History of math: Sumerian multiplication table (2700 BC) Cuneiform multiplication table Once people in West Asia figured out how to write down numbers, about 3500 BC, they quickly began to want to use cuneiform to [...]
Infinity: A number line is infinite in both directions. No end to the number line When we think about the number line, we can see that there's no end to it [...]
An infinite distance: stars in the sky Why do we use exponents? Some numbers are so big that it's hard to write them in the regular way. The number line [...]
A plane goes on infinitely in all directions. Just as a line is made of an infinite number of points, a plane is made of an infinite number of lines that are right [...]
History of Math: Counting tokens from Mehrgarh in Late Stone Age India Indian counting tokens and base 10 The first Indian numbers appeared in the late Stone Age, about 4000 BC. Around this time, [...]
Ancient Indian science: Mohenjo Daro (ca. 2000 BC) From the time of the Harappans to the time of the Islamic conquests, Indian scientists and mathematicians were leaders. Ancient Indian science especially stood out in mathematics and [...]
Archimedes was from Syracuse, Sicily. Here you see it with Mount Etna in the background When did Archimedes live? Archimedes was born about 287 BC, so he was a little younger [...]
Theater of Miletus, where Anaximander the mathematician lived Where was Anaximander from? Anaximander the mathematician was born about 610 BC in the Greek city of Miletus, in what is now Turkey. So [...]
