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Tobias Dantzig's book "Number - the language of science" is the best book I've read on the history of mathematics - and I've read a few. Here are some interesting facts from this book: #mathreads -->
1. In many primitive languages the counting words up to four, are the same...
1. In many primitive languages the counting words up to four, are the same...
...words as the ones given for the four fingers.
2. Theword ”tally” comes from talea (cutting, compare: cutting lines in wood) och “calculate”from calcul = pebble.
2. Theword ”tally” comes from talea (cutting, compare: cutting lines in wood) och “calculate”from calcul = pebble.
3. The invention of the decimal system meant that calculating went from being something done by specialists, to being something done by the average man.
4. The numerals assumed a stable form with the emergence of the printing press.
”In the history of mathematics, the ”how” always preceded the ”why”, the technique of the subject preceded its philosophy.” p. 62
Viète was the first to invent letters to denote constants and unknowns. This was a huge advance of algebra since it meant one could go from talking about single expressions, like 2x + 3, to talking about all such expressions, ax + b.
It was Thomas Harroit who in 1631 introduced the idea to write equations in the form f(x) = 0.
About the complex plane: ”The discovery of this concrete interpretation, gave the phantom beings of Bombelli flesh and blood. It took the imaginary out of the complex, and put an image in its place.” #historyofmathematics
