Mathematics [English: Mathematics, from ancient Greece μ? θξμα(máthēma)； Often abbreviated as math or maths], it is a discipline that studies concepts such as quantity, structure, change, space and information.

Mathematics is a universal means for human beings to strictly describe and deduce the abstract structure and mode of things, and can be applied to any problem in the real world. All mathematical objects are artificially defined in essence. In this sense, mathematics belongs to formal science, not natural science. Different mathematicians and philosophers have a series of views on the exact scope and definition of mathematics.

Mathematics plays an irreplaceable role in the development of human history and social life, and it is also an indispensable basic tool for studying and studying modern science and technology.

Mathematics (hanyu pinyin: shùXué；; ; Greek: μ α θ η μ α κ; English: mathematics or maths), whose English comes from the ancient Greek word μθξμα(máthēma), has the meaning of learning, learning and science.

Ancient Greek scholars regarded it as the starting point of philosophy and the "foundation of learning".

In addition, there is a narrow and technical significance-mathematical research. Even in its etymology, its adjective meaning is used to refer to mathematics whenever it is related to learning.

Its plural form in English and plural form in French plus -es form mathématiques, which can be traced back to the Latin neutral plural (mathematica), and Cicero from the Greek plural τ α μ α θ ι α ι κ? (ta mathē matiká).

In ancient China, mathematics was called arithmetic, also called arithmetic, and finally it was changed to mathematics. Arithmetic in ancient China is one of the six arts, which is called number.

Mathematics originated from the early production activities of human beings, and the ancient Babylonians had accumulated some mathematical knowledge, which could be applied to practical problems. As far as mathematics itself is concerned, their mathematical knowledge is only obtained through observation and experience, and there is no comprehensive conclusion and proof, but their contribution to mathematics should also be fully affirmed.

The knowledge and application of basic mathematics is an indispensable part of individual and group life.

The refinement of its basic concepts can be found in ancient mathematical documents of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and ancient India. Since then, its development has continued to make small progress. But algebra and geometry at that time were still independent for a long time.

Algebra can be said to be the most widely accepted "mathematics".

It can be said that the first mathematics he came into contact with was algebra since everyone began to learn to count when he was a child. Mathematics is a subject that studies numbers, and algebra is also one of the most important parts of mathematics. Geometry is the earliest branch of mathematics studied by people.

Until the Renaissance in16th century, Descartes founded analytic geometry, which linked algebra and geometry which were completely separated at that time. From then on, we can finally prove the theorem of geometry through calculation; At the same time, abstract algebraic equations and trigonometric functions can also be graphically represented. Then more subtle calculus was developed.

At present, mathematics has included many branches.

French Bourbaki School, founded in 1930s, thinks that mathematics, at least pure mathematics, is a theory to study abstract structures. Structure is a deductive system based on initial concepts and axioms.

They think that mathematics has three basic parent structures: algebraic structure (group, ring, field, lattice, …) and ordered structure (partial order, total order, topological structure, neighborhood, limit, connectivity, dimension, …).

Mathematics is applied in many different fields, including science, engineering, medicine and economics. The application of mathematics in these fields is generally called applied mathematics, which sometimes arouses new mathematical discoveries and promotes the development of new mathematical disciplines.

Mathematicians also study pure mathematics, that is, mathematics itself, without any practical application. Although a lot of work started from the study of pure mathematics, it may find a suitable application later.

Specifically, there are some sub-fields used to explore the relationship between the core of mathematics and other fields: from logic, set theory and mathematical foundation to empirical mathematics (applied mathematics) in different sciences, and more modern research on uncertainty, chaos and fuzzy mathematics.