数学的分支及其发展 The Branches of Mathematics

 

The Branches of Mathematics (by history)

	Branch of Mathematics	Origin period (introducer)
I	Geometry	From ancient Egypt
II	Computational Mathematics	From 14 th century BC in ancient China
III	Mathematical Logic (ML)	From ancient Greece (Aristotle)
IV	Theory of Number	Form 4 th century BC (Diophantus)
V	Algebra	From 1 st century in ancient China, Wei Dynasty (Liu Hui)
VI	Analysis	From 17 th century
VII	Differential Equation	From 17 th century
VIII	Probability Theory	From 16 th century
IX	Mathematical Statistic	From 16 th century
X	Set Theory	From 1908 (G.Cantor)
XI	Topology	From the End of 19 th century
XII	Operational Research	From 1938 in England

I.              One of the oldest branches of mathematics, and it was said Geometry first appeared in Egypt. The original form is the method of measure on ground for reconstruction after flood of the Nile. Geometry:

a)        Euclidean Geometry: It is the geometry based on Euclidean Axiom on Parallel Lines. Euclid (about 300BC, Greece, wrote famous book Elements, and there is little known about his life.) is the introducer to this field.

b)        Analytic Geometry: Introduced by P.de Fermat and R.Descartes ( René Descartes, 1596-1650, France, author of Geometrie (French)). The main content of this field is to establish a coordinate, find out the relations between elements of geometry and objects of algebra, and then get the curve and surface.

c)        Trigonometry: This part is the oldest one in geometry. It is based on the discussion of triangle on plane and on sphere, then applied to measure.

d)        Non-Euclidean Geometry: Means Hyperbola Geometry and Riemann Ellipse Geometry. Came from 1800s, from the suspecsion on Euclidean Axiom on Parallel Lines.

e)        Differential Geometry: Researching the geometry character of space through analytic methods.

f)          Differentiable Manifold: An important class of topology space.

II.              Including the design, analysis of computing algorithm. Computational Mathematics is widely used in almost every part of math, physics, biology, geography, economics, chemistry and mechanics, using recent results in math and more effective algorithms. Appeared in ancient China in 14^th century BC, took counting as its original form. Computational Mathematics:

a)        Numerical Analysis

b)        Numerical Approximation

c)        Computational Geometry

d)        Optimization

e)        Linear Programming

f)          Finite Difference Method for Boundary Value Problem of Partial Differential Equation

g)        Finite Difference Method for Initial Value Problem of Partial Differential Equation

h)        Numerical Method for Boundary Value Problem of Ordinary Differential Equation

i)          Numerical Method for Initial Value Problem of Ordinary Differential Equation

j)          Numerical Method of Transcendental Equations

III.              A branch of Mathematics, using mathematical methods for logic or formal logic. The so call mathematical method is the general method in math, using symbols and equations, including acquired mathematical results and formally axiomatic methods for proof. ML is believed originate from Aristotle in ancient Greece, systemically researched by Gorrfried Wilhelm Leibniz(G.W.Leibniz 1646-1716, German, introducer of Differential and Integral Calculus, his thesis The Technique in Combinatory is the first paper in ML). Mathematical Logic:

a)        Logical Calculus: Using formal method to deal with logic ratiocination, especially mathematical ratiocination. In this system, the validity of an equation only depends on its form, but without any relation with its contents. Definition and ratiocination are divided into atom-elements; the reasoning procedure is the transformations of init-equation through some restrict laws. It is widely used in Axiomatizational Math for its precision.

b)        Model Theory: Originated in 1920s, it is a theory about the relation of the formal language and its interpretation. It is based on Logical Calculus, and ML, Algebra and Abstract Algebra are the sources of its ideas. MT also has consanguineous relations with branches of math.

c)        Axiomatic Set Theory: Originated in 1908 and targeted to tackle the paradoxes in Set Theory. Now it is a branch of ML, using axiomatizational methods to reconstruct the research of Set Theory and dealing with the new axioms in that field.

d)        Recursion Theory: It is originated from ancient China and Greece, and the goal of it is to find out an algorithm for a class of problems, and if it does not exist, then to find out the unsolvable degree of the class.

e)        Proof Theory: It is based on Aristotle’s book Tools Theory, and it is proof-oriented.

