Mathematics in Mesopotamia between origin and development (4000-300BC)

Abstract

It is well known historically that Mesopotamia is the home of one of the most ancient civilizations in human history; where the influences of many sciences, arts, and knowledge appeared and gradually developed in line with political, economical, social, and religious needs of the population in parallel with their progression in the ladder of civilization. This research aims to focus on one of those sciences, namely mathematics, to find out the detailed history of this science using the historical narrative method. Whereby the history of the beginings and development of mathematics is traced through the historical stages of the Mesopotamian civilization. The most important results of the research were, that humanity owes to the Mesopotamian civilization the innovation of the principle of the numerical order, the importance of which lies in the fact that it represents progress in stripping the number from the association with the counted things and arranging the system of the count on bases of the positional relationship between the various symbols within a single number. In addition to that, their laying down of the foundations of algebra and geometry and trigonometry.