Talk:Timeline of mathematics

Does anyone know when the concept of negative numbers first appeared? It should be put in the timeline somewhere. Radiant! 22:10, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The first known use and legitimization of negative numbers in mathematics is found in Brahmagupta's BrahmaSphuta-Sidd'hanta [628], an Indian mathematical text. It appears as if negative numbers evolved from a need to represent negative asset or debts. --Pranathi 02:32, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

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RE: Copyright Permissions on this and other timelines developed by Niel Brandt, the following email exchange took place:

"Niel,

I saw your timeline pages, and thought they would be really valuable for the wikipedia project (http://www.wikipedia.com). Do you have any problem with someone posting them there (and setting up links)? Wikipedia uses GNU Free Document License, so your work may be redistributed by anyone in any format.

Thanks,

David Levinson"

To which was responded

"hi,

this is fine with me. good luck!

cheers, niel"

Source of timelines is various (they have been reproduced across the web). One is http://www.gsu.edu/other/timeline.html

-- user:DavidLevinson

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Hey Axel what should be done furthermore to correct the following timeline remark, you've left off:

• 1806 - Jean-Robert Argand associates vectors with complex numbers and studies complex number operations in geometrical terms,

When I shall know what is wrong with it, I shall try to fix it. Best regards. --XJamRastafire

Wessel did the same thing 9 years earlier, so I don't see the point of repeating it. AxelBoldt 03:58 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC)

But I guess it is a good and courteous custom to mention J-R Argand's work anyway. This story regarding things in complex at their beginnings, as it seems, is not just nebulous, but also interesting and instructive. Very similar is the story of the divergence theorem and probably many, many others (e.g. the Poiseuille's law from hydrodynamics...) --XJamRastafire

I'm not a big fan of the repeated mentionings of the divergence theorem either. There are more than enough important events for the timeline; I don't think it's significant enough if someone rediscovers an already known theorem. This could be mentioned in the history section of the theorem's article, but for the timeline I think it's overkill. AxelBoldt 03:19 Feb 9, 2003 (UTC)

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Where does this information come from?

• 4500 BC - Carnac, Brittany, first use of the triple 3-4-5
• 2450 BC - Egypt, first systematic method for the approximative calculation of the circle on the basis of the Sacred Triangle 3-4-5
• 1650 BC - Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, copy of a lost scroll from around 1850 BC, a great and still widely misunderstood synopsis of early geometry and mathematics (www.seshat.ch)

AxelBoldt 01:00 Feb 16, 2003 (UTC)

I too would like to know where the "2450 BC Egypt" entry, comes from. Also to what does "calculation of the circle" refer, area?, circumference? This should be made specific, but I can't find any references to it. Paul August 04:52, Jul 21, 2004 (UTC)

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I removed this:

• 1744 - Leonhard Euler shows the existence of transcendental numbers,

because transcendental number claims it was Liouville in 1844.

I have seen some references suggesting that Euler proved that e was irrational in 1744. An interesting question is when transcendentals were first considered or defined. Chas zzz brown 08:20 Feb 20, 2003 (UTC)

Answering my own question (bad form I know); according to [1] (http://members.aol.com/jeff570/t.html),

According to Paulo Ribenboim in My Numbers, My Friends, "LEIBNIZ seems to be the first mathematician who employed the expression 'transcendental number' (1704)."

Euler used transcendental in his 1733 article in Nova Acta Eruditorum titled "Constructio aequationum quarundam differentialium quae indeterminatarum separationem non admittunt":

Now there are kinds of constructions, which can be called transcendental, which arise in solving differential equations and cannot be transformed into algebraic equations.

Cheers Chas zzz brown 03:48 Feb 21, 2003 (UTC)

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This page was hit in June by the same propagandist who mangled History of Physics. No real damage, but now all Arabs are marked "- Arab - "; shall we NPOV it by identifying the nationality of every other item?

This is silly. I think it would be best to just remove the nationalities. People who are competitive about what nationality long-dead mathematicians were shouldn't be the people making non-NPOV editorial decisions here. That information is already usually in the mathematicians' own pages. Otherwise, I'm afraid each entry will eventually be listed like: "Name/Country/Religion/Ancestry/Ethnic group/listened to Country Music, not Rap!" -- Daniel Quinlan Fri Jul 11 23:53:04 PDT 2003

Glad to hear it, because I think it's dernfoolishness myself. I'll be glad to fix it if no one else does, though I've run out of time tonight and tomorrow. Just sign me

Cautious newbie

alias Dandrake 07:05 12 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Actually, one piece of damage: Omar Khayyam identified as an Arab. How to get both Khameini and Khatami on your case: say all Muslims from the Middle East are Arabs. This item has been corrected.
Dandrake 01:56 12 Jul 2003 (UTC)

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1070 refers to "the second and third degree of quadratic equations". This doesn't seem to make any sense, as quadratic equations are second-degree. Does this refer to second- and third-degree equations, ie, quadratic and cubic equations? -- 193.203.81.129 15:24, 9 Jan 2004 (UTC)

It looks like second- or third-hand information reproduced by somebody who doesn't understand it. Why not just delete the meaningless part and wait for it to be replaced by someone who cares about and understands it? Dandrake 22:39, Jan 9, 2004 (UTC)