The oldest known possibly mathematical object is the Lebombo bone, discovered in the Lebombo mountains of Swaziland and dated to approximately 35,000 BC.[12] It consists of 29 distinct notches cut into a baboons fibula.[13] Also prehistoric artifacts discovered in Africa and France, dated between 35,000 and 20,000 years old,[14] suggest early attempts to quantify time.[15] ........................................................... Archimedes (c.287–212 BC) of Syracuse, widely considered the greatest mathematician of antiquity,[53] used the method of exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, in a manner not too dissimilar from modern calculus.[54] He also showed one could use the method of exhaustion to calculate the value of π with as much precision as desired, and obtained the most accurate value of π then known, 310⁄71 < π < 310⁄70.[55] He also studied the spiral bearing his name, obtained formulas for the volumes of surfaces of revolution (paraboloid, ellipsoid, hyperboloid),[54] and an ingenious system for expressing very large numbers.[56] While he is also known for his contributions to physics and several advanced mechanical devices, Archimedes himself placed far greater value on the products of his thought and general mathematical principles.[57] He regarded as his greatest achievement his finding of the surface area and volume of a sphere, which he obtained by proving these are 2/3 the surface area and volume a cylinder circumscribing the sphere.[58]
Posted on: Wed, 27 Nov 2013 19:17:36 +0000
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