to so-called roundhouses, consisting of a circular stone wall with a thatched or turf roof, complete with
a fireplace or hearth, and more villages and cities began to form.

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 Organized government, law and warfare, as well as beginnings of religion, also came into play during the
Bronze Age, perhaps most notably relating to the ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids during this time. The
earliest written accounts, including Egyptian hieroglyphs and petroglyphs (rock engravings), are also dated to
this era.
THE IRON AGE
The discovery of ways to heat and forge iron kicked off the Iron Age
(roughly 1,300 B.C. to 900 B.C.). At the time, the metal was seen as
more precious than gold, and wrought iron (which would be replaced by
steel with the advent of smelting iron) was easier to manufacture than
bronze.
Along with mass production of steel tools and weapons, the age saw
even further advances in architecture, with four-room homes, some
complete with stables for animals, joining more rudimentary hill forts, as
well as royal palaces, temples and other religious structures. Early city
planning also took place, with blocks of homes being erected along
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/
paved or cobblestone streets and water systems put into place. pre-history/-age
Agriculture, art and religion all became more sophisticated, and writing systems and written documentation,
including alphabets, began to emerge, ushering in the Early Historical Period.
Historical Tidbits!
ETHNOMATHEMATICS The Incas utilized a device known
as the yupana, a Fibonacci number,
Definition and Foundation
grid based, calculator capable of
 It is the mathematics that is persistent in particular cultural groups. computing complex mathematical
 It is derived from ethnos (within a cultural background, mathema equations. Such devices were used by
the Inca to
(explaining and understanding in order to transcend, managing and coping conduct tribute,
with reality in order to survive and thrive, and tics (techniques such as taxes,
accounting, and
counting, ordering, sorting, measuring, weighing, ciphering, classifying,
trade.
inferring, and modeling).
Source: http://etnomatematica.org/v5-n2-
Numerical Terms and Systems of Early Civilizations agosto2012/Catepillan_Szymanski.pdf

1. Native Americans 4. Incans

 used quinary counting (based on five)  kept detailed and clear information on census,
2. Mesoamerican taxes owed or collected, output of mines, and
 used vigesimal number system (based composition of work forces
twenty system) using only three symbols:  used Quipu to encode the numerical details
a shell-like symbol representing 0, a dot  used a base ten number
representing 1, and a line representing 5  used counting board, called Y upana, to solve
3. Mayans mathematical problems
 Dresden Codex (a treatise on astronomy) 5. Africans
 used vigesimal number system  words for certain numbers are based upon the
 used two calendars: ritual calendar and parts of the human body
civil calendar  applied geometric patterns and designs in hair
braiding

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 Historical Tidbits!
Quipu were knotted tally cords used by the Inca
Civilization of South America (1400-1560). The system
consisted of a main cord from which a variable number
of pendant cords were attached. Each pendant cord
contained clusters of knots. These knots and their
clusters conveyed numerical information. In some
complex instances, further pendant cords were attached
to these primary pendants. The number, type of knots,
and knot and cluster spacing, as well as the pendant
array, all conveyed particular information. Source: http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-science-innovation-

Mayan Numeral System

(Vigesimal or Base-20 Numeral System) A mathematically efficient numeral system was
devised by the early Maya people of Meso America.
This base 20, or vigesimal system was positional and
possessed a “zero” place holder. Mayans wrote their
numbers vertically, thus,
a) 3 446 , b) 35 832 appears as:

( 8 x 202) = 3 200 ( 4 x 203) = 32 000

( 9 x 202) = 3 600
( 12 x 201) = 240
( 11 x 201) = 220
( 6 x 200) = 6
3 446 ( 12 x 200) = 12
35 832
Pump Up
your Brain!

