Mathematics’ Evolution Through Time

Mathematics’ Evolution Through Time

            Actually, I really don’t know on what and how will I state my understanding and reflection with what we have watch a few weeks ago. My mind seems to be so clouded that I am honestly having a hard time constructing and arranging my thoughts transformed into words. There are times that I don’t understand a thing with what I’m watching since I can’t precisely hear what the so-called narrator was saying but, I am doing my best to get the gist of the movie. The movie tells about how mathematics has grown to a sophisticated subject we know today.

           Mathematics is considered to be a universal language. Our world is filled with patterns and sequences and this is one of the reasons mathematics began because we needed to find a way of making sense of such. The first sign of mathematics first emerged in Egypt particularly in the Nile River. Egyptians observed the behavior of the Nile River and analyse the relationship with the river’s behavior and some certain natural phenomena, and even used it to indicate lengths of time. They use their bodies to measure and count. The first numbers in history was called hieroglyphs wherein symbols are used to connote numbers. The problem in the number system of the Egyptians is that they don’t have place values. Comes another civilization, the Babylonians, in order to expand and run their empire, they have become masters of managing and manipulating numbers. Like Egyptians they were more concerned with practical problems. Their number system uses the power of 60 unlike the Egyptians that uses the power of 10 and unlike Egyptians; Babylonians recognized place values and recognized the value of nothingness. Greeks were next to Egyptians. Pythagoras was the one who is responsible for the properties of the right triangle or today what we known as Pythagorean theorem. Soon, it lead to the discovery of the harmonic series or music. Pythagoras’ follower, Hippasus, recognized a special character known as irrational number. Plato, is one of the most important patrons in mathematics and said that geometry is the key to unlocking the mysteries of the universe. Euclid, another mathematician, wrote the most important textbook of all time, the elements. It contains the mathematical revolution that took place in Greece. It is built on series of mathematical assumptions, called axioms. Archimedes worked with polygons and so on, as if he did mathematics to almost everything. Then, soon followed by the Romans.

            Above is the summary of the movie, I usually highlighted only the most important parts of the movie to make it short and not that wordy. What is clear, is that through time mathematics evolve and so does the need of people with regards to mathematics. I began to realize that it took so many years for mathematics to evolve into something that we are very much familiar with. It made me think that we should really be thankful that the mathematics that was introduced to us is a way better than the mathematics before. I really can’t imagine memorizing those symbols and even use them to write very huge quantities of numbers. Or even use different operations with those symbols that I can’t even understand. I’m amazed that it took so much effort to arrive with those knowledge that are now taught to us, students, in academes. I, for myself, I admit that I’m not that bad in math but I also can say that I’m not very much good with it, that’s is why I can’t really appreciate thoroughly the world of math. Ironically, mathematicians, especially before, dedicated their lives for the welfare of mathematics. I mean, what is so good with mathematics that mathematicians fell in love with it. What I forgot to comprehend is that, mathematics is everywhere. Without mathematics, then there’s a big possibility or maybe absolutely that the world we have now would not be like this. Therefore, I can say that mathematics is not just a subject most of the people could hate for, but a subject that is worth life.