MATHEMATICS

OF ANCIENT
GREECE
ARGUELLES, MERVIN
GAVINA, JOFFER CRIS
REVIEW!
 LEARNING
At the end of the discussion, the students will be able to:

OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the Numerical System of Ancient Greece;
2. perform mathematical operations by applying the symbols and systems
from the Numerical System of Ancient Greece; and
3. demonstrate appreciation and respect for the contributions and
achievements of ancient Greece in Mathematics.
ACTIVITY
TIME!
 ACTIVITY: TIME
TRAVEL
Direction: identify the events portrayed
in the pictures shown in the
presentation, and answer the following
questions presented after.
WHAT EVENT HAVE YOU
OBSERVED ABOUT THE
PICTURE?
 IF YOU WERE GIVEN A
CHANCE TO TRAVEL BACK
IN TIME, AT WHAT TIME
WOULD YOU WANT TO GO
BACK AND WHY?
 OVERVIEW OF
ANCIENT GREEK
MATHEMATICS &
EARLY PHILOSOPHY
 THE GREEK
Ancient Greek civilization
EMPIRE
generally accepted to date from
around 800 BC. Primarily centered
on the Aegean Sea (between
modern-day Greece and Turkey)
containing hundreds of islands and
loosely affiliated city-states

SOURCE:HTTPS://WWW.THECOLLECTOR.COM/WHERE-WAS-ANCIENT-GREECE-LOCATED/
THE GREEK EMPIRE
• Many wars between city-states other empires (e.g.
Persians).
• By 500 BC covered much of modern Greece, the
Aegean and southern Italy. As a trading/seafaring
culture, built/captured city-states (colonies/trading-
outposts)all around the north and east coast of the
Mediterranean from Spain round the Black Sea and
Anatolia (modern Turkey) to Egypt.
 THE GREEK
EMPIRE
• Alexander the Great (356–323 BC)
extended empire around the eastern
Mediterranean inland capturing mainland
Egypt and then east to western India and
Babylon where he died.
 THE GREEK
• Eventually EMPIRE
becomes part of the Roman
Empire c.146 BC though Romans left
Greek largely essentially intact apart
from crushing several rebellions.

(e.g., sky = man, earth = woman)

 GREEK
MATHEMATICS
• By 600 BC, philosophers were
attempting to describe such phenomena
in terms of natural causes rather than
being simply the whim of the gods.
 GREEK
• ForMATHEMATICS
example, matter was composed of the
‘four elements’ (fire, earth, water, air). While
the Greeks certainly used mathematics for
practical purposes, philosophers began to
idealize logic and were unhappy with
approximations.
 GREEK
•
MATHEMATICS
That led to the development of
axiomatics, theorems, and proofs,
concepts for which there is scant
pre-Greek evidence.
MATHEMATICS
• comes from the Greek word mathematos (µαθήµατoς),
meaning knowledge or learning

GEOMETRY
• literally means earth-measure. Gi (γη) dates from pre-5th
century BC, meaning land, earth or soil. Capitalized (Γη) it
could refer to the Earth (as a goddess).
METRON
• (µέτρoν) was a weight or measure, a dimension (length,
width, etc.), or the metre (rhythm) in music.

THEOREM
• comes from theoreo (θεώρέω), meaning ‘I contemplate,’ or
‘consider.’ In a mathematical context, this becomes
theorema (θεώρηµα), a proposition to be proved.
ORIGINS OF GREEK
MATHEMATICS
 ORIGINS OF GREEK
• As theMATHEMATICS
Greek empire began to spread its
sphere of influence into Asia Minor,
Mesopotamia, and beyond, the Greeks
were smart enough to adopt and adapt
useful elements from the societies they
conquered.
ANCIENT GREEK
NUMERAL SYSTEM
• known as Attic or Herodianic numerals,
was fully developed by about 450 BCE,
and in regular use possibly as early as the
7th Century BCE.
 ENUMERAT
ION
The Greeks had two primary forms of enumeration, both
dating from around 800–500 BC.
ATTIC GREEK

SOURCEHTTPS://WWW.OMNIGLOT.COM/WRITING/GREEK.HTM:

