Mayan Mathematics

 The Mayan lived in Central America, and mathematics was an essential part of their daily lives. For example, they used mathematics to count the days on the calendar, also for astronomy. They even developed an advanced numerical system which it was more developed than any other systems in the world in that era. Mesoamerica and the Mayans had the system of 20 or 5 as a base, which according to the experts this method was created by counting on fingers that help them more to define the numerical system of their own. They had a specific symbol for each number, for example, they had the zero as a shell shape or number one as a dot. They developed the concept of zero, and we still have much evidence discovered by archaeologists that represents all of the Maya’s number even to the heist numbers. Even their astronomy was extremely accurate, and they were able to measure the length of the solar year without any instrument.

Prehistoric Mathematics

Many people might think that the prehistoric mathematics is not very interesting and it might be boring, but surprisingly, this era is when the numerals system was originated around five thousand and five hundred years ago. People who lived their thousands of years ago knew what numbers meant; they even knew how to count without any schools or teachers! They developed their skills, for example, the Ishango bone that was made by humankind which it goes back to more than 35,000 to 20,000 years ago in central Africa. This bone was used for tallying. When the Ishango bone was examined by Marshack, he believed that it might represent a sic moths calendar, it was considered as an acknowledgment of an everyday needs as a consequence of settlement and cultural advancement. Our ancestors used mathematics to track the moon, establish a calendar to calculate days, and for daily arithmetic needs.

Greek Mathematics

It all started after the arrival of the Greek empire in Asia; they got a lot of knowledge from every place they vanquished. The Greeks obtained many critical mathematical concepts from the ancient civilization such as the Sumerian and Egyptian culture. Attic or Herodianic is an old Greek numerals system that was found in 450 BC, and the ten systems was used by the Greeks the same as the Egyptians, but the primary focus of the Greeks in mathematics was on Geometry such as Thales' Theorem rather than other fields. Mathematician Pythagoras in the 6th century gave the birth to the Greek mathematics. Even the idea of infinity was coined by the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea in the 5th Century BC. Their achievements in developing the math were incredible and influential for the modern day.  

Chinese Mathematics

The Chinese numerical system is very simple, but it’s an effective system that goes back to second millennium BCE. They expressed the numbers by adjusting bamboo rods alongside each other to represent the numbers one to ten. They even invented the decimals place value that looks similar to the modern day, this system was very complicated and was adapted by the western world later; but they didn’t have any definition or concept for zero. The Chinese mathematics development was related to the growth of the Chinese empire. The Chinese need for solving equations and discovering new unknown number from common information made the discovery and the use of a sophisticated matrix-based method which it did not appear in the western world until the 18th century.

Egyptian Mathematics

Egyptians have shaped the infrastructure of mathematics thousands of years ago; even the Greeks have followed the footsteps that Egyptians left behind such as their knowledge and understanding algebra, arithmetic and geometry for tax purposes and other calculations in that time. As we can see, it is obvious how amazing the Egyptian monuments are; this indicates that the Egyptians had an extreme knowledge of applied mathematics. These building looks almost impossible to build in the modern day, and the best example is the pyramids. Egyptians primary goal was to focus more on problem-solving that encouraged them to operate as a society rather than identifying laws in math. Even the great Greek philosopher Aristotle once declared that the work of many great Egyptian mathematicians inspired and helped to develop astronomy, geometry, and the basis of mathematics that later helped the Greek to grow it even more.