Practice Exercises 1
Identify what is being referred to the following statement. (10 points)
1. It is an area of mathematics which explores on the persons, events and places that bear notably on the
growth of mathematical ideas.
2. It was referred to as the New Stone Age.
3. It was often referred to as the Old Stone Age.
4. It is the mathematics that is persistent in a particular cultural group.
5. They used two calendars: ritual and civic calendars.
6. They used quinary counting.
7. This was used by Incans to encode numerical details.
8. A counting board used by Incans to solve mathematical problems.
9. They applied geometric patterns and design in hair braiding.
10. It is the period when there was human life before records documented human activity—roughly dates
from 2.5 million years ago to 1,200 B.C.

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 Challenge
your mind!

Practice Exercises 2
Review the Prehistoric Period and describe each archaeological periods using the graphic organizer below. (15
points)
B r o nz e A g e
Stone Age

Prehistor ic
Per iod

Memory
Booster
I r o n Ag e
Practice Exercises 3
Review the Stone Age and describe each period using the graphic organizer below. (15 points)

STONE AGE

Paleolithic Age Mesolithic Age Neolithic Age

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Unleash your
creativity

Practice Exercises 4
Let’s trace back the history! Draw three (3) objects/things from the past that bear notably on the growth of
mathematical ideas . Put caption that will describe each drawing. (15 points)

Take this
Challenge

Practice Exercises 5
Transcribe the following Hindu-Arabic Numerals to Mayan Numeral System. (10 points)
a. 952 b. 3, 548 c. 52, 124 d. 324, 189 e. 698, 900

Criteria
My Content — 5 points
Reflection Organization— 5 points
10 points

From this unit about the beginning of mathematics, I have learned that
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 UNIT
Mathematics in the
2 Ancient Orient
History of
Mathematics
In this unit, you are expected to attain the following learning objectives:
a. familiarize the contributions of Ancient Orient in the field of mathematics; and
b. transcribe numbers into various numeral system from the Ancient Orient.

SUMERIAN/BABYLONIAN MATHEMATICS
Sumer (a region of Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq) was the birthplace of writing, the wheel, agriculture, the
arch, the plow, irrigation and many other innovations, and is often referred to as the Cradle of Civilization. The
Sumerians developed the earliest known writing system - a pictographic writing system known as cuneiform
script, using wedge-shaped characters inscribed on baked clay tablets - and this has meant that we actually have
more knowledge of ancient Sumerian and Babylonian mathematics than of early Egyptian mathematics. Indeed,
we even have what appear to school exercises in arithmetic and geometric problems.
They were perhaps the first people to assign symbols to groups of objects in an attempt to make the
description of larger numbers easier. They moved from using separate tokens or symbols to represent sheaves of
wheat, jars of oil, etc, to the more abstract use of a symbol for specific numbers of anything. Starting as early as
the 4th millennium BCE, they began using a small clay cone to represent one, a clay ball for ten, and a large cone
for sixty. Over the course of the third millennium, these objects were replaced by cuneiform equivalents so that
numbers could be written with the same stylus that was being used for the words in the text. A rudimentary model
of the abacus was probably in use in Sumeria from as early as 2700 - 2300 BCE.
Contributions of Sumerian/Babylonian Mathematics
(also known as Mesopotamian Mathematics)
 saw the need for number systems and their efforts led to the evolution of algebraic expressions
 improved the sexagesimal system or the base 60 system
 had concepts of large numbers and representations of fractions
 marked the beginnings of numerical algebra
a. Pythagorean triples (a, b, c) with a2+b2=c2
b. systems of linear equations in the context of solving number problems
c. quadratic equations
 studied geometry (focusing on shapes) that includes similar figures, areas and volumes
 famed as constructors of tables; among the tablets of about 2400 B.C. that have been deciphered are the
measurement of land, the weighing by talents, the measurement of liquids, the taking of interests, the use of
fractions ½, 1/3, and 5/6, and the mea-surement of both liquids and solids
 Babylonian arithmetic was first derived from two tablets containing the squares of numbers from 1 to 60 and
the cubes of numbers from 1 to 32

