andria
mathematician and inventor. The dates of his birth and death are unknown; conjecture places them between the 2d cent. B.C. and the 3d cent. A.D. He is believed to have lived in Alexandria; although he wrote in Greek, his origin is uncertain.
..... Click the link for more information. (geometry), PtolemyPtolemy
(Claudius Ptolemaeus), fl. 2d cent. A.D., celebrated Greco-Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer. He made his observations in Alexandria and was the last great astronomer of ancient times.
..... Click the link for more information. (A.D. 150, astronomy, geometry, cartography), PappusPappus
, fl. c.300, Greek mathematician of Alexandria. He recorded and enlarged on the results of his predecessors, including Euclid and Apollonius of Perga, in his Mathematical Collection (8 books; date conjectural).
..... Click the link for more information. (3d cent., geometry), and DiophantusDiophantus
, fl. A.D. 250, Greek algebraist. He pioneered in solving a type of indeterminate algebraic equation where one seeks integer values for the unknowns; work in this field is known as Diophantine analysis. Only 6 of the 13 books with which he is credited are extant.
..... Click the link for more information. (3d cent., arithmetic).
Chinese and Middle Eastern Advances
Following the decline of learning in the West after the 3d cent., the development of mathematics continued in the East. In China, Tsu Ch'ung-Chih estimated π by inscribed and circumscribed polygons, as Archimedes had done, and in India the numerals now used throughout the civilized world were invented and contributions to geometry were made by AryabhataAryabhata
, c.476–550, Hindu mathematician and astronomer. He is one of the first known to have used algebra; his writings include rules of arithmetic and of plane and spherical trigonometry, and solutions of quadratic equations.
..... Click the link for more information. and BrahmaguptaBrahmagupta
, c.598–c.660, Indian mathematician and astronomer. He was among the first to meaningfully discuss the concepts of zero and of negative numbers. He wrote in verse the Brahma-sphuta-siddhanta
..... Click the link for more information. (5th and 6th cent. A.D.). The Arabs were responsible for preserving the work of the Greeks, which they translated, commented upon, and augmented. In Baghdad, Al-KhowarizmiAl-Khowarizmi
, fl. 820, Arab mathematician of the court of Mamun in Baghdad. His treatises on Hindu arithmetic and on algebra made him famous. He is said to have given algebra its name, and the word algorithm is said to have been derived from his name.
..... Click the link for more information. (9th cent.) wrote an important work on algebra and introduced the Hindu numerals for the first time to the West, and Al-BattaniAl-Battani
, b. before 858, d. 929, Arab astronomer and mathematician. He is best known in astronomy for his improvements and corrections of the Ptolemaic tradition.
..... Click the link for more information. worked on trigonometry. In Egypt, Ibn al-HaythamIbn al-Haytham
, 965–c.1040, Arab mathematician. Ibn al-Haytham was born in Basra, but made his career in Cairo, where he supported himself copying scientific manuscripts.
..... Click the link for more information. was concerned with the solids of revolution and geometrical optics. The Persian poet Omar Khayyam wrote on algebra.
Western Developments from the Twelfth to Eighteenth Centuries
Word of the Chinese and Middle Eastern works began to reach the West in the 12th and 13th cent. One of the first important European mathematicians was Leonardo da Pisa (Leonardo FibonacciFibonacci, Leonardo
, b. c.1170, d. after 1240, Italian mathematician, known also as Leonardo da Pisa. In Liber abaci (1202, 2d ed. 1228), for centuries a standard work on algebra and arithmetic, he advocated the adoption of Arabic notation.
..... Click the link for more information. ), who wrote on arithmetic and algebra (Liber abaci, 1202) and on geometry (Practica geometriae, 1220). With the Renaissance came a great revival of interest in learning, and the invention of printin