Who do you think made the most important contributions to mathematics, and why?

Question

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Answer 1

Isaac Newton for Calculus and Physics.

Answer 2

Pythagoras for producing his theorem about right triangles.  It shows up everywhere in mathematics.

Abu Kamil and the other Arabs who invented algebra.  They also invented the common numbering system we use today.  It is much easier to calculate with Arabic numerals than with Roman numerals.

The Sumerians who invented written accounting.

The Mayans who invented zero.

Euclid who created plane geometry.

Archimedes who invented integral calculus long before Newton and Leibnitz were born.  This was determined recently by examination of a parchment on which he wrote down the means of calculating areas by adding infinitesmals.

Unfortunately, this knowledge died with him.  We could much further ahead in science if his calculus had been propagated over two thousand years ago.