Teachers Lesson Plans
Aboriginal Voices in Canadian Contemporary Art
-25000
25000 BCE Early geometric designs used and found in archaeological references
-5000
5000 BCE Egyptians use decimals and geometry for surveying, engineering, agriculture
-3400
3400 BCE Symbols used for number, although only straight lines, in Egypt
-2000
2000 BCE Babylonians correctly solve problems with rectangular right prisms and right cylinders.
-1850
1850 BCE Babylonians document what is known as Pythagorean Theorem.
-700
700 BCE Indian Sulbasutras created indicating extensive geometric and astronomical understanding used to construct altars for the Veda people
-575
575 BCE Thales brings Babylonian mathematics to Greece - using geometry to calculate the height of pyramids, distance of ships
-530
530 BCE Pythagoras teaches and creates a society of learning and religious secrecy, probably the first person to prove Pythagorean Theorem.
-300
300 BCE Euclid presents systematic development of geometry in The Elements.
-250
250 BCE Archimedes presents formulae for calculating volume of sphere and cylinder, with an approximation of π.
628
Brahmagupta uses zero and negative numbers in written work
810
Al-Khwarizmi writes work using arithmetic, geography, and astronomy and first work is the source of the word algebra (from al-jabr).
1202
Fibonacci writes work that introduces famous sequence of numbers called Fibonacci sequence.
1303
Zhu Shijie indicates Chinese understanding of what is now known as Pascal's Triangles and sum of sequences.
1482
First mathematics book Euclid's Elements printed.
1543
Copernicus publishes work that the Sun, not the Earth, is the centre of the Universe
1610
Galileo publishes discoveries made with telescopes.
1615
Kepler uses elliptical orbits to document conic sections, beginning early introduction to Calculus
1626
First use of trigonometric abbreviations (sin, tan, cos) in writing by Girard.
1637
Descartes formally applies algebra to geometry, beginning branch now called Cartesian Geometry.
1654
Fermat and Pascal exchange letters to work out formal laws for chance and probability.
1673
Leibniz demonstrates a calculating machine which can multiply, divide, and extract roots.
1678
Newton presents theories of motion, gravity, and mechanics.
1706
The Greek letter π used to represent the ratio of circumference to its diameter.
1713
Bernoulli publishes work documenting probability models and exponential series.
1764
Bayes presents new ideas about chance, now considered Bayesian Theory of Probability.
1823
Babbage begins construction of a large machine (engine), to calculate logarithmic and trigonometric functions.
1858
Möbius presents a strip of paper with only one side and edge - now known as the Möbius strip.
1881
Venn diagrams presented as visual in group theory.
1900
Hilbert poses famous problem list as a challenge to the next century.
1915
Einstein offers General Theory of Relativity.
1920
Sierpinski works on Set Theory and presents closed curve leading to fractals.
1936
Turing describes theoretical machine (Turing machine) leading to the modern computer.
1975
Mandelbrot describes the theory of fractals, more fully described in 1982.