Group 2: Roman, Mayan, Indian,
Chinese, Islam and Medieval
European Mathematics
Members:
Roman Mathematics
SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS
1. Roman Numerals - The well-known
numerals originated in ancient Rome.
It uses the letters I ,V,X,L,C,D, and
M as symbols representing a specific
number. In 900 and 800 B.C, the first
usage of symbols began. The
following are the Roman numerals
and their counterparts:
I – 1, V - 5 , X - 10 , L - 50 , C – 100
, D – 500, M – 1000
2. Abacus - Another tool originating
from the Romans is the abacus. It
served as a tool for calculating. It
features counters that slide along
rods or in grooves.
Mayan Mathematics
BACKGROUND
Mayans settled down to an agricultural
lifestyle sometime around 1800 B.C.
Astronomy was considered critical in
foreshadowing the turning of seasons and
the expectations of harvest. It is believed
that Mayan mathematics was born directly
as a consequence of Mayan astronomy. They
kept track of the movements of Sun, Moon,
Venus and other observable bodies.
SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS
1. Hand Counting - Mayan math started
with the counting of fingers and then
adding toes. Therefore it is based on
20 units. One of the biggest purpose
was to represent large numbers by
only using 3 symbols.
2. Mayan Numbering System: The
Mayan number system is basically a
vigesimal number system. The use of
20 as base is also found in later
civilizations such as the Aztecs.
However, the number system of the
Mayans was a bit more complex in
that they used base 5 within the base
20.
However, the Mayans actually had
two number systems.
1st, a system that used 5 as its base
and only represented number from 1
up to 9.
2nd, a system that used 20 as its
base and was used to represent
numbers starting from 20.
Indian
Mathematics
BACKGROUND
The techniques of trigonometry,
algebra, algorithm, square root, cube
root, negative numbers, and the most
significant decimal system are
concepts which were discovered by
Indian mathematician from ancient
India and are employed worldwide
even today.
Indian geniuses have made
revolutionary changes in the world of
mathematics; let’s find who they are
and what exactly did they contribute
to the world!
SIGNIFICANT PERSONALITIES
AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS
1. Aryabhata
He was the one to discover the
value the number zero. He
gave the value of pi (π) up to
four decimals.
2. Brahmagupta
Fibonacci Identity, Sine table,
Pythagorean Triples,
Introduction of ‘0’, First
general formula for solving
quadratic equations.
3. Bhaskara
Contributed in calculus that is
applied to astronomical
problems and computations
4. Hemchandra
 Fibonacci sequence , Cadences
of length n
5. Srinivasa Ramanujan
Contributed in analytical
theory of numbers, elliptic
functions, continued fractions,
and infinite series.
6. Satyendra Nath Bose
Quantum mechanics, Bose-
Einstein statistics and the
theory of Bose-Einstein
condensate.
Chinese Mathematics
BACKGROUND
Chinese society nourished long before those
Greece and Rome. In 1400 BCE, they were
already keeping records of astronomical
events on bone fragments and already had a
positional numeration system that used 9
signs. However, with the scarcity of reliable
sources of information, the history of the
ancient orient was almost completely sealed.
Additionally, preservation of books in
Ancient Chinese times was difficult.
(There’s a story in 221 BCE, under the
Emperor Shin Huang-ti in China, when he
tried to destroy all books of learning and
nearly succeeded. Fortunately, many books
are secretly hidden, preserved and
reproduced).
SIGNIFICANT BOOKS
1. "Suan Shu Shu" or "Book on
Numbers and Computation"
(written between 202 BC and 186
BC and discovered on
December–January 1983–1984)
(It consists of 69 mathematical
problems from a variety of
sources. The problems cover
elementary arithmetic; fractions;
inverse proportion; factorization
of numbers; geometric
progressions. Each problem has a
question, an answer, followed by
a method.)
2. "Jiuzhang Suanshu" or "Nine
Chapters on the Mathematical
Arts" (discovered on 150 BC)
(It is a practical handbook of
mathematics consisting of 246
problems intended to provide
methods to be used to solve
everyday problems of
engineering, surveying, trade and
taxation.)
SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS
1. Chinese Rod Numerals - are small
bars that were used in calculation.
These are made from shapes of
counting rods. - these are a true
positional numeral system with digits
for 1-9 and blank for 0 (475 BCE to
the 16th Century). - it is written in
two positions, vertical (called Zongs)
and horizontal (called Hengs). It also
represents integers (negative and
positive numbers).
Islamic Mathematics
BACKGR0UND
The Islamic Empire, which included much
of present-day Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
southwestern India, and northern Africa and
western Europe, contributed significantly to
the development of mathematics. They
melded the mathematical developments of
ancient Greece and India. Because of the
Islamic prohibition on depicting the human
form, structures were often decorated with
elaborate geometric patterns, elevating
mathematics to the level of an art form.
Islamic artists eventually uncovered all the
2-D symmetry shapes. Islamic science and
mathematics flourished from the ninth
through the fifteenth century, owing to the
Quran's encouragement of learning. The
House of Wisdom in Baghdad, which began