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 Babylonian Cuneiform Numerals System Examples: Let’s transcribe the following numbers to
Babylonian Cuneiform numeral system.
a. 147 b. 21, 609 c. 424, 000

a. b.
(2 x 601)+( 27 x 600) (6 x 602)+(0 x 601)+( 9 x 600)
= 120 + 27 = 21, 600 + 0 + 9
= 147 = 21, 609

c.
(1 x 603)+(57 x 602)+( 46 x 601)+(40 x 600)
= 216, 000 + 205, 200 + 2, 760 + 40
= 424, 000
Source: https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Babylonian_numerals/

EGYPTIAN MATHEMATICS
The early Egyptians settled along the fertile Nile valley as early as about 6000 BCE, and they began to record
the patterns of lunar phases and the seasons, both for agricultural and religious reasons. The Pharaoh’s surveyors
used measurements based on body parts (a palm was the width of the hand, a cubit the measurement from elbow
to fingertips) to measure land and buildings very early in Egyptian history, and a decimal numeric system was
developed based on our ten fingers. The oldest mathematical text from ancient Egypt discovered so far, though, is
the Moscow Papyrus, which dates from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom around 2000 - 1800 BCE.
It is thought that the Egyptians introduced the earliest fully-developed base 10 numeration system at least as
early as 2700 BCE (and probably much early). Written numbers used a stroke for units, a heel-bone symbol for
tens, a coil of rope for hundreds and a lotus plant for thousands, as well as other hieroglyphic symbols for higher
powers of ten up to a million. However, there was no concept of place value, so larger numbers were rather
unwieldy (although a million required just one character, a million minus one required fifty-four characters).
Contributions of Egyptian Mathematics
 developed astronomy and agriculture because of Nile river
 used hieroglyphs in their numeration system from around 3000 B.C.
 had a decimal system using seven different symbols:
 represented unit fractions in numeral hieroglyphs by placing the symbol representing a “mouth”, which mean
“part”, above the number)
 used another number system called hieratic numerals
 made two major mathematical documents which proved the development of hieratic writing and numerals:
Rhind Papyrus and Moscow Papyrus
 introduced Egyptian calendar of twelve months of thirty days each, plus five feast days
 carried out an extensive system of irrigation, necessitating a knowledge of leveling, surveying, and
mensuration
 developed a good system of timekeeping by means of sundial

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 Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Numeral System  1 is shown by single stroke
 10 is shown by a drawing of a hobble for cattle
 100 is represented by a coil of rope
 1,000 is a drawing of lotus plant
 10,000 is represented by a finger
 100,000 by a tadpole or frog
 1,000,000 is the figure of god with arms raised
above his head

Examples: Let’s transcribe the following numbers to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic numeral system.
a. 234 b. 1, 456 c. 23, 784 d. 576, 296 e. 3, 542, 329

a. b. c.

d.

e.

INDIAN MATHEMATICS
Despite developing quite independently of Chinese (and probably also of Babylonian mathematics), some very
advanced mathematical discoveries were made at a very early time in India.
Mantras from the early Vedic period (before 1000 BCE) invoke powers of ten from a hundred all the way up to
a trillion, and provide evidence of the use of arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication,
fractions, squares, cubes and roots. A 4th Century CE Sanskrit text reports Buddha enumerating numbers up to
1053, as well as describing six more numbering systems over and above these, leading to a number equivalent to
10421. Given that there are an estimated 1080 atoms in the whole universe, this is as close to infinity as any in the
ancient world came. It also describes a series of iterations in decreasing size, in order to demonstrate the size of an
atom, which comes remarkably close to the actual size of a carbon atom (about 70 trillionths of a metre).

Contributions of Indian Mathematics

 Indians have the Indus River where the first appearance of Indian Mathematics occurred
 the Indian contributions were not transmitted directly to India to Europe but rather came first to the Arabic/
Islamic people and from them to Europe (digits from 1-9 are called Hindsa by the people of Arab, while in
western countries, digits 0-9 were called Hindu-Arabic Numerals)
 early proofs of Indian Mathematics were seen in two of the early built cities in the world: Mohenjo-Daro
(one of the earliest cities in the world and was built to carefully planned patterns) and Harappa (engaged in
agriculture and trade)
 established Numerical Mathematics, Algebra & Geometrical Mathematics
 numerals (known as Guba) and decimals are cleanly mentioned in Veda
 believed to be the first to discover zero and used it as a place value holder in positional base notation and
10th place value method (writing number based on 10)

