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their kingdom was their literature and theatre which Figure 1. Ancient Greece
known for their sophisticated sculpture and architecture. Moreover, Greek culture influenced the
Roman Empire and many other civilizations, and it continues to influence modern cultures today.
The history of the great philosophers were built on the idea that the pursuit of knowledge was
beautiful, and rivaled the pursuit of conquering other civilizations with their great armies. One of
the key points of Ancient Greek philosophy was the role of reason and inquiry. It emphasized logic
and championed the idea of impartial, rational observation of the natural world (Hornblower,
2019).
Ancient Greek civilization, the period following Mycenaean civilization, which ended
about 1200 BCE, to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BCE. It was a period of political,
philosophical, artistic, and scientific achievements that formed a legacy with unparalleled
Greece is located at the southeast end of Europe and it is the southernmost country of the
she is part of this region. In the larger sense, Greece is considered also a part of Western Europe.
The Minoan culture of Crete and the Cycladic culture of the Aegean islands were the first advanced
cultures that settled in geographic Europe. Early Helladic civilization (Mycenaean) is widely
considered to be the first advanced civilization of Europe since eventually developed into the
Classical Greek culture. Greece consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into
the sea at the southern end of the Balkans, ending at the Peloponnese peninsula (separated from
the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth) and strategically located at the crossroads of
Europe, Asia, and Africa. Due to its highly indented coastline and numerous islands, Greece has
the 11th longest coastline in the world. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains or hills,
making the country one of the most mountainous in Europe. Mount Olympus, the mythical abode
of the Greek Gods, which is also considered to be the highest in the country (Hellenic Statistical
Authority, 2013).
foundation that Ancient Roman society was originally built on. As it grew more powerful and
expanded all throughout the world, Rome became one of the most urbanized societies in the pre-
industrial world. At the height of the glory of the Roman empire, Rome was at the time probably
the largest city on the planet with more than a million inhabitants. Apart from the empire, it had a
handful of other cities with several hundred thousands living there, and many other urban
settlements of equal wealth At the height of its empire, Rome was probably the largest city on the
planet, with more than a million inhabitants. The empire had a handful of other cities with several
hundred thousand inhabitants, and many other large and wealthy urban settlements. These cities
had some features which would have looked very familiar to us: high rise apartment blocks,
overcrowded slums, busy streets, plazas, imposing public administrative buildings, and so on.
(Anonymous, 2014).
B. Numeration System
scientific culture. The role of reason and inquiry was a key point in Ancient Greek Philosophy and
paved the way for great thinkers like Plato, Hippocrates and specifically mathematicians such as
Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes who we can owe our basic mathematic ideas to. As they
developed ideas regarding geometry and the concept of mathematical proofs. As their influence
began to spread the Greeks developed strategies to adopt useful elements of knowledge from the
countries and civilizations they conquered. Their mathematics were adopted from the Babylonians
and Egyptians who were also master craftsmen because of the mathematics they employed. By the
Hellenistic period and onwards, Greek civilization would make one of the most dramatic and
Most Greek math was based on geometry, but the ancient Greeks developed their own
numeral system known as Attic or Hierodianic numerals which were already fully developed by
450 BCE, and already in regular use by the 7th Century BCE. It was a base 10 system similar to
the earlier Egyptian one (and even more similar to the later Roman system), with symbols for 1,
5, 10, 50, 100, 500 and 1,000 repeated as many times needed to represent the desired number.
Addition was done by totalling separately the symbols (1s, 10s, 100s, etc) in the numbers to be
added, and multiplication was a laborious process based on successive doublings (division was
mathematicians worthy of note emerged at this juncture. This is partly due to the fact that Romans
had no use for pure mathematics, but only used math for practicality. Roman numerals are widely
known today, and were the dominant system of numbers for trade purposes and for administration
and was utilized for the better part of a millennium. It was decimal (base 10) system but not directly
positional, and did not include a zero, so that, for arithmetic and mathematical purposes, it was a
clumsy and inefficient system. It was based on letters of the Roman alphabet - I, V, X, L, C, D and
C. Contribution to Mathematics
result of his great work. He is usually considered to have been the first to lay down
guidelines for the abstract development of geometry, although what we know of his work
(such as on similar and right triangles) now seems quite basic compared to what we know
now.
The intercept theorem, also known as Thales' theorem or basic proportionality theorem, is
an important theorem in elementary geometry about the ratios of various line segments that
are created if two intersecting lines are intercepted by a pair of parallels (Ostermann
&Wanner, 2012).
