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The Daily Insight

Who is the inventor of fractions?

Author

Andrew Ramirez

Published Mar 17, 2026

Simon Stevin
Died1620 (aged 71–72)
Alma materLeiden University
OccupationMathematician, engineer
Known forDecimal fractions

Where did fractions originate?

The word fraction actually comes from the Latin “fractio” which means to break. To understand how fractions have developed into the form we recognise, we’ll have to step back even further in time to discover what the first number systems were like.

What was the first civilization to use fractions?

The story of fractions dates back to one of the oldest civilizations, the Egyptians.

Did ancient Greeks use fractions?

Around 300 BCE the Greeks were writing fractions using their alphabet to represent the numbers. Ancient Romans also developed fractions, but they only used written words to represent them. Most of the fractions were based on the Roman weight system called the “as.”

When did Simon Stevin born?

1548
Simon Stevin/Fecha de nacimiento
Simon Stevin, (born 1548, Bruges—died 1620, The Hague or Leiden, Neth.), Flemish mathematician who helped standardize the use of decimal fractions and aided in refuting Aristotle’s doctrine that heavy bodies fall faster than light ones.

Which civilization was the best at math?

The greatest legacy of Mesopotamia to the world is its scholarly tradition of time calculation and mathematics. Dating around 1800 BCE are tablets with multiplication and division tables, square- and square-root tables, and tables of compound interest. The square root of 2 was given as: 1 + 24/60 + 51/602 + 10/603.

Do fractions exist?

Fractions are numbers that aren’t whole, and mean just like they sound: a fraction, or a part of something bigger. Fractions have two numbers, a numerator (the part) and a denominator (the whole). In the first example, you went shopping and had to use fractions to determine cost after a discount.

Why is Delta a triangle?

Named for the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (shaped like a triangle), a delta is a triangular area where a major river divides into several smaller parts that usually flow into a larger body of water.

Who found zero?

mathematician Brahmagupta
History of Math and Zero in India The first modern equivalent of numeral zero comes from a Hindu astronomer and mathematician Brahmagupta in 628. His symbol to depict the numeral was a dot underneath a number.

Who is the first mathematician in world?

One of the earliest known mathematicians were Thales of Miletus (c. 624–c.546 BC); he has been hailed as the first true mathematician and the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed.

What type of fraction is 7 8?

78 is 7 divided by 8, which equals 0.875. So an equivalent fraction is another fraction that also equals 0.875. To find this fraction, just take any number and multiply both the numerator and denominator by this number. 7×28×2 equals 1416 because it too equals 0.875.

Did Simon Stevin get married?

Stevin bought a house at the Raamstraat in The Hague in 1612 for 3800 Dutch guilders (another sign of his high status and wealth). He married at a date given as 1610 by some sources and as 1614 by other sources. His wife was Catherine Krai, and they had four children named Frederic, Hendrik, Susanna and Levina.

What was Simon Stevin known for?

Decimal
Simon Stevin/Conocido por

Why is a triangle the symbol for change?

Specifically, as stated by Wikipedia, it has the following origin: Delta is the initial letter of the Greek word διαφορά diaphorá, “difference”. The triangle is the Greek letter delta which stands for difference. It is used for change as opposed derivative which generally assumes that a function is known.

What does ∆ mean?

change
∆: Means “change” or “difference”, as in the equation of a line’s slope: 2. 1. 2.

Who invented mathematics?

Beginning in the 6th century BC with the Pythagoreans, with Greek mathematics the Ancient Greeks began a systematic study of mathematics as a subject in its own right. Around 300 BC, Euclid introduced the axiomatic method still used in mathematics today, consisting of definition, axiom, theorem, and proof.

Where did the word fraction comes from?

Latin word fractio
The word Fraction comes from the Latin word fractio which means ‘to break’.

Simon Stevin/Date of birth

One of the earliest known mathematicians were Thales of Miletus (c. 624–c. 546 BC); he has been hailed as the first true mathematician and the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed.

Did Simon Stevin have kids?

Hendrick Stevin
Susanna StevinLevina StevinFrederic Stevin
Simon Stevin/Children