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 discussed addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fraction, square, square root, cube root
 introduced ellipse, fractions, algebraic equations, series, set theory, logarithm, and exponents, types of
infinity, types of measures, permutation and combination, roots of modern trigonometry, expansion of
algebra, indeterminate equations, computed the value of pi after 4 decimal places, find that the sun is
stationary and the earth revolves around it, calculate the volume of Prism and Cone, when we divide any
positive or negative number by zero it becomes infinite, calculate Least Common Multiple (LCM), Well
Ordering Theorems, One to One Mapping, Calculus and Integration, and earth has gravitational force
 described numbers under three categories: Sankheya (countable), Asankheya (uncountable), and Anant
(infinite)
Evolution of Hindu-Arabic Numerals

BRAHMAGUPTA
The great 7th Century Indian mathematician and astronomer
Brahmagupta wrote some important works on both mathematics and
astronomy. He was from the state of Rajasthan of northwest India (he is
often referred to as Bhillamalacarya, the teacher from Bhillamala), and
later became the head of the astronomical observatory at Ujjain in central
India. Most of his works are composed in elliptic verse, a common practice
in Indian mathematics at the time, and consequently have something of a
poetic ring to them.
It seems likely that Brahmagupta's works, especially his most famous
text, the “Brahmasphutasiddhanta”, were brought by the 8th Century
Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur to his newly founded center of learning at
Baghdad on the banks of the Tigris, providing an important link between
Indian mathematics and astronomy and the nascent upsurge in science and
mathematics in the Islamic world. Source: https://www.storyofmathematics.com

In his work on arithmetic, Brahmagupta explained how to find the cube and cube-root of an integer and gave
rules facilitating the computation of squares and square roots. He also gave rules for dealing with five types of
combinations of fractions. He gave the sum of the squares of the first n natural numbers as n(n + 1)(2n + 1) ⁄ 6
and the sum of the cubes of the first n natural numbers as (n(n + 1)⁄2)².

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 MADHAVA
Madhava sometimes called the greatest mathematician-astronomer of medieval India. He came from the town
of Sangamagrama in Kerala, near the southern tip of India, and founded the Kerala School of Astronomy and
Mathematics in the late 14th Century.
Although almost all of Madhava's original work is lost, he is referred to in the work of later Kerala
mathematicians as the source for several infinite series expansions (including the sine, cosine, tangent and arctangent
functions and the value of π), representing the first steps from the traditional finite processes of algebra to
considerations of the infinite, with its implications for the future development of calculus and mathematical analysis.
Unlike most previous cultures, which had been rather nervous about the concept of infinity, Madhava was more
than happy to play around with infinity, particularly infinite series. He showed how, although one can be
approximated by adding a half plus a quarter plus an eighth plus a sixteenth, etc, (as even the
ancient Egyptians and Greeks had known), the exact total of one can only be achieved by adding up infinitely many
fractions.

CHINESE MATHEMATICS
Even as mathematical developments in the ancient Greek world were beginning to falter during the final centuries
BCE, the burgeoning trade empire of China was leading Chinese mathematics to ever greater heights.
The simple but efficient ancient Chinese numbering system, which dates back to at least the 2nd millennium
BCE, used small bamboo rods arranged to represent the numbers 1 to 9, which were then places in columns
representing units, tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. It was therefore a decimal place value system, very similar to the
one we use today - indeed it was the first such number system, adopted by the Chinese over a thousand years before it
was adopted in the West - and it made even quite complex calculations very quick and easy.
Written numbers, however, employed the slightly less efficient system of using a different symbol for tens,
hundreds, thousands, etc. This was largely because there was no concept or symbol of zero, and it had the effect of
limiting the usefulness of the written number in Chinese.
The use of the abacus is often thought of as a Chinese idea, although some type of abacus was in use
in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece, probably much earlier than in China (the first Chinese abacus, or “suanpan”, we
know of dates to about the 2nd Century BCE).