translating Greek and Indian mathematical
and astronomical texts into Arabic in the
year 810, is widely credited for advancing
these fields in the Islamic world. One of the
most accomplished early Muslim
mathematicians was Muhammad Al-
Khwarizmi, a Persian who lived in the 9th
century.
The Hindu numeral system (1 through 9 and
0) was embraced by Al-most Khwarizmi
because he saw its potential to transform
Islamic (and, subsequently, Western)
mathematics. The entirety of the Islamic
world quickly embraced it, followed by
Europe. The concepts of "reduction" and
"balance" were introduced by Al-
Khwarizmi, and he gave a detailed
description of how to solve polynomial
equations up to the second degree.
To help people see the big picture, he
contributed to the development of the robust
abstract mathematical language in use today.
1. Binomial Theorem
Al-mathematical Karaji's induction proved
the binomial theorem. (x + y)2 is a binomial
that can only be added, subtracted,
multiplied, and exponentiated by positive
whole numbers. Expanding a binomial
forms Pascal's Triangle, named after 17th-
century French mathematician Blaise Pascal.
Al-Karaji had researched this triangle
centuries before Pascal in India, Persia,
China, and Italy.
2. Spherical Trigonometry
It is possible that Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi, a
Persian astronomer, physicist, and
mathematician from the 13th century, was
the first to study trigonometry as a distinct
mathematical subject from astronomy. His
work was the first comprehensive
explanation of spherical trigonometry, and it
built on that of Greek mathematicians like
Menelaus of Alexandria and Indian work on
the sine function. He also provided the first
enumeration of the six different examples of
a right triangle in spherical trigonometry.
Though the sine law for spherical triangles
had been established earlier by 10th century
Persians Abul Wafa Buzjani and Abu Nasr
Mansur, one of his main contributions to
mathematics was the formulation of the
renowned rule of sines for plane triangles,
a(sin A) = b(sin B) = c(sin C).
Medieval European
Mathematics
BACKGROUND
Much mathematics and astronomy available
in the 12th century was written in Arabic,
the European learned Arabic. By the end of
the 12th century, the best mathematics was
done in Christian Italy. During this century
there was a scale of transition of Arabic
works in Latin.
Europe had fallen into the Dark Ages, in
which science, mathematics and almost all
intellectual endeavor stagnated.
SIGNIFICANT PERSONALITIES AND
THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS
1. Boethius – one of the most
influential early medieval
philosophers. His most famous work,
The Consolation of Philosophy, was
most widely translated the
reproduced secular work from the
8th century until the end of Middle
Ages.
Boethius’ Quadrivium: is a four
subject, or arts (namely Arithmetic,
Geometry, Music and Astronomy),
taught after teaching the trivium.
2. Nicomachus of Gerasa – was an
important ancient mathematician best
known for his work, “Introduction to
Arithmetic and Manual of
Harmonics in Greek.” He was born
in Gerasa, in the Roman Province of
Syria, and was strongly influenced
by Aristotle. He was a
Neopythagorean who wrote about
the mystical properties of numbers.
Arithmetic Sequence: an arithmetic
progression (AP) or arithmetic
sequence is a sequence of numbers
such that the difference between the
consecutive terms is constant.
 Mathematics - Mathematics in the Islamic
3. Leonardo Pisano – is a better known world (8th–15th century). (n.d.).
by his nickname “Fibonacci”. He Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved
was an Italian mathematician from September 21, 2022, from
the Republic of Pisa, considered to https://www.britannica.com/science/mathem
be “the most talented western atics/Mathematics-in-the-Islamic-world-8th-
mathematician of the Middle Ages” 15th-century
The name he is commonly called,
Singh, A. (2019). 9 Indian Mathematicians
Fibonacci, was made up in 1838 by
Who Transformed The Norms Of
the Franco-Italian historian
Knowledge- Now It’s On Us. Cloud X Lab.
Guillaume Libri and is short for
Retrieved from
filius Bonacci.
https://cloudxlab.com/blog/9-indian-
mathematicians-who-transformed-the-
Fibonacci Sequence: is a series of
norms-of-knowledge-now-its-on-us/
numbers in which the next number is
calculated by adding the previous 2
numbers.

4. Nicole Oresme – also known as

Nicolas Oresme, was a significant
philosopher of the later Middle Ages.
Oresme was a determined opponent
of Astrology, which he attacked on
religious and scientific grounds. In
De proportionibus proportionum (On
Ratio of Ratios) Oresme first fixed
examined raising rational number to
rational powers before extending his
work to include irrational power. He
first developed the first proof of the
divergence (an infinite series that is
not convergent) of the harmonic
series.

REFERENCES:
Burton, D. (2011). The History of
Mathematics: An Introduction, Seventh
Edition. https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://jontall
e.web.engr.illinois.edu/uploads/298/
HistoryMath-
Burton.85.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjaxMbt96X6
AhUSp1YBHW8EC0gQFnoECC8QAQ&us
g=AOvVaw0WxsHzxjeyWEPj0wUc77M9
Hom, E. (2013). Roman Numerals:
Conversion, Meaning & Origins.
https://www.livescience.com/32052-roman-
numerals.html#:~:text=Roman%20numerals
%20originated%2C%20as%20the,essential
%20to%20communications%20and
%20trade.