Crest of a Peacock Introduction - Reflection

While reading this chapter, I was surprised to find out about how the Greeks attributed the Egyptians to be a significant help in the learning and development of their own mathematics, in contrast with how Europeans claimed that their knowledge came almost solely from the Greeks, and that math used by the Egyptians was dismissed as “little importance to the later history of the subject” (p. 4). This was surprising to me since the text mentions that the Eurocentric model views Europe as the inheritor of Greek heritage, but at the same time the credit that was given by Greek people is ignored by their “descendants”. 

I was also surprised by how vast the connections are between different cultures who shared math from the 5th to 15th century. I hadn’t realized how far individuals during this time could and would travel in the pursuit of knowledge. For example, having places like Baghdad and India or Baghdad and Cordoba having direct paths to sharing knowledge (Figure 1.3) is really fascinating. I find that to be particularly noble and inspiring when considering how I get annoyed commuting 45 minutes every day to school for classes. It really gives an appreciation for how accessible knowledge is now.

Lastly, I found the distinction of the term Greek before and after Alexander to be quite interesting. Not only because I had never considered this distinction when talking about the Greeks, but also because it’s very fascinating how deeply one name can change a civilization or social system. In that sense, it is also interesting to connect that to how much a discovery in math can change a civilization, and I’m looking forward to learning about both more in the future.