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Beth Biegler, age 10, of Huntsville, Alabama, for her question:

How did mathematics begin?

We know that math was taught in the schools of old Babylon. 4,000 years ago. The pupils learned numbers, addition and subtraction.. multiplication and division. They also coped with areas and circles, angles and triangles. It stands to reason that their ancestors must have gathered these skills through many generations hence the first one two three steps of math must have started before the dawn of recorded history.

In general terms, mathematics is the study of amounts and comparisons by using numbers and symbols. These sounds like a large order with may branches. And so it is. The basic branch is arithmetic; the simple one two three of counting that can go on forever. Other branches include problem solving algebra and space measuring geometry.

We have no records of the first lessons because they began before mankind could write down his doings obviously the first settled communities needed ways to count their flocks. Measure their corn and build their houses Perhaps they used pebbles and sticks to count and tally in ones. No doubt they tallied on their fingers because sooner or later they arranged their numbers in groups of fives and tens.

They invented other math skills as they needed them.  Long distances were measured in strides, shorter distances in knuckle and arm joints. Measuring their fields must have been a big problem because they had to solve the mysteries of areas and angles. These and other basic math skills were solved because they were needed in the dim forgotten past.

The next big steps were taken when scholars had time to explore beyond the imme¬diate necessities. More than 6,000 years ago, the early astronomers of Babylon invented a clever math system to chart the heavens. Their counting was based on sixties  ¬and we still use their system to cope with circles, angles and degrees. Meantime, the Egyptians learned the math skills needed to build their astounding pyramids.

These first basic skills also were mastered by the earliest civilizations of India and China. Central and South America. Often the early scholars visited and exchanged ideas with other communities. The next great advance came when the wise men of ancient Greece used these basic skills to solve what must have seemed like impossible problems.

Around 500 B.C., Pythagoras stated his famous triangle theorem, and invented what we laughingly call the new math. Around 300 B.C., Euclid wrote history's most complete basic math texts.

This golden age of mathematical scholarship dimmed during the Dark Ages However Arab scholars preserved and translated the old books    and added more skills especially in algebra. Meantime, the mathematicians of India had invented the zero to build a neater number system The Arabs learned of this and introduced the zero throughout Europe about 1 000 years ago.

 

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