This is a really great thread! I wanted to chime in with some tidbits of the history of math which is really fascinating. So let's do some #scicomm 1/N https://twitter.com/kareem_carr/status/1298753801550266371

One of the amazing things about early mathematics and, for example, Pythagoras, is they DIDN'T have a concept of algebra in the modern sense. They didn't know the formula for a line
y=mx+b
OR the famous formula now attributed to Pythagoras. 2/N

Instead the ancient Greeks thought about math in terms of pictures. For example, here's a diagram of Euclid's algorithm for finding the common divisor between two numbers, which he envisioned in terms of piles of rock or sticks of different lengths. 3/N

The concepts of algebra, and even things like fractions, took an extremely long time to develop. The thing we now call algebra first began to take shape in the 13th century in the Islamic world. 4/N

Despite this, the ancient Greeks could and did use their primitive mathematics to accomplish some incredible engineering feats. For example this 4,000ft long tunnel in Pythagoras' home of Samos. Digging in a straight line for so far was really difficult at the time! 5/N

As an aside, the reason for studying math wasn't always practical. For example, Pythagoras was the founder of the Pythagoreans, a group that assigned mystical significance to numbers and studied them for that reason. 6/N

They were both surprisingly secretive and surprisingly progressive. They inspired secret societies like the illuminati. But they also allowed women to take leadership roles, which was very unusual for the time. 7/N

The Pythagoreans have been a little bit of a pet topic for me recently as there's such a rich mythology and history surrounding them. 8/N

Anyways, that's probably enough for now. How you all find this stuff as fun as I do!

Ok one more. The word Algebra comes from the title of an ancient arabic book of mathematics. The word Al-Jebr/Al-Jabr means "completion."