600 B.C.–400 B.C.

Introduction

Isolated arithmetical and geometrical facts were, without doubt, known in prehistoric times much as such facts are now known among the most primitive tribes. Rather advanced mathematical knowledge appears in ancient Egyptianpapyri (for instance in the Rhind Papyrus of the 14th century B.C.) and on numerous Babylonian cuneiform texts dating from 2000 B.C. onwards. Certainly the Greeks learned many of the algebraic methods and the techniques of geometric measurements from these ancient peoples through the lively commerce of the Eastern Mediterranean. Our reports begin with Greek mathematics after 600 B.C.

Sources

The sources for the history of mathematics in Greece during the period from 600 B.C. to 400 B.C. are very scarceand unreliable. We have a fragment of mathematical history by Eudemus (ca. 320 B.C.) in an excerpt of thesixth century A.D. This fragment itself is in a bad state, corrupted by later changes. There are, however, scattered among the works of Greek authors, enough passages concerned with the mathematics and mathematicians of Ancient Greece, for us to derive a fairly clear idea of this early period.

Early Greeks

While there is no mathematician known from ancient Egypt or Babylon, we do know the names of famous Greek mathematicians.

Thales (ca. 600 B.C.) of Miletus (see map), who was probably of Phoenician origin, is known as the fatherof Greek mathematics. He had many disciples. It may be that there is a direct connection between him and Pythagoras (ca. 550 B.C.) from Samos.