Researched
Zero, Decimals & Algebra
Indian and Arab scholars establish zero as a number, the decimal system and algebra, the art of computing with unknowns.
Open in the interactive tree →Brahmagupta described rules for computing with zero around 628. Al-Khwarizmi (about 820, Baghdad) wrote on calculating with Indian numerals and on solving equations; the words 'algorithm' and 'algebra' derive from his name and his book title. Fibonacci brought the system to Europe in 1202, where it replaced Roman numerals and made written arithmetic available to everyone.
Prerequisites
- Number Systems & Place Value~3000-2000 BC
- Geometry (Euclid)~300 BC
- Baghdad Translation Movement~800Al-Khwarizmi wrote in the scholarly world of Abbasid Baghdad
Unlocks
- Banks & Double-Entry Bookkeeping~1340-1494Italian merchants adopted Indo-Arabic numerals (Fibonacci, 1202) for their accounts
- Complex Numbers1545
- Logarithms (Napier)1614
- Analytic Geometry (Descartes)1637
- Probability Theory1654
- Calculus (Analysis)1684
- Number Theory & Group Theory1801
- Boolean Algebra1854
- Linear Algebra & Matrices1858
- Linear Optimization (Simplex)1947