Contributions of Chinese Mathematics

 defined by Chinese in ancient times as the “art of calculation” (suan chu)
 concise and very much problem-based (motivated by problems of the calendar, trade, land measurement,
architecture, government records and taxes)
 covered a wide range of subjects from religion and astronomy to water control and administration
 first true evidence of mathematical activity in China can be found in numeration symbols on tortoise shells and
flat cattle bones (commonly called oracle bones, dated from the Shang dynasty, 14th century B.C.)
 numerical writings contained both tally and code symbols which were based on a decimal system
 employed a positional value system (this proved that the Chinese were one of the first civilizations to
understand and efficiently use a decimal numeration system)
 began much earlier in the development of the Chinese calendar, flood-control measures, administration

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 Chinese calendar represents one of the longest unbroken sequence of time measurement in history
 established construction of canals and dams
 created magic squares
 developed the dualistic theory of Ying and Yang (Ying represents even numbers and Yang represents odd
numbers)
Chinese Rod Numerals

2n—1
for coefficients of 10 n = 1, 2, …
(units, hundreds, ten thousands, millions, …)

2n—2
for coefficients of 10 n = 1, 2, …
(tens, thousands, hundred thousands, …)

Examples: Let’s transcribe the following numbers to Chinese Rod numeral system.
a. 234 b. 1, 456 c. 23, 784 d. 576, 296 e. 3, 542, 329

a. b. c.

d. e.

ISLAMIC MATHEMATICS
The Islamic Empire established across Persia, the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa, Iberia and parts of
India from the 8th Century onwards made significant contributions towards mathematics. They were able to draw
on and fuse together the mathematical developments of both Greece and India.
One consequence of the Islamic prohibition on depicting the human form was the extensive use of complex
geometric patterns to decorate their buildings, raising mathematics to the form of an art. In fact, over time,
Muslim artists discovered all the different forms of symmetry that can be depicted on a 2-dimensional surface.
The Qu’ran itself encouraged the accumulation of knowledge, and a Golden Age of Islamic science and
mathematics flourished throughout the medieval period from the 9th to 15th Centuries. The House of Wisdom
was set up in Baghdad around 810, and work started almost immediately on translating the
major Greek and Indian mathematical and astronomy works into Arabic.

Contributions of Islamic Mathematics

 the 9th Century Arab Thabit ibn Qurra, who developed a general formula by which amicable numbers could
be derived, re-discovered much later by both Fermat and Descartes (amicable numbers are pairs of numbers
for which the sum of the divisors of one number equals the other number, e.g. the proper divisors of 220 are
1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 20, 22, 44, 55 and 110, of which the sum is 284; and the proper divisors of 284 are 1, 2, 4,
71, and 142, of which the sum is 220);