Finally, one of the most important contributions of Greek civilization to the field
three sides of a right triangle. It states that the area of the square whose side is the
hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares
on the other two sides. This theorem can be written as an equation relating the lengths of
where c represents the length of the hypotenuse and a and b the lengths of the triangle's
other two sides. Although the use of the theorem predates Pythagoras, it is him who has
been credited for proving the theorem. This theorem is considered to be a basis for
trigonometry but also used to connect geometry and algebra. Its relevance to the present
day is widely felt, some of its real life uses include helping people connect the length of a
diagonal which is useful in architecture, construction, navigation and surveying of a map
for calculating numerical distances, and laying out square angles (Willis, 2017).
D. Mathematicians
developed was widely used before him he was the one that
proved the theorem. Although one of the greatest contributions Figure 6. Pythagoras
of man to the field of mathematics can be attributed to this great man whose knowledge and
however it is not considered to be an annual event; it only occurs when the total of the squares of
the first two digits is equal to the square of the last digit in a date (8² + 15² = 17²). Pythagoras was
a philosopher, mystic, and mathematician who was born around 570 BCE in Samos, Ionia, in what
is now Greece. He established a secret society in Croton with himself and a number of disciples
who explored the idea that the salvation of the human soul could be done through mathematical
principles. He and his students believed that every relationship was somehow related to numbers,
and that in order to better understand the order of the universe and his place in it man had to study
mathematics. Maybe one fault in Pythagoras’ life was that he did not write down any of his own
beliefs and contributions, therefore it is hard to identify whether or not his contributions to math
were of his own doing or that of his followers. Nevertheless there is little to no doubt that his ideas
have helped shape mathematics years after his death (Mastin, 2010; Willis, 2017).
Other notable mathematicians, I will further mention here. Euclid, was also known as
Euclid of Alexandria and referred as the father of geometry deduced the Euclidean geometry. The
Figure 7. Euclid
numbers. He was also one of the first to apply mathematics to Figure 8. Archimedes
physical phenomena, founding hydrostatics and statics, including an explanation of the principle
Thales of Miletus, was the first individual to whom a mathematical discovery was
attributed. He’s best known for his work in calculating the heights of pyramids and the distance of
the ships from the shore using geometry. Lastly, Aristotle had a diverse knowledge over various
areas including mathematics, geology, physics, metaphysics, biology, medicine and psychology.
He was a pupil of Plato therefore it’s not a surprise that he had a vast knowledge and made
contributions towards Platonism. Tutored Alexander the Great and established a library which
E. Important Events
In 450 BCE, Greeks began to use written numerals. Also at this time Greek were
One of the most famous is this: The fleeing and slower runner can never be overtaken by
the faster, pursuer because the faster must first reach the point where the slower is at a that
time, but by then the slower will be some distance ahead. Other paradoxes made the same
or apposite points, but, in fact, mathematical analysis shows that infinite aggregates and
the nature of the continuum are not self-contradictory but only counter to intuition. Since
the Greeks were known to have contributed greatly to the field of logic and reasoning it is
The formation of Greek city states began with the Mycenaean civilization. By 500
BC, many more civilizations would later form around the area in Greece. These city states
are later going to be relevant
the war.
and Aristotle made their home. On the adverse side, the military prowess of the Greeks
continued to thrive in the city of Sparta where the warriors were feared all throughout the
The first “date” in Greek history is 776 BCE, the year of the first Olympic Games.
The ancient games were originally set to be a religious festival, held in honour of Zeus, the
king of the gods. There were no gold, silver and bronze medals, only later on that events
such as a footrace, a javelin contest, and wrestling matches were added. The Olympic
said that even the demi-god Heracles or Hercules was a part of these games.
The unification of the Greek population began when the formation of the polis
started. The name given to polis formation by the Greeks themselves was synoikismos,
literally a “gathering together.” Synoikismos could take one or both of two forms—it could
unification that allowed the population to continue living in a dispersed way. A polis was
the typical structure of a community in the ancient Greek world. A polis consisted of an
urban centre, often fortified and with a sacred centre built on a natural acropolis or harbour,
O'Connor, J.J.; Robertson, E.F. (February 1996). "A history of calculus". University of St
Andrews.
Ostermann, Alexander; Wanner, Gerhard (2012). Geometry by Its History. Springer. pp. 3–7.
ISBN 978-3-642-29163-0. (online copy, p. 3, at Google Books)
Willis, P. (2017). Notable Contributions Made by Pythagoras to Know on Pythagorean Theorem
Day. Study.com website. Retrieved from https://study.com/blog/notable-contributions-
made-by-pythagoras-to-know-on-pythagorean-theorem-day.html on July 25, 2019