IV.              Discuss the law of number, especially the integer. It is one of the oldest branches of math, but it is also one of the most active one. It first appeared in 4^th century B.C. introduced by Diophantus (Diophantus, about 250BC, Greece, there is little known about his life, wrote a book Arithmetic), and was developed by Euclid. Interesting problems include: Riemann Conjecture (Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann, 1826-1866, German, contributed in Theory of Functions of Complex Variable, Riemann Geometry, Riemann Space, Riemann Surface, Riemann  Function, Partial Differential Equation, etc., and his work directly influenced the development of math in 19^th century). Theory of Number:

a)        Elementary Number Theory: Mainly about algebra method and arose in 6 ^th century B.C. Interesting problems include: Fermat’s Theorem (Pierre de Fermat, 1601-1665, France, a fulltime councilman as a lifetime job and studied math in spare time, he got many results in Theory of Number, Analytic Geometry, Theory of Probability and many other fields. He is a linguist and a pundit in many nature science fields, although he had so many excellent results in these fields, he did not write any thesis or books, and his work were always be found in waste paper, letters to his friends or blanks in his books.)

b)        Indeterminate Equations: Discuss the equations that the number of unknown variables is more than that of equations, and the value to this kind of equations are integer or rational number. Interesting problems include: Fermat’s Last Theorem.

c)        Analytic Number Theory

d)        Uniform Distribution

V.              Invented in 1^st century in ancient China. Algebra:

a)        Elementary Algebra: About the real and complex number and the theory or method in computing the polynomial in real and complex coefficients.

                         i.              Arithmetic

                       ii.              Polynomial

                      iii.              Determinant

                     iv.              System of Linear Equations

                       v.              Matrix

                     vi.              Fundamental Theorem of Algebra

b)        Abstract Algebra: Based on EA, mainly about the character of Algebra System. Originated in 18 ^th, 19 ^th century.

                         i.              Group

                       ii.              Loop

                      iii.              Lattice

                     iv.              Field

                       v.              Module

                     vi.              Algebra

                    vii.              Universal Algebra

                  viii.              Homological Algebra

                      ix.              Category

VI.              Developed in 17^th century. The contents of this field are keeping changing as time lasting. In 17 and 18^th century, it was mainly about Differential and Integral Calculus and Infinite Series, including classical Calculus of Variations, Differential Equations, Integral Equation and Function of Complex Variable. From 19^th century, Theory of Function flourished. When it came to 20^th century, each part developed to an embedded level, Real Function Theory, Analytic Manifold, Potential Theory and Nonlinear Real Function Theory were all blooming till now. Analysis:

a)        Differential and Integral Calculus: Discussing differential, integral of function and definitions or applications in this field. It was originated from ancient China in 4 ^th century BC. There are many mathematicians in this field, including P.de Fermat, I.Newton, G.W.Leibniz, R. Descartes, G.Cantor.

b)        Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable:

c)        Theory of Analytic Functions of Several Variables

d)        Real Function Theory

e)        Functional Analysis

f)          Calculus of Variations

g)        Calculus of Variations in the Large

h)        Approximation of Functions

i)          Fourier Analysis

j)          Analysis of Manifolds

k)        Convex Analysis

l)          Non-Standard Analysis:

VII.              Born with Differential and Integral Calculus and is target to solve problems coming from Geometry, Physics and Mechanics. Now the Differential Dynamic System is the highlights in paradox, chaos and furcation section. Differential Equations:

a)        Ordinary Differential Equation: Including one independent variable, its differential function

b)        Partial Differential Equation

c)        Integral Equation: The so-called integral equation is the equation that has unknown variables under the symbol of integral.

