For centuries mankind has recognized mathematics as the queen of the sciences. Nothing develops and disciplines the mind like mathematics. So how did the Queen of Sciences come about?
Self-determination of mathematics as a separate scientific discipline was possible only after humanity had accumulated and gathered a sufficient amount of knowledge based on facts and observations. The science of mathematics emerged in ancient Greece, but its beginnings began much earlier, with the emergence of humanity itself.
As Friedrich Engels wrote: Mathematics emerged along with human fingers, which replaced counting in the primitive people. Elementary counting of surrounding objects led to the appearance of elementary arithmetic, in other words natural numbers and oral arithmetic. Over time, there was a written account and the first arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. Man’s life was changing and becoming more complex, and he was no longer enough simple arithmetic. Measuring the number of crops or plots of land led to the appearance of fractions and operations with them. So mankind accumulated the necessary factual material, which gradually transformed into a separate science. Such processes went on at many ancient peoples, but independently and in parallel. Although it is worth noting that a major contribution to the development of mathematics was made by the Sumerians, Babylonians and ancient Egyptians. So in Babylon began to originate algebra and geometry, necessary for the calculation of areas and astronomical observations. By the way, it was to the astronomers of Babylon that trigonometry was born. Babylonians were already able to solve second-degree equations. It is worth noting that the Babylonians had their own mathematical encyclopedia written on clay tablets. The ancient Egyptians, in turn, could calculate the areas of not only flat, but also three-dimensional figures.
But, it was the ancient Greeks who combined and systematized the mathematical knowledge of different peoples. Thus emerged an independent science – mathematics. A system of development and mathematical methodology appeared. The logical construction of fundamental science begins. Elementary geometry, which took shape in Ancient Greece, was used by people for more than two thousand years, and is still relevant today. Here also appears the doctrine of measurement and numbers.
The period of development of elementary mathematics lasted until the beginning of the 17th century. Then the development of mathematics proceeds more rapidly and qualitatively. It is during this period in Western Europe that algebra begins to use algebraic notation, the concept of logarithms, the derivative, the differential, the integral, the mathematical limit appears. In the 1630s Pierre Fermat created his great (great) theorem, which took more than 350 years to prove. Mathematics became more closely related to natural science, physics, chemistry, and other exact quantities. The geometry of moving objects, including celestial bodies, was actively developing.
Humanity began to evolve rapidly, and mathematics developed accordingly. A new push in the development of the queen of sciences occurred in the 19-20 centuries. New concepts and more modern methods of analysis appeared. Einstein gave the world the theory of probability.
In our time, when literally all spheres of human life are computerized, mathematics has received a huge boost in development. It was our contemporaries who solved a number of unsolvable mathematical riddles, such as Fermat’s Grand Theorem or Poincaré’s hypothesis.