MAT336: History of Mathematics

Lecture 1 – Fall 2025

Class Topic Presentations
Aug 25
Lect 1		 Math History Introduction – Info about the course
Aug 27
Lect 2		 Reliable Sources – Counting Foundations
Sep 1 Labor Day – Monday, Sept. 1
Sep 3
Lect 3		 Cultural Counting Methods / Number Systems
Sep 8
Lect 4		 Number Systems
Oct 1
Lect 11		 The earliest Hellenic mathematics Unit Fractions & Rhind Papyrus — Martin
Oct 6
Lect 12		 The earliest Hellenic mathematics Thales & Shadow of the Pyramid — Ruixi
Oct 15
Lect 14		 Euclid’s Elements – Number Theory The Two Earths of Eratosthenes — Mulik
Oct 20
Lect 15		 Euclid’s Elements – Axiom Systems Regular Polygons in Ancient Mathematics — Ze
Art and Mathematics: The Platonic Solids — Yuna
Oct 22
Lect 16		 Euclid’s Elements – Non-Euclidean The Parallel Postulate — Isabella
The Story of the Binomial Theorem — Brian
Oct 27
Lect 17		 Archimedes Ptolemy’s Theorem — Aria
Gauss and the Discovery of Ceres — Anar
Oct 29
Lect 18		 Apollonius, Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, Diophantus Diophantus of Alexandria — Sofia
Historical Development of Complex Numbers — Alan
Nov 3
Lect 19		 Chinese Mathematics Curves Before Equations — Saraia
Curves by Equations — Ethan
Nov 5
Lect 20		 Chinese Mathematics (cont.) Right-Angled Triangles in Ancient China — Abraham
Nov 10
Lect 21		 Indian Mathematics Ancient Chinese Square Root Algorithms — Chencheng
Nov 19
Lect 24		 Renaissance Mathematics Pascal and the Invention of Probability — Weituao
Descartes and Algebra — Chengqi
Nov 24
Lect 25		 Renaissance Math (cont.) The Invention of Analytic Geometry — Jordan
Dec 1
Lect 26		 Calculus Origins The rule of false position (Fibonacci–Cardano) — Benjamin
Dec 3
Lect 27		 Selected Topics Limits of computation (Gödel/Turing) — Gabriel
Newton–Leibniz calculus controversy — Muhammad
Dec 8
Lect 28		 Review / Last Day/ Quiz Ancient Methods for Tangents — Jiawei
Tangents & Analytical Revolution — Elizabeth