VIII.              A branch of math discussing the numeric laws of the random phenomena in everyday life. It was introduced in 16^th century and took estimating the die in gamble as its original form. Probability Theory:

a)        Probability: To measure the probability of stochastic events. It can be divided into Classical Probability, Geometric Probability and Conditional Probability.

b)        Probability Distribution: An elemental definition in this field, discussing the stochastic laws of obtaining the random variables.

c)        Laws of Large Number: It is a law for the convergence to a constant value of random variable series in arithmetic mean form.

d)        Central Limit Theorem

e)        Conditional Expectation

f)          Stochastic Process: The mathematic descriptions for the random phenomena occur as time lasting, such as Brown Movement.

IX.              Born with the Probability Theory, discussing how we can gather, arrange and analyze the random data more effectively, so that we can make estimation and conclusion to the researching subjects. Mathematical Statistics:

a)        Parameter Estimation: Estimate the unknown parameter from the sample in total.

b)        Hypothesis Testing: The theory and method for confirming the hypothesis.

c)        Time Series Analysis: Using the theory of stochastic process and method of mathematical statistics to discuss the statistical laws in random data series and solve problems in reality. Since in a most part of the real problem, random data series are ordered by time, so the method of this field is named Time Series Analysis.

d)        Stochastic Approximation: A method for step wisely approximate to a value under the disturbance of random errors.

X.              An elementary branch of math, and the object of research is set in general concept. It can be found in each section of math in every field. It was founded by Georg Ferdinand Philip Cantor (G.Cantor, 1845-1918, German, famous in Set Theory, Infinite Set, Order and Dimensions) in 1908. Set Theory:

a)        Combinational Mathematics: Dealing with the arrangement. When arrange finite or countable infinite things according to given laws, it will bring following problems: (i) whether there is an arrangement;(ii)how many kinds of these arrangements;(iii) how to realize these arrangements;(iv)how to get the optimization. It is engendered around 2200B.C. in China.

b)        Graph Theory: Vertices and edges construct the graph in this field. The vertex represents utility and edge means special relation between two utilities, so the position of vertex and length or zigzags of the edge are both not important in graph. It is originated from the famous Königsberg Seven-bridge Problem, and solved by Léonhard Euler ( L.Euler, 1707-1783, Swiss, the most important mathematician in 18 ^th century, introducer of Differential Equation, Surface Differential Geometry and contributed in many fields) in 1736. It has many interesting but unsolved problems such as Hamiltonian Problem, 4-coloring Problem, and Ramsey Theory.

c)        Arithmetic: About the nature and calculus of number.

XI.              Discussing the continuous phenomenon in geometry. After it first appeared in the deadline of 19^th century, it was divided into Point Set Topology and Combinational Topology. Now the former part has developed to General Topology, the second developed to Algebraic Topology. Topology:

a)        General Topology: Mainly discussing the flame of Topological Space itself and the continuous mapping in it. It was developed in 1914.

b)        Algebraic Topology: It solves problems by algebraic methods. The theories of homology and homotopy are the rubstones in this field.

c)        Differential Topology: Dealing with Differential Manifold and Differentiable Mapping.

d)        Catastrophe Theory: Developed in 1970s, dealing with the catastrophe phenomena in nature.

XII.              A newborn branch in mathematics. It first appeared in 1938 in England and named as operations research. The original idea of this name is to find out the attacking strategy. It does not have strict definition since the research field of it is very wide, and it is a subject to solving real problems. The progress of solving different problems is: First, setting goals; then setting plan, modeling; finally, setting solving algorithm. Operational Research:

a)        Mathematical Programming

                         i.              Linear Programming

                       ii.              Non-linear Programming

                      iii.              Integer Programming

                     iv.              0-1 Programming

                       v.              Combinational Programming (Optimization)

                     vi.              Parameter Programming

                    vii.              Stochastic Programming

                  viii.              Several Goals Programming

                      ix.              Dynamic Programming

                       x.              Geometry Programming

b)        Information Theory: The theory to the procession, saving and analysis of information.

c)        Control Theory: A subjects that discussing how to manage and control a system. Came into being in 1950 to 1960s.

d)        Mathematics of Fuzziness: The symbol of its generation is the thesis Fuzzy Set in 1965.

e)        Graph Theory, Net Flows

f)          Decision Analysis

g)        Queueing Theory