1. History of Math

2. In the beginning… Humans noticed and tried to make sense of patterns. What types of things do you think humans noticed that spurred them to want to keep track of? –Seasons –Migration –Estimating sizes of animal herds –Geography

3. Egyptians 3200-343 BC - formal dynasty Flooding of Nile - tracking for agriculture Measuring land for taxes Dividing harvest to offer to gods Knotted ropes 3, 4, 5 Pyramids, Sphinx

4. Sumerians Height 2000 BC Mesopotamia (now Iraq) Numbers were the first written language To keep track of payments in trade system in city Base 60

5. Babylonians 1500 BC - also Mesopotomia Practiced math Base 60 system Used place value (used a space for ‘zero’) Studied astronomy

6. Ancient Greece 700 BC - 600 AD Base 10, used letters as numbers No place value All geometry Math was scholarly pursuit, more focused on abstraction and proof Ended by Roman invasion

7. Greek Accomplishments Pythagorean Theorem Discovery of irrational numbers Platonic solids Archimedes’ approximation of pi Euclid’s Elements Hypatia Anyone else?

8. China

9. India