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 the 10th Century Arab mathematician A bul Hasan al-Uqlidisi, who wrote the earliest surviving text showing
the positional use of Arabic numerals, and particularly the use of decimals instead of fractions (e.g. 7.375
instead of 73⁄8);
 the 10th Century Arab geometer Ibrahim ibn Sinan, who continued Archimedes' investigations of areas and
volumes, as well as on tangents of a circle;
 the 11th Century Persian Ibn al-Haytham (also known as Alhazen), who, in addition to his groundbreaking
work on optics and physics, established the beginnings of the link between algebra and geometry, and devised
what is now known as "Alhazen's problem" (he was the first mathematician to derive the formula for the sum
of the fourth powers, using a method that is readily generalizable); and
 the 13th Century Persian Kamal al-Din al-Farisi, who applied the theory of conic sections to solve optical
problems, as well as pursuing work in number theory such as on amicable numbers, factorization and
combinatorial methods;
 the 13th Century Moroccan Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi, whose works included topics such as computing
square roots and the theory of continued fractions, as well as the discovery of the first new pair of amicable
numbers since ancient times (17,296 and 18,416, later re-discovered by Fermat) and the the first use of
algebraic notation since Brahmagupta.
MUHAMMAD AL-KHWARIZMI
One of the first Directors of the House of Wisdom in Bagdad in the early 9th
Century was an outstanding Persian mathematician called Muhammad Al-
Khwarizmi. He oversaw the translation of the major Greek and Indian
mathematical and astronomy works (including those of Brahmagupta) into Arabic,
and produced original work which had a lasting influence on the advance of
Muslim and (after his works spread to Europe through Latin translations in the
12th Century) later European mathematics.
The word “algorithm” is derived from the Latinization of his name, and the
word "algebra" is derived from the Latinization of "al-jabr", part of the title of his
most famous book, in which he introduced the fundamental algebraic methods and
techniques for solving equations.
Perhaps his most important contribution to mathematics was his strong advocacy of the Hindu numerical
system, which Al-Khwarizmi recognized as having the power and efficiency needed to revolutionize Islamic and
Western mathematics. The Hindu numerals 1 - 9 and 0 - which have since become known as Hindu-Arabic
numerals - were soon adopted by the entire Islamic world. Later, with translations of Al-Khwarizmi’s work into
Latin by Adelard of Bath and others in the 12th Century, and with the influence of Fibonacci’s “Liber Abaci” they
would be adopted throughout Europe as well.
Al-Khwarizmi’s other important contribution was algebra, a word derived from the title of a mathematical
text he published in about 830 called “Al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa'l-muqabala” (“The Compendious
Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”). Al-Khwarizmi wanted to go from the specific problems
considered by the Indians and Chinese to a more general way of analyzing problems, and in doing so he created
an abstract mathematical language which is used across the world today.

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 His book is considered the foundational text of modern algebra, although he did not employ the kind of
algebraic notation used today (he used words to explain the problem, and diagrams to solve it). But the book
provided an exhaustive account of solving polynomial equations up to the second degree, and introduced for the
first time the fundamental algebraic methods of “reduction” (rewriting an expression in a simpler form),
“completion” (moving a negative quantity from one side of the equation to the other side and changing its sign)
and “balancing” (subtraction of the same quantity from both sides of an equation, and the cancellation of like
terms on opposite sides).

Pump Up
your Brain!

Practice Exercises 1
List at least 5 contributions of each civilization in the ancient orient in the field of mathematics using the graphic or-
ganizer below. (25 points)

Mathematics in the Ancient Orient

BABYLONIAN EGYPTIAN INDIAN CHINESE ISLAMIC

Take this
Challenge

Practice Exercises 2
Transcribe the Hindu-Arabic Numerals to each of the following numeral system. (30 points)
A. Babylonian Cuneiform Numerals B. Egyptian Hieroglyphic Numerals
a. 592 a. 396
b. 1, 348 b. 4, 886
c. 42, 643 c. 32, 641
d. 210, 968 d. 173, 539
e. 2, 563, 497 e. 6, 218, 394
C. Chinese Rod Numerals
a. 782
b. 6, 597
c. 42, 786
d. 318, 411
e. 3, 896, 345

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 Challenge
your mind!
Practice Exercises 3
Crossword Puz-
2

1 1

4 5

3 3

ACROSS DOWN
1. It was a system of timekeeping developed by Egyptians 1. It was where Madhava lived
2. It was a pictographic writing system using wedge- 2. It was often referred to as the Cradle of Civilization
shaped characters inscribed on baked clay tablets 3. The “art of calculation”
3. The oldest mathematical text from ancient Egypt 4. First Chinese abacus
discovered so far 5. It is the term used by Arab people of the digits 1-9.
4. They studied geometry that includes similar figures,
areas and volumes
5. They created magic squares
Criteria
Content — 5 points
My Organization— 5 points
10 points
Reflection

From this unit about Mathematics in the Ancient Orient, I have learned that
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 S U M M AT I V E T E S T
(for Unit 1 and 2)

Direction:
Read and understand the statements below. Write the letter of the correct answer. (20 points)

