Timeline of Mathematics
Key results, works, and figures across all civilisations from ancient times to the present. Filter by tradition to explore any strand. Events with live Codex entries are linked.
Ancient World · before 500 CE
c. 1800 BCE
Plimpton 322 tablet
Babylonian clay tablet containing a table of Pythagorean triples — demonstrating systematic knowledge of right-triangle relationships nearly 1,200 years before Pythagoras.
c. 1650 BCE
Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
Egyptian scribe Ahmes copies a collection of 87 mathematical problems covering fractions, linear equations, geometry, and mensuration.
c. 300 BCE
Euclid's Elements
Thirteen books systematising Greek mathematics via axiomatic method. Contains the proof that there are infinitely many primes, the Euclidean algorithm, and the foundations of plane geometry.
c. 250 BCE
Archimedes bounds π
Proves 223/71 < π < 22/7 using inscribed and circumscribed polygons with 96 sides — the first rigorous bounds on π.
499 CE
Āryabhaṭīya composed
Āryabhaṭa I, age 23, writes the Āryabhaṭīya — introducing π ≈ 3.1416, a sine table, the kuṭṭaka linear congruence algorithm, and the claim that Earth rotates on its axis.
→ Āryabhaṭīya (live entry)
Medieval Period · 500–1400 CE
628 CE
Brahmagupta's Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta
Systematises arithmetic with zero and negative numbers. Gives the formula for the area of a cyclic quadrilateral. First text to treat zero as a number in its own right.
c. 820 CE
Al-Khwārizmī's Algebra
Al-Kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wal-muqābala systematises linear and quadratic equation solving — giving us the words "algebra" and "algorithm."
1247 CE
Qin Jiushao — Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections
Contains the Chinese Remainder Theorem (general form), Horner's method for polynomials, and numerical solutions to high-degree equations.
Early Modern · 1400–1800 CE
c. 1400 CE
Mādhava's infinite series for π
Mādhava of Saṅgamagrāma discovers the Leibniz-Gregory series π/4 = 1 − 1/3 + 1/5 − … and related series for sin and cos — roughly 250 years before European discovery.
1637 CE
Fermat's Last Theorem stated
Pierre de Fermat writes in the margin of Arithmetica that xⁿ + yⁿ = zⁿ has no positive integer solutions for n > 2, claiming a proof "too large to fit." The statement remained unproven for 358 years.
1736 CE
Euler solves the Königsberg Bridge Problem
Proves that no walk through Königsberg can cross each of its seven bridges exactly once — founding graph theory in the process.
Modern Period · 1800 CE – present
1874 CE
Cantor's diagonalisation — uncountable infinities
Georg Cantor proves that real numbers cannot be put in bijection with natural numbers, establishing that different infinite sets can have different cardinalities.
→ Set (live entry)
1900 CE
Hilbert's 23 Problems
David Hilbert presents 23 open problems at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris. The list shaped 20th-century mathematics; some remain unsolved.
1931 CE
Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems
Kurt Gödel proves that any consistent formal system containing basic arithmetic contains true statements it cannot prove. Shatters Hilbert's programme for a complete foundation of mathematics.
1995 CE
Wiles proves Fermat's Last Theorem
Andrew Wiles completes the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem using elliptic curves and modular forms — closing a problem open since 1637.
Note: This timeline currently shows representative events. It will expand as Codex entries are written — every live entry will be linked here. Events without live links have entries planned for future sessions.