Who did the basic works of math?

[PeterBushMan]

1) The most basic works:

+ - X /

counting, 1, 2,3 4...10, 100, 1000......

units, such as inch, feet, meter,  hours, day, month.

So we have to say people in Middle East and India did most of it.

2) I do not think Chinese did any, because Chinese "invented" writing very late.

-Middle Easterners invented writing 5000 years ago.

-Europeans invented  a full set of writing  symbols  7000 years ago -- Vinča Script.
Vinča symbols,  Wikipedia

-Chinese invented writing  3500 years ago.
Oracle bone, Wikipedia

Chinese copied another's writing symbols.

.

 

[Genady]

2 hours ago, PeterBushMan said:

1) The most basic works:

+ - X /

counting, 1, 2,3 4...10, 100, 1000......

units, such as inch, feet, meter,  hours, day, month.

So we have to say people in Middle East and India did most of it.

2) I do not think Chinese did any, because Chinese "invented" writing very late.

-Middle Easterners invented writing 5000 years ago.

-Europeans invented  a full set of writing  symbols  7000 years ago -- Vinča Script.
Vinča symbols,  Wikipedia

-Chinese invented writing  3500 years ago.
Oracle bone, Wikipedia

Chinese copied another's writing symbols.

.

 

Chinese didn't need writing earlier because they have a superior memory. They started using it later when they decided to deal with others who could not remember very well.

[Endy0816]

A mix of cultures were involved.

Numbers can be represented and operations done with just stones in sand though. Mathematics could easily predate writing.

[Phi for All]

The Lebombo Bone was found in Africa and is over 43,000 years old. It has 29 notches carved into it that are thought to have been used to count lunar phases. Whatever it was used for, it's clear it was measuring a count of something, basic math. 

The Ishango Bone was also found in Africa, and is about 20,000 years old. It's believed to be a tally stick.

7 hours ago, PeterBushMan said:

2) I do not think Chinese did any, because Chinese "invented" writing very late.

 This generalization is offensive both racially and reasonably. You think absolutely no person from China had anything to do with the advancement of mathematics throughout history?! Why "think" about it when you can do some meaningful research about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_mathematics

Quote

Mathematics in China emerged independently by the 11th century BCE.[1] The Chinese independently developed a real number system that includes significantly large and negative numbers, more than one numeral system (base 2 and base 10), algebra, geometry, number theory and trigonometry.

 

[Trurl]

I saw a debate once. I thought it was here on SFN. Was math created or discovered?

Is math created to explain the world or did it always exist and we happened to notice it?

Math is a language understood by everyone. I wonder how such advanced buildings were constructed before history was recorded. I don’t think anyone can explain were it came from. My question is how can you be mathematically advanced and not be technologically advanced?

[Genady]

7 minutes ago, Trurl said:

how can you be mathematically advanced and not be technologically advanced?

Why is it a problem?

[Phi for All]

46 minutes ago, Trurl said:

My question is how can you be mathematically advanced and not be technologically advanced?

The steam turbine was invented around the 1st century AD, but the technology to make it do work didn't come along until centuries later. We know that a Dyson Sphere is a physical possibility, but we don't yet have the technology to pull it off.

[Trurl]

I know we have physics and still can’t travel the speed of light. But aren’t engineers focused on mathematics in training?

I know math is a lot of thinking and building is more tangible. But how do you build incorporating mathematical principles and not discover them.

Today we take the math as something your taught. But when written word isn’t developed how do you share the law of sines?

Math is a language. But it can also tell time. Could it be a civilization that was mathematically advanced was technologically advanced? And what type of math a civilization has produced will determine the future of that society’s technology?

I think that is why everyone in the forum likes math. And we talk about it in spare time. We are looking to build the society through math.