July 8 : Math 2.0 Day – The Gift of Athena

July 8th is Math 2.0 day, a day to promote the importance of math. To mark this day we will take a look at the history of math. Most people do not realize that the Greek goddess Athena was also the goddess of mathematics, one of her more unknown roles. Some of the greatest discoveries and advances in math were done by people that believed in the Greek gods, as you will soon see.

Math is not as hard as it seems, but everybody learns in different ways, and many teachers teach in a very dry and boring way that puts people off, especially when you are really young taking mandatory math classes that you are not interested in. Luckily in the age of internet if you search online you can find different ways to learn that might be more suitable for some people than normal math taught at school.

Below we have some documentaries with more info on the history of math, but we will not really talk about Archimedes in this post, because we talked about him in this blog post about Pi Day. In this post we will focus on 3 particular people important to the history of math : Euclid, Hipparchus and Diophantus. Each is considered the father of a field of math.

Euclid, Hipparchus, and Diophantus were three of the most important mathematicians of the ancient world.

Euclid

Euclid was a Greek mathematician who lived in Alexandria around 300 BC. He is best known for his book “Elements,” which is considered one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics. “Elements” is a collection of 13 books that cover a wide range of mathematical topics, including geometry, number theory, and algebra. Euclid’s work was so influential that it was used as a textbook for over 2,000 years.

Hipparchus

Hipparchus was a Greek astronomer and mathematician who lived in the second century BC. He is best known for his work on trigonometry, which he used to create the first known star catalog. Hipparchus also made significant contributions to the study of astronomy, including the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes.

Diophantus

Diophantus was a Greek mathematician who lived in Alexandria around AD 200. He is best known for his work on algebra, particularly his book “Arithmetica.” “Arithmetica” is a collection of problems giving numerical solutions of both determinate and indeterminate equations. Diophantus is considered “the father of algebra” by many mathematicians because of his contributions to number theory, mathematical equations, and the earliest known use of algebraic notation and symbolism in his works.

In conclusion, Euclid, Hipparchus, and Diophantus were three of the most important mathematicians of the ancient world. Their contributions to mathematics and astronomy have had a lasting impact on the field and continue to be studied and admired today.