HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS

1. Who published a treatise on trigonometry which contains the earliest use of our abbreviations:
sin, tan, sec, for sine, tangent and secant?
A. Gregorio de Saint C. Albert Gerard
B. John Napier D. Johann Herdde
2. An 18th century Swiss Mathematician, he introduced the “Law of Large Numbers” in his (The Art
of Conjecture). In Statistics, this implies that the larger the sample, the more likely will the
sample become representative of the population. Who was he?
A. Girolamo Cardano C. Jacob Bernoulli
B. Bertrand Russell D. Stephen Baldwin
3. He has been described as the greatest “might have been” in the history of Mathematics.
A. Blaise Pascal C. Bonaventura Cavalier
B. Gaspard Monge D. Gregorio de Saint
4. He invented a method of determining the optical values of a linear function subject to certain
constraints. This method is known as linear programming? Who was he?
A. George Canter C. George Dantzig
B. Bertrand Russel D. Richard Dedekind
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5. He was a 16 century mathematician, who was the first to define that the probability of an
event to happen is the quotient of the number of the favorable outcomes and the number of all
outcomes. Who was he?
A. Stephen Baldwin C. Girolamo Cardano
B. Blaise Pascal D. Richard Dedekind
6. The first to discover “zero”.
A. Babylonian C. Egyptian
B. Chinese D. Indian
7. He was mostly remembered for his formula for( cos 𝑥 + 𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑥)𝑛 , which was important in the
early development of the theory of complex numbers and for predicting the day of his own
death.
A. Abraham de Moivre C. Leonhard Euler
B. Jacob Bernoulli D. Collin Maclaurin
8. He achieved real fame when he submitted a paper to the Institute solving one of Fermat’s claims
on polygonal numbers made to Mersenne. He also wrote the memoir on definite integrals that
later became the basis of his theory of complex functions.
A. Evariste Galois C.Bernhard Riemann
B. Georg Cantor D. Augustin Cauchy
9. Italian Mathematician during the Renaissance period who was credited for solving one of the
outstanding ancient problems of mathematics, cubic equations.
A. Niccolo Tartaglia C. Scipione del Ferro
B. Gerolamo Cardano D. Regiiomontanus
10. A Russian Mathematician in the 19th century who would instead develop geometry without
Euclid’s fifth postulate and whose achievement exhibits the development of non- Euclidean
Geometry.
A. Augustin Cauchy C. Francois Viete
B. Nikolai Lobachevsky D. Patnuti Chevyshev
11. A Greek mathematician who remembered for his prime number sieve.
A. Anaxagoras C. Pythagoras
B. Eratosthenes D. Thales
12. He was the mathematician who proposed basic descriptions of a point, a line and shapes. He
also discovered that square root of two is an irrational number and that there were infinitely
many prime numbers.
A. Anaxagoras C. Eratosthenes
B. Archimedes D. Euclid
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13. An 18 century mathematician who enunciated the principles of the Calculus of variations and
became a lecturer in the Royal Artillery School at the age of 19.
A. Jean Baptiste Fourier C. Pierre Simon Laplace
B. Jean D’ Alembert D. Louis Lagrange
14. Known as the father of modern analysis during 19th century who also devised tests for the
convergence and contributed to the theory of periodic functions, Abelian functions, elliptic
functions, etc.
A. Evariste Galois C. Johann Dirichlet
B. Johann Carl Gauss D. Karl Wierstrass
15. He proved his famous “Basis Theorem” as he worked on invariant theory and challenged
mathematicians to solve fundamental questions that led to his famous speech “the Problems of
Mathematics”.
A. Augustin Cauchy C. Karl Wierstrass
B. David Hilbert D. Patnuti Chevyshev
16. A “grand” Russian mathematician who gave the basis for applying the theory of probability to
statistical data, worked on number of prime numbers not exceeding a given number, and
proved Bertrand’s conjecture in 1850.
A. Augustin Cauchy C. Francois Viete
B. Patnuti Chebyshev D. Nikolai Lobachevsky
17. A mathematician of medieval ages who invented a type of coordinate geometry by finding the
logical equivalence between tabulating values and graphing them.
A. Nicole Oresme C. Roger Bacon
B. Leonardo Fibonacci D. Rene Descartes
18. A rich mathematician in France who invented a new, non-Greek way of doing geometry, now
called “projective” or “modern geometry”.
A. Leonhard Euler C. Girard Desarques
B. Francois Viete D. John Napier
19. He was considered a universal genius by his contemporaries whose work encompasses not only
Mathematics and Philosophy but also Theology, Law, Diplomacy, Politics, and Physics. He also
developed the basic notations of his version of the Calculus and perfected the binary system of
arithmetic.
A. Bonaventura Cavalieri C. Gottfried Leibnitz
B. Christian Huygens D. Rene Descartes
20. A Greek mathematician whose most significant accomplishments were those concerning a
cylinder circumscribing a sphere and asked for a representation of this together with his result
on the ratio of the two to be inscribed on his tomb.
 A. Aristotle C. Plato
B. Eratosthenes D. Pythagoras
21. A 19th century mathematician who added the integers from 1 to 100 within seconds by a flash of
mathematical insights.
A. Augustin Cauchy C. Johann Dirichlet
B. Evariste Galois D. Johann Gauss
22. He measured the length of the year as 365.2421986 days. He was well known for inventing the
method of solving cubic equations by intersecting a parabola with a circle and for Fitzgerald’s
popular translation of Rubaiyat.
