Who started using math and why did they?

Answer 1

The earliest humans who had any kind of society or agriculture immediately started

using math, although it was a long time before they knew what to call it.

-- Before money was invented, goods were traded (called "barter"). Maybe I had chickens

and you had goats. In order to trade for what each of us needs, we would agree on

=> how much goat-milk is worth one chicken, and then if I was planning a Super Bowl party,

I'd have to figure out

=> how much goat-milk I'll need for 38 drunk cavemen, and then we have to agree on

=> how to measure that much goat-milk, and you have to determine

=> whether the number of goats you have can produce that much by Sunday afternoon,

and finally, we have to agree on

=> how many chickens you'll want for it.

-- If your daughter wants my son, maybe I'll agree to it if you throw in a piece of land

in the deal. I have to know

=> how much land I want, and

=> how to describe it to you, and we have to agree on

=> how to measure it.

-- We make a deal to get together the next day and measure out the land together.

You're a busy man, and you're not about to hang around the field all day waiting for me

to show up. We need to agree on

=> a method for describing different parts of the day, so that we can make an appointment.

Both of us need to know

=> when to leave the cave in order to reach the field on time, and we need to know

=> how long the job will take us in the field, so that

=> we don't miss our afternoon tee-time at the club, or our 7:30 dinner reservations

with our women.

All of these processes require a good deal of math.