User:Jack Schafer/History of mathematical notation

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The article in review discusses the history of mathematics and how mathematics has greatly advanced since being created. The article begins discussing how Ancient Egyptians first created mathematical notation with tally marks that were added and subtracted. Later the article discusses the influence of Indian and Arabic numerals and notations. In this section it discusses the works of AI-Khwarizmi which explains the fundamental method of reduction and balancing equations. And lastly the article discusses early 20th century mathematics which includes studies from many mathematical theorists working with electron particles.

The section in the article that I am improving is the Indian & Arabic numerals and notation section.

Although the origin of our present system of numerical notation is ancient, there is no doubt that it was in use among the Hindus over two thousand years ago. The algebraic notation of the Indian mathematician, Brahmagupta, was syncopated. Addition was indicated by placing the numbers side by side, subtraction by placing a dot over the subtrahend (the number to be subtracted), and division by placing the divisor below the dividend, similar to our notation but without the bar. Multiplication, evolution, and unknown quantities were represented by abbreviations of appropriate terms.[38] The Hindu–Arabic numeral system and the rules for the use of its operations, in use throughout the world today, likely evolved over the course of the first millennium AD in India and was transmitted to the west via Islamic mathematics.[39][40]

A page from al-Khwārizmī's Algebra Despite their name, Arabic numerals have roots in India. The reason for this misnomer is Europeans saw the numerals used in an Arabic book, Concerning the Hindu Art of Reckoning, by Muhammed ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi. Al-Khwārizmī wrote several important books on the Hindu–Arabic numerals and on methods for solving equations. His book On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals, written about 825, along with the work of Al-Kindi,[note 13] were instrumental in spreading Indian mathematics and Indian numerals to the West. Al-Khwarizmi did not claim the numerals as Arabic, but over several Latin translations, the fact that the numerals were Indian in origin was lost. The word algorithm is derived from the Latinization of Al-Khwārizmī's name, Algoritmi, and the word algebra from the title of one of his works, Al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī hīsāb al-ğabr wa'l-muqābala (The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing).

Islamic mathematics developed and expanded the mathematics known to Central Asian civilizations.[41] Al-Khwārizmī gave an exhaustive explanation for the algebraic solution of quadratic equations with positive roots,[42] and Al-Khwārizmī was to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake.[43] Al-Khwārizmī also discussed the fundamental method of "reduction" and "balancing", referring to the transposition of subtracted terms to the other side of an equation, that is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the equation. This is the operation which al-Khwārizmī originally described as al-jabr.[44] His algebra was also no longer concerned "with a series of problems to be resolved, but an exposition which starts with primitive terms in which the combinations must give all possible prototypes for equations, which henceforward explicitly constitute the true object of study." Al-Khwārizmī also studied an equation for its own sake and "in a generic manner, insofar as it does not simply emerge in the course of solving a problem, but is specifically called on to define an infinite class of problems."[45]

Al-Karaji, in his treatise al-Fakhri, extends the methodology to incorporate integer powers and integer roots of unknown quantities.[note 14][46] The historian of mathematics, F. Woepcke,[47] praised Al-Karaji for being "the first who introduced the theory of algebraic calculus." Also in the 10th century, Abul Wafa translated the works of Diophantus into Arabic. Ibn al-Haytham would develop analytic geometry. Al-Haytham derived the formula for the sum of the fourth powers, using a method that is readily generalizable for determining the general formula for the sum of any integral powers. Al-Haytham performed an integration in order to find the volume of a paraboloid, and was able to generalize his result for the integrals of polynomials up to the fourth degree.[note 15][48] In the late 11th century, Omar Khayyam would develop algebraic geometry, wrote Discussions of the Difficulties in Euclid,[note 16] and wrote on the general geometric solution to cubic equations. Nasir al-Din Tusi (Nasireddin) made advances in spherical trigonometry. Muslim mathematicians during this period include the addition of the decimal point notation to the Arabic numerals.

The modern Arabic numeral symbols used around the world first appeared in Islamic North Africa in the 10th century. A distinctive Western Arabic variant of the Eastern Arabic numerals began to emerge around the 10th century in the Maghreb and Al-Andalus (sometimes called ghubar numerals, though the term is not always accepted), which are the direct ancestor of the modern Arabic numerals used throughout the world.[49]

Many Greek and Arabic texts on mathematics were then translated into Latin, which led to further development of mathematics in medieval Europe. In the 12th century, scholars traveled to Spain and Sicily seeking scientific Arabic texts, including al-Khwārizmī's[note 17] and the complete text of Euclid's Elements.[note 18][50][51] One of the European books that advocated using the numerals was Liber Abaci, by Leonardo of Pisa, better known as Fibonacci. Liber Abaci is better known for the mathematical problem Fibonacci wrote in it about a population of rabbits. The growth of the population ended up being a Fibonacci sequence, where a term is the sum of the two preceding terms.

When discussing Egyptian history, the article briefly explains how Egyptian society in 2000 BCE made advances in Geometry. Egyptians influenced the decimal system and the number zero which is essential to mathematical notation that the section provides little insight too. In addition, this section does not speak on the Mesopotamian society algebra which used many geometrical terms and shapes that was essential information for future mathematicians. The image used in this section is a good choice because it is relevant and shows how Europeans discovered new advances through ancient scrolls.