Number, the father of natural science, originated from the symbols used by primitive humans to count, forming the symbol "number" of natural numbers, which is the greatest invention of mankind. A few years ago, in order to survive, human ancestors often lived in groups of dozens. They work together during the day, searching for wild animals and birds or collecting fruit and potato food; Live in a cave at night and enjoy the labor income.
In the long-term labor and life, they gradually reached the point where they had to say something, so language came into being. They can express their feelings and exchange ideas with simple language and gestures. With the development of labor content, their languages have also developed continuously, and finally surpassed the languages of all other animals. One of the main signs is that language contains arithmetic.
Humans first came up with the hazy concept of "number". When they came back from hunting, their prey might or might not be there, so there were two concepts of "being" and "not being". After a few days of catching animals that don't, there will be no meat to eat, and the concepts of "yes" and "no" will gradually deepen. About/kloc-0.0 million years ago, glaciers retreated. Some stone age nomadic hunters started a new way of life-farming in the mountains of the Middle East.
They encountered some problems, such as how to record the date and season, and how to calculate the number of grains and seeds collected. Especially in the Nile Valley, Tigris River and Euphrates River basins, when more complicated agricultural society developed, they also encountered the problem of paying land rent. This requires numbers to have names. In addition, the counting must be more accurate. Only "one", "two", "three" and "many" are not enough.
Between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and around them, it is called Mesopotamia, where a culture, like Egyptian culture, is one of the oldest in the world. Mesopotamia and Egypt are far apart. But in the same way, the earliest system of writing natural numbers was established-marking and marking trees or stones to record the passing days.
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History of mathematics development:
The development history of mathematics can be roughly divided into four periods. The first period is the formation period of mathematics, and the second period is the period when mathematics remains unchanged. Its research results include Lee's constant formula, Fahrenheit theorem, Su's cone and so on.
1, the first period: the formation period of mathematics, which is the period when human beings establish the most basic mathematical concepts. Since counting, human beings have gradually established the concept of natural numbers, simple calculation methods, and recognized the most basic and simplest geometric forms. Arithmetic and geometry are not separated.
2. The second period: elementary mathematics, that is, the period of mathematical constants. The most basic and simple achievements in this period constitute the main content of middle school mathematics.
This period began in the 5th century BC, maybe earlier, and lasted for about two thousand years until17th century. This period gradually formed the main branches of elementary mathematics: arithmetic, geometry and algebra.
3. The third period: the period of variable mathematics. Variable mathematics came into being in17th century, and has gone through two decisive and significant steps: the first step is the generation of analytic geometry; The second step is calculus, which is to study the differential of functions in higher mathematics.
4. Phase IV: Modern Mathematics. The period of modern mathematics began at the beginning of19th century. The beginning of the modern stage of mathematics development is characterized by profound changes in all foundations-algebra, geometry and analysis.