What is the history of rational numbers?

Answer 1

The history of rational numbers goes way back to the beginning of historical times. It is believed that knowledge of rational number precedes history but no evidence of this survives today. The earliest evidence is in the Ancient Egyptian document the Kahun Papyrus. Ancient Greeks also worked on rational numbers as a part of their number theory. Euclid's elements dates to around 300 BC. Indian mathematicians also worked on rational numbers. This is documented in different texts but the most important is probably the Sthananga Sutra which dates back to around the second century BC.