1. An extinct Mesoamerican culture with surviving treatise on astronomy called Dresden Codex and used
vigesimal number system.
a. Incans c. Native Americans
b. Africans d. Mayans
2. It is the longest part of prehistoric times where people made temporary homes by using plants and animal
skins to make tents and developed a language to communicate with each other.
a. Ancient Orient Age c. Neolithic Age
b. Paleolithic Age d. Mesolithic Age
3. Believed to be the first to discover zero.
a. Babylonian c. Egyptian
b. Chinese d. Indian
4. People in Early Civilization who used Quipu to encode the numerical details and a counting board, called
Yupana, to solve mathematical problems.
a. Africans c. Mayans
b. Incans d. Native Americans
5. An ancient orient mathematics that was very problem-based, that is, motivated by problems of the
calendar, trade, land measurement, architecture, and government record taxes.
a. Chinese Mathematics c. Babylonian Mathematics
b. Egyptian Mathematics d. Indian Mathematics
6. One of the earliest cities of the world built in India and was built to carefully planned patterns and tessella-
tions.
a. Harappa c. Vedic
b. Mohenjo-Daro d. Indus
7. They studied the Pythagorean triples (a, b, c) with a2 + b2 = c2, the systems of linear equations in the
context of solving number problems, and already thought of quadratic equations as early as from at least
1700 BC.
a. Babylonian c. Egyptian
b. Chinese d. Indian
8. During the Bronze Age, earliest written account includes Egyptian hieroglyphs and petroglyphs. What is a
petroglyphs?
a. rock engraving c. numeral system
b. wood carving d. clay figurines
9. It marked with changes from crude ways of doing things to a more refined form.
a. Paleolithic Age c. Ice Age
b. Mesolithic Age d. Neolithic Age

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 10. It is the mathematics that is persistent in particular cultural groups.
a. Ethnomathematics c. Babylonian
b. Prehistory d. Native Americans
11. It was the device used by Incas to compute complex mathematical equations.
a. Quipu c. Yupana
b. Dresden Codex d. Vigesimal number system
12. It was also known as Mesopotamian Mathematics.
a. Babylonian Mathematics c. Islamic Mathematics
b. Egyptian Mathematics d. Chinese Mathematics
13. It was a system of timekeeping developed by Egyptian.
a. Hourglass c. Sundial
b. Analog clock d. Hieroglyphs
14. Egyptian used measurement based on body parts. What measurement was from elbow to fingertips?
a. Span c. Fingerbreadth
b. Handbreadth d. Cubit
15. In the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic, what number is represented by a bent finger?
a. 10 c. 10 000
b. 1 000 d. 100 000
16. He was sometimes called as the greatest mathematician-astronomer of medieval India.
a. Brahmagupta c. Madhava
b. Srinivasa Ramanujan d. Al-Khwarizmi
nd
17. It was the first Chinese abacus dated about 2 century BCE.
a. suan chu c. suanpan
b. yinyang d. oracle bones

18. These are pairs of numbers for which the sum of the divisors of one number equals the other number.

a. Fibonacci numbers c. Amicable numbers

b. Stubborn numbers d. Prime numbers
19. His works included topics such as computing square roots and the theory of continued fractions.
a. Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi c. Ibrahim Ibn Sinan
b. Thabit Ibn Qurra d. Kamal al-Din al-Farisi
20. What was the oldest mathematical text from ancient Egypt?
a. Moscow Papyrus c. Rhind Papyrus
b. Hieroglyphs d. Cuneiform Script

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 REFERENCES
Books

Inflante, B.J. History and Philosophy in Mathematics. PNU LET Reviewer.pp.168-191

Swetz and Vistro-Yu. History of Mathematics: A Study Guide.

Internet Sources:

https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-the-quipu
http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-science-innovation--technology-activity.html
http://www.storyofmathematics.com

Photo Sources

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 2003

https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/stone-age
https://www.ancient-origins.net
https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/-age
http://etnomatematica.org/v5-n2-agosto2012/Catepillan_Szymanski.pdf
http://www.historyshistories.com/inca-science-innovation-
https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Babylonian_numerals/
https://www.storyofmathematics.com/indian_brahmagupta

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