Mathematics

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This article is about the field of study. For other uses, see Mathematics
(disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation).

Greek mathematician Euclid (holding calipers), 3rd century BC, as imagined by Raphael in this detail from The
School of Athens (1509–1511)[a]

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Mathematics (from Greek: μάθημα, máthēma, 'knowledge, study, learning') includes

the study of such topics as quantity (number theory),[1] structure (algebra),
[2]
 space (geometry),[1] and change (analysis).[3][4][5] It has no generally accepted definition.[6]
[7]

Mathematicians seek and use patterns[8][9] to formulate new conjectures; they resolve

the truth or falsity of such by mathematical proof. When mathematical structures are
good models of real phenomena, mathematical reasoning can be used to provide
insight or predictions about nature. Through the use of abstraction and logic,
mathematics developed from counting, calculation, measurement, and the systematic
study of the shapes and motions of physical objects. Practical mathematics has been a
human activity from as far back as written records exist. The research required to solve
mathematical problems can take years or even centuries of sustained inquiry.
Rigorous arguments first appeared in Greek mathematics, most notably
in Euclid's Elements.[10] Since the pioneering work of Giuseppe Peano (1858–
1932), David Hilbert (1862–1943), and others on axiomatic systems in the late
19th century, it has become customary to view mathematical research as establishing
truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions.
Mathematics developed at a relatively slow pace until the Renaissance, when
mathematical innovations interacting with new scientific discoveries led to a rapid
increase in the rate of mathematical discovery that has continued to the present day. [11]
Mathematics is essential in many fields, including natural
science, engineering, medicine, finance, and the social sciences. Applied
mathematics has led to entirely new mathematical disciplines, such
as statistics and game theory. Mathematicians engage in pure
mathematics (mathematics for its own sake) without having any application in mind, but
practical applications for what began as pure mathematics are often discovered later. [12][13]
 Contents

 1History

o 1.1Etymology

 2Definitions of mathematics

o 2.1Three leading types

o 2.2Mathematics as science

 3Inspiration, pure and applied mathematics, and aesthetics

 4Notation, language, and rigor

 5Fields of mathematics

o 5.1Foundations and philosophy

o 5.2Pure mathematics

o 5.3Applied mathematics

 6Mathematical awards

 7See also

 8Notes

 9References

 10Bibliography

 11Further reading

History
Main article: History of mathematics

The history of mathematics can be seen as an ever-increasing series of abstractions.

The first abstraction, which is shared by many animals, [14] was probably that of numbers:
the realization that a collection of two apples and a collection of two oranges (for
example) have something in common, namely the quantity of their members.
As evidenced by tallies found on bone, in addition to recognizing how to count physical
objects, prehistoric peoples may have also recognized how to count abstract quantities,
like time—days, seasons, or years.[15][16]
The Babylonian mathematical tablet Plimpton 322, dated to 1800 BC.

Evidence for more complex mathematics does not appear until around 3000 BC, when
the Babylonians and Egyptians began using arithmetic, algebra and geometry for
taxation and other financial calculations, for building and construction, and
for astronomy.[17] The oldest mathematical texts from Mesopotamia and Egypt are from
2000 to 1800 BC.[18] Many early texts mention Pythagorean triples and so, by inference,
the Pythagorean theorem seems to be the most ancient and widespread mathematical
development after basic arithmetic and geometry. [19] It is in Babylonian
mathematics that elementary
arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) first appear in the
archaeological record. The Babylonians also possessed a place-value system and used
a sexagesimal numeral system [19] which is still in use today for measuring angles and
time.[20]

Archimedes used the method of exhaustion to approximate the value of pi.

Beginning in the 6th century BC with the Pythagoreans, with Greek

mathematics the Ancient Greeks began a systematic study of mathematics as a subject
in its own right.[21] Around 300 BC, Euclid introduced the axiomatic method still used in
mathematics today, consisting of definition, axiom, theorem, and proof. His
book, Elements, is widely considered the most successful and influential textbook of all
time.[22] The greatest mathematician of antiquity is often held to be Archimedes (c. 287–
212 BC) of Syracuse.[23] He developed formulas for calculating the surface area and
volume of solids of revolution and used the method of exhaustion to calculate
the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, in a
manner not too dissimilar from modern calculus.[24] Other notable achievements of Greek
mathematics are conic sections (Apollonius of Perga, 3rd century BC),
[25]
 trigonometry (Hipparchus of Nicaea, 2nd century BC),[26] and the beginnings of algebra
(Diophantus, 3rd century AD).[27]
The numerals used in the Bakhshali manuscript, dated between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD.

The Hindu–Arabic numeral system and the rules for the use of its operations, in use
throughout the world today, evolved over the course of the first millennium AD
in India and were transmitted to the Western world via Islamic mathematics.[28] Other
notable developments of Indian mathematics include the modern definition and
approximation of sine and cosine,[28] and an early form of infinite series.
A page from al-Khwārizmī's Algebra

During the Golden Age of Islam, especially during the 9th and 10th centuries,
mathematics saw many important innovations building on Greek mathematics. The
most notable achievement of Islamic mathematics was the development of algebra.
Other achievements of the Islamic period include advances in spherical
trigonometry and the addition of the decimal point to the Arabic numeral system.[29]
[30]
 Many notable mathematicians from this period were Persian, such as Al-
Khwarismi, Omar Khayyam and Sharaf al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī.
During the early modern period, mathematics began to develop at an accelerating pace
in Western Europe. The development of calculus by Newton and Leibniz in the 17th
century revolutionized mathematics.[31] Leonhard Euler was the most notable
mathematician of the 18th century, contributing numerous theorems and discoveries.
[32]
 Perhaps the foremost mathematician of the 19th century was the German
mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss,[33] who made numerous contributions to fields such
as algebra, analysis, differential geometry, matrix theory, number theory, and statistics.
In the early 20th century, Kurt Gödel transformed mathematics by publishing
his incompleteness theorems, which show in part that any consistent axiomatic system
—if powerful enough to describe arithmetic—will contain true propositions that cannot
be proved.[34]
Mathematics has since been greatly extended, and there has been a fruitful interaction
between mathematics and science, to the benefit of both. Mathematical discoveries
continue to be made today. According to Mikhail B. Sevryuk, in the January 2006 issue
of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, "The number of papers and books
included in the Mathematical Reviews database since 1940 (the first year of operation
of MR) is now more than 1.9 million, and more than 75 thousand items are added to the
datab