World History Encyclopedia
World History Encyclopedia: Archimedes
Illustrated entry provides an account of the life of Archimedes, a pioneer in the fields of mathematics and engineering.
Other
U of North Dakota: Fundamental Theorem of Algebra
A historical overview of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. Links to historic mathematicians and the development of this theorem.
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge: Maths and Sports: Olympic Starters
How do you compare to these results from Olympic Games in the past if you try similar running and jumping activities? This activity uses the history of the Olympic Games to introduce ideas about measuring time and distances in standard...
Other
U of Cambridge: Tycho Brahe and the Separation of Astronomy From Astrology
The subject of the paper is the shift from an astrology-oriented astronomy towards an allegedly more objective, mathematically grounded approach to astronomy. This shift is illustrated through a close reading of Tycho Brahe's scientific...
Other
Houghton Mifflin: Mayan Mathematics
This site explains the mathematical system of the Mayans. It gives the represenation they used for numbers and how they did addition and subtraction.
Agnes Scott College
Alphabetical Index of Women Mathematicians
Read the biographies of dozens of women mathematicians who were important in the 1700's, 1800's, and 1900's.
Islami City
Islamic History: Arabic Numerals
Considers the origin of our "Arabic," system of number notation as probably having originated in India. Has illustrations demonstrating how much less cumbersome this system is than Roman, Egyptian, or Greek numeration.
University of Virginia
University of Virginia: Counting in Babylon
A discussion of the number system used by the ancient Babylonians. Examples are provided for various mathematical operations based on the number 60 (our number system is based on the number ten).
University of St. Andrews (UK)
University of St. Andrews: Nicomachus of Gerasa
Many people have used a multiplication table, but most are oblivious that Nicomachus made the first multiplication table in Greek text.
University of St. Andrews (UK)
University of St. Andrews: Epicycloid
Very cool site. Allows you to zoom in/out and add evolutes, involutes, etc.
University of St. Andrews (UK)
University of St. Andrews: Female Mathematicians
This University of St. Andrews presents this list of female mathematicians with a description of their contributions to the field.
Clark University
Clark University: Dave's Short Trig Course: Applications of Trigonometry
This Clark University site gives a brief historical perspective into how trigonometry is used in astronomy, geography, engineering, physics, and mathematics.
Stanford University
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Democritus
A look at the life of Democritus of Abdera. He helped to develop a theory of atomism, explained in detail here. Other significant ideas he had included his theory of perception, a theory of the soul and its relationship to living things,...
ibiblio
Ibiblio: How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement
The Center for Mathematics and Science Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provides an interesting and easy-to-use dictionary of the history and meaning of many measurement terms. Metric, International, and...
Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College: Rene Descartes (1596 1650)
Events of Rene Descartes' life are presented in a timeline form. The biographical information is taken from "A Short Account of the History of Mathematics" by W. W. Rouse Ball (4th Edition, 1908).
Tech Target
What Is: Irrational Number
A counterpart problem in measurement would be to find the length of the diagonal of a square whose side is one unit long; there is no subdivision of the unit length that will divide evenly into the length of the diagonal. It thus became...
University of St. Andrews (UK)
University of St. Andrews: Winifred Merrill
The first American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, Winifred Merrill made many contributions to the world of mathematics. Her life and accomplishments are documented in this short biography.
Library of Congress
Loc: Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture
This page chronicles an exhibit hosted by the Library of Congress of manuscripts and documents from the Vatican Library. Includes manuscripts of both a secular and religious nature as well as a detailed history of the Vatican Library....
Discovering Egypt
Discovering Egypt: Egyptian Mathematics
A brief explanation of the numbering system of the ancient Egyptians, with great drawings and sample problems. Use this resource to introduce yourself to the symbols ancient Egyptians used in mathematics. There are some activities to...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Mathematics of History
What can mathematics say about history? From changes to language to the deadliness of wars, Jean-Baptiste Michel shows how digitized history is just starting to reveal deep underlying patterns. [4:26]
Ministry of Education and Universities of the Region of Murcia (Spain)
Ministerio De Educacion Y Ciencia: Historia De Las Matematicas
In Spanish. These interactive pages will familiarize you with famous mathematicians. Every era has small reference to the most relevant historical events and their contribution to Mathematics.
University of St. Andrews (UK)
University of St. Andrews: Mayan Mathematics
After a historical introduction, this site from the University of St. Andrews provides information about the mathematics of the Maya Civilization and shows just how advanced they were.
University of Utah
University of Utah: The Sieve of Eratosthenes
Site gives an explanation of the Sieve of Eratosthenes, a table for prime numbers.
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Magic of Vedic Math
There is more than one way to reach a correct answer in mathematics. Vedic math, an ancient Indian method, sidesteps traditional computations in a manner that provides a shortcut, while being fun to use and to learn. Gaurav Tekriwal...