A. Leonardo of Pisa C. Omar Khayyam
B. Roger Bacon D. Nicolas Oresme
23. One of the earliest cities of the world built in India and was built to carefully planned and
tessellations.
A. Harappa C. Vedic
B. Mohenjo-Daro D. Indus
24. He did notable work in Geometry, particularly studying higher plane curves. He also considered
the geometric problem of finding the difference between the volume of the frustum of a solid of
revolution and the volume of the cylinder of the same height as frustum.
A. Johann Bernoulli C. Pierre Simon Laplace
B. Colin Maclaurin D. Joseph Louis Lagrange
25. An extinct Mesoamerican culture with surviving treatise on astronomy called Dresden Codex
and used vigesimal number system.
A. Incans C. Native Americans
B. Africans D. Mayans
26. It is the famous Chinese Mathematics book of all time which is also called Nine Chapters on
Mathematical Art.
A. Jiuzhang Suanshu C. Arithmetic Classic of the Gnomon
B. Suan Chu D. Chou Pei Suan Ching
27. A Bernoulli who considered the function 𝑦 = 𝑥 𝑥 and investigated series using the method of
integration by parts.
A. Jacob Bernoulli C. Daniel Bernoulli
B. Nicolaus Bernoulli D. Johann Bernoulli
28. The FIRST mathematician to attempt to classify according to the types of equations that produce
them and also made contributions to the theory of equations.
A. Pierre de Fermat C. Blaise Pascal
B. Rene Descartes D. Bonaventura Cavalieri
29. He was the writer of set theory and was first to appreciate the value of one-to-one
correspondence for set theory.
A. Augustin Cauchy C. Georg Philip Cantor
B. George Boole D. Nikolai Lobachevsky
30. He wrote De Triangulus Omnimodis, a systematic account of methods for solving triangles, and
made important contributions to Trigonometry and Astronomy.
A. Regiomontanus C. Scipione del Ferro
B. Girolamo Cardano D. Niccolo Tartaglia
31. His greatest contributions include such groundbreaking texts in invention of divining rods used
as multiplication tables.
A. Francois Viete C. Johannes Kepler
B. Marin Mersenne D. John Napier
32. Began the Algebra of logic by approaching logic in a new way, reducing to a simple Algebra and
incorporating logic into Mathematics.
A. Carl Gauss C. George Boole
B. Evariste Galois D. Abraham De Moivre
33. Which is NOT TRUE about mathematics teaching in the 18th century?
A. Mathematics education was rigorous, rigid, and classroom sessions were lengthy.
B. Mathematicians were known either through publication or through paper
presentation.
C. Mathematics was taught to gain more insights about religious living.
D. Some mathematicians could not help being involved in politics.
34. This century came to be known as the Age of Scientific Revolution which saw an unprecedented
explosion of mathematical and scientific ideas across Europe.
A. 16th century C. 18th century
B. 17th century D. 19th century
35. It is a period prior to people kept written records.
A. Paleolithic Age C. Ethnomathematics
B. Neolithic Age D. Prehistory
36. An 18th century mathematician who invented an analytical machine that can tabulate the values
of any function and print the results.
A. Jean Fourier C. Pierre Simon Laplace
B. Charles Babbage D. Jean- le- Rond D’ Alembert
37. To whom the Greeks inherited their mathematical basis?
A. Babylonian C. Egyptian
B. Chinese D. Indian
38. People in Early Civilization who used Quipo to encode the numerical details and a counting
board, called YUPANA, to solve mathematical problems.
A. Africans C. Mayans
B. Incans D. Native Americans
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39. A 17 century French mathematician, philosopher, and scientist who was honored by having
Cartesian coordinate system. His rule of signs is also a commonly used method in modern
Mathematics.
A. Blaise Pascal C. Rene Descartes
B. Pierre de Fermat D. Bonaventura Cavalieri
40. He was considered as the father of differential geometry who introduced geometrie descriptive
now known as orthographic projection.
A. Pierre Simon Laplace C. Jean Fourier
B. Gaspard Monge D. Joseph Louis Lagrange
41. Who laid the foundations for differential and integral Calculus?
A. Gottfried Leibnitz C. Christian Huygens
B. Sir Isaac Newton D. Rene Descartes
42. Who introduced topographical methods into complex function theory and examined the zeta
function (s) = (1/ns) = (1 – p-s)-1 which resulted to one of the most important of the unsolved
problems f Mathematics?
A. Georg Cantor C. Bernhard Riemann
B. George Boole D. Evariste Galois
43. A 16th century who proposed the “Apollonian Problem” (drawing a circle to touch 3 given circles)
and introduced the first systematic algebraic notation in his book “In Artem Analyticam Isagoge”
(Introduction to the Analytic Art)
A. Francois Viete C. Johannes Kepler
B. John Napier D. Marin Mersenne
44. A Bernoulli who won in Paris Academy on 1725 because of his designed of an hour glass to be
used at sea and published Mathematical exercises in 1724 which consisted of four topics.
A. Jacob Bernoulli C. Daniel Bernoulli
B. Nicolaus Bernoulli D. Johann Bernoulli
45. An Italian mathematician best known today by his principle “the volume of two objects are
equal if the areas of their corresponding cross-sections are in all cases equal” and was
responsible for introducing logarithms as a computational tool in Italy.
A. Pierre de Fermat C. Blaise Pascal
B. Rene Descartes D. Bonaventura Cavalieri