• Attica = Athens
• strokes were used for 1–4 and larger numerals used the first letter
of the words for 5, 10, 100, 1000 and 10000
ATTIC GREEK
• Πεντε (pente) is Greek for five, whence Π denotes the number
5.
• Δεκα (deca) means ten, so Δ was 10.
• Η (hekaton), Χ - χῑ́λιοι (khī́lioi, “thousand”) (khilias) and Μ
(myrion/myriad) denoted 100, 1000 and 10000 respectively.
• Combinations produced larger numbers, similar to Roman
numerals, e.g., ΧΗΗΠ|| = 1207.
IONIC GREEK
• (Ionia = middle of Anatolian coast)
• numerals used the Greek alphabet, an approach they may well
have copied from the Egyptian hieratic method.
• larger numbers used a left subscript (,) to denote thousands
and/or Μ (with superscripts) for 10000, as in Attic Greek.
GREEK
ALPHABET
IONIC GREEK
IONIC GREEK
• For example, 35298 = ,λ,εσϟη = γ M,εσϟη
• The ancient Greek alphabet included three
archaic symbols ϛ, ϟ, ϡ (stigma, qoppa,
sampi).
IONIC GREEK
• Eventually, a bar was placed over numbers to distinguish them
from words (e.g. ξθ = 89). Modern practice is to place an extra
superscript (keraia) at the end of a number: thus 35298 =
͵λ͵εσϟηʹ.
• The Greeks also used Egyptian fractions, denoting reciprocals
with accents: e.g. θ´ = 1 9 .
• The use of Egyptian fractions persisted in Europe into the
middle ages. Both systems were fine for record-keeping but
terrible for calculations!
IONIC GREEK
• Later Greek mathematicians, adapted the Babylonian
sexagesimal system for calculation purposes, helping cement
the use of degrees in astronomy and navigation.
 CONTRIBUTIONS
AND
ACHIEVEMENTS OF
THE GREEKS
THALES OF MILETUS (624
BCThales
• - 546 BC)
was one of the first people known to state
abstract general principles. As a trader based in
Miletus, a city-state in Anatolia, he travelled widely
and was likely exposed to mathematical ideas from all
around the Mediterranean.
• One of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece
• He lived on the Ionian coast of Asian Minor in the first
half of the 6th Century BCE.
THALES OF MILETUS (624
BC
• He-was
546the oneBC)
who established the Thales Theorem or Intercept
Theorem.
• Here are some statements, at least partly attributed to Thales:
• The angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal.
• Any circle is bisected by its diameter.
• A triangle inscribed in a semi-circle is right-angled (still known
as Thales’ Theorem).
THALES THEOREM
PYTHAGORAS (572–497 BC)
• Like Thales, Pythagoras traveled widely, eventually settling
in Croton (southeast Italy), where he founded a school
lasting 100 years after his death. It is believed that Plato
learned much of his mathematics from a Pythagorean
named Archytas.
• He is the great mathematician who is most prominently
known for the Pythagorean Theorem.
PYTHAGORAS (572–497 BC)
Contributions and Achievements:
• Pythagorean Tetractys
PYTHAGORAS (572–497 BC)
Contributions and Achievements:
• Pythagorean Theorem
PLATO
• The mathematician is perhaps best known for his
identification of 5 regular symmetrical 3-dimensional
shapes, which he maintained were the basis for the whole
universe, and which have become known as the Platonic
Solids
PLATONIC SOLIDS
EUCLID
• Father of geometry deduced Euclidean
geometry.
• Wrote “Stoicheion” or “Elements”
• The 5 Postulates
EUCLID’S POSTULATES (1-5)
1. A straight line segment can be drawn joining any two
points.
EUCLID’S POSTULATES (1-5)
2. Any straight line segment can be extended
indefinitely in a straight line.
EUCLID’S POSTULATES (1-5)
3. Given any straight line segment, a circle can be drawn
having the segment as radius and one endpoint as center.
EUCLID’S POSTULATES (1-5)
4. All Right Angles are congruent.
EUCLID’S POSTULATES (1-5)
5. If two lines are drawn that intersect a third in such a way that the
sum of the inner angles on one side is less than two Right Angles, then
the two lines inevitably must intersect each other on that side if they
are extended far enough.

Also known as the

Parallel Postulate.
ARCHIMEDES (287–212 BC)
• His true love was pure mathematics, and
the discovery in 1906 of previously
unknown works, referred to as the
"Archimedes Palimpsest“
• Greatest mathematician of antiquity
• “Method of Exhaustion”
DIOPHANTUS OF
ALEXANDRIA
• “The Father of Polynomials”
• “Arithmetica”
• Introduced symbolism into Algebra.
ACTIVITY
TIME!
 ACTIVITY: NUMBER
CONVERSION
THE CLASS WILL BE DIVIDED INTO 2 GROUPS. EACH GROUP SHALL
HAVE 10 MINUTES TO CONVERT THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS INTO
ANCIENT GREEK HERODIANIC NUMERALS. THE GROUPS MAY CHOOSE
BETWEEN ATTIC OR IONIC GREEK NUMBER SYSTEM:

1. 45672
2. 8786
3. 125892
4. 4578
5. 7895
 DO YOU HAVE ANY
QUESTIONS,
CLARIFICATIONS, OR
CONCERNS REGARDING
THE DISCUSSION?
QUIZ TIME!
Direction: Choose the letter of the correct answer.

1. What civilization led to the development of

axiomatics, theorems, and proofs?
A. Ancient Greek Civilization
B. Babylonian CIvilization
C. Chinese Civilization
D. Egyptian Civilization
2. It is the Formal numerical System used in Ancient
Greece and it is also known as Attic or Herodianic
numerals.
A. Ancient Greek numeral system
B. Ionic Greek numeral system
C. Sexagesimal system
D. Roman Numeral
3. He is one of the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece and
established the Intercept Theorem.
A. Archimedes
B. Diophantus
C. Euclid
D.Thales
4. He is the great mathematician who is most prominently
known for the Pythagorean Theorem.
A. Archimedes
B. Diophantus
C. Pythagoras
D. Thales
5. He is the Father of Geometry, who wrote the book
“Stoicheion” or “Elements”.
A. Archimedes
B. Diophantus
C. Euclid
D.Thales
ASSIGNMENT
 ASSIGNM
ENT
Make an advance study of Islamic, Hindu,
and Chinese mathematics.
REFEREN
• Quindipan, E. (n.d.). Greek Mathematics Scribd.
CE/S:
https://www.scribd.com/presentation/489794818/Greek-
Mathematics
THANK YOU,
STUDENTS!