Greek Mathematical Developement
Greek Mathematical Development
Michael Morton
Baker College
Ancient knowledge of the sciences was often wrong and wholly unsatisfactory by modern standards. However not all of the knowledge of the more learned peoples of the past was false. In fact without people like Euclid or Plato we may not have been as advanced in this age as we are. Mathematics is an adventure in ideas. Within the history of mathematics, one finds the ideas and lives of some of the most brilliant people in the history of mankind’s ' populace upon Earth.
The period of Greek Mathematics in which some very significant discoveries were made was from 600 B.C.E to about 300 B.C.E. (Allen, 1997, para. 2). For the earliest period of Greek mathematics, there are few primary sources of information. We are therefore forced to rely extensively on the Euclidean Summary of Proclus. This contains an outline of the development of Greek geometry from early times until Euclid (Allen, 1997).
Thales is often considered to be one of the first Greek mathematicians. The proposition known as the “Theorem of Thales” states, “The diameter of a circle always subtends a right angle to any point on the circle” (Thomas, 1991, p. 119). There are few primary sources that are able to describe early Greek Mathematics, hence the reliance on Proclus, but it is Thales who was accredited with the first proofs of this and therefore he is still very significant. These discoveries, along with 4 others that have been rumored to be proven by Thales, were the first rationally organized proofs in Geometry (Allen, 1997, para. 5). Whether it was Thales or not who put this in a logical structure or if it was added by other Greeks up to two centuries later is still up for debate. This is still however a significant start to the development of Greek Mathematics and Geometry.
Pythagoras was perhaps the most significant early mathematician in the development of Greek mathematics (O’Connor, Robertson, n.d., para. 3). It is however
Michael Morton
Baker College
Ancient knowledge of the sciences was often wrong and wholly unsatisfactory by modern standards. However not all of the knowledge of the more learned peoples of the past was false. In fact without people like Euclid or Plato we may not have been as advanced in this age as we are. Mathematics is an adventure in ideas. Within the history of mathematics, one finds the ideas and lives of some of the most brilliant people in the history of mankind’s ' populace upon Earth.
The period of Greek Mathematics in which some very significant discoveries were made was from 600 B.C.E to about 300 B.C.E. (Allen, 1997, para. 2). For the earliest period of Greek mathematics, there are few primary sources of information. We are therefore forced to rely extensively on the Euclidean Summary of Proclus. This contains an outline of the development of Greek geometry from early times until Euclid (Allen, 1997).
Thales is often considered to be one of the first Greek mathematicians. The proposition known as the “Theorem of Thales” states, “The diameter of a circle always subtends a right angle to any point on the circle” (Thomas, 1991, p. 119). There are few primary sources that are able to describe early Greek Mathematics, hence the reliance on Proclus, but it is Thales who was accredited with the first proofs of this and therefore he is still very significant. These discoveries, along with 4 others that have been rumored to be proven by Thales, were the first rationally organized proofs in Geometry (Allen, 1997, para. 5). Whether it was Thales or not who put this in a logical structure or if it was added by other Greeks up to two centuries later is still up for debate. This is still however a significant start to the development of Greek Mathematics and Geometry.
Pythagoras was perhaps the most significant early mathematician in the development of Greek mathematics (O’Connor, Robertson, n.d., para. 3). It is however
References: Picture #1 Retrieved from http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-130087/Thales-of-Miletus. Picture #2 Retrieved from http://pythagoreeers.seebyseeing.net/. Allen, D. (1997). The origins of Greek mathematics. Retrieved from http://www.math.tamu. edu/~dallen/history/greekorg/greekorg.html. Kishlansky, M., Geary, P., O’Brien, P. (2010). Civilization in the West. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Longman. O’Connor, J., Robertson, E. (n.d.). Pythagoras. School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland. Retrieved from http://phoenicia.org/pythagoras.html. Thomas, H. (1991). History of Greek mathematics. Oxford University Press. Vol. 2. Retrieved from http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofgreekma029268mbp#page/n9/mode/2up.