The history of mathematics is a science that studies the origin and development of mathematical concepts, mathematical methods and mathematical ideas, as well as their connection with social politics, economy and general culture. The development of mathematics is by no means smooth sailing. The history of mathematics is a record of the struggles of mathematicians to overcome difficulties and overcome crises. It is a history that contains rich mathematical ideas. The discovery of irrational quantities, the creation of calculus and non-Euclidean geometry, and even the proof of Fermat's last theorem, etc., were all finally discovered after going through twists and turns and hardships. There are countless such examples in the history of mathematics. The profound philosophy contained in this struggle cannot be easily obtained by studying the theorems "packaged" in ordinary textbooks. A scholar once collected more than 900 remarks about the nature of mathematics and wrote the book "Mathematicians Talk about the Nature of Mathematics". There are different opinions and views in the book, but mathematicians all believe that understanding the history of mathematics, including the lives and deeds of some outstanding mathematicians, will help absorb various mathematical experiences and understand A variety of different mathematical ideas and perspectives to explore the essence of mathematics. It can be seen that the history of mathematics is not simply a chronicle of mathematical achievements. ?

So do only those who study mathematics need to understand the history of mathematics? Or is it that understanding the history of mathematics is only beneficial to those who study and research mathematics? ?

As a culture, mathematical science is not only an important part of the entire human culture, but also an important force in advancing human culture. It is closely related to many other disciplines, and is even the foundation and growth point of many disciplines, playing a huge role in the development of human civilization. From the history of mathematics, mathematics and astronomy have always been closely related. The discovery process of Neptune is a good example; it is also inseparable from physics. Newton, Descartes and others are both famous mathematicians and famous physicists. Home. The History of Mathematics is a must-read for everyone who wishes to understand the entire history of human civilization. When the famous philosopher A. Whitehead criticized previous intellectual historians for neglecting the status of mathematics, he once used a metaphor to illustrate that mathematics is one of the elements in the history of human thought. He said: "If someone says that compiling a history of thought without deeply studying the mathematical concepts of each era is equivalent to removing the role of Hamlet from the play "Hamlet", this statement may be too much. I don’t want to go too far, but it definitely eliminates the role of Ophelia. She is very important to the whole plot? [2]? In terms of intellectual history. In fact, we can say: Without understanding the history of mathematics, it is impossible to fully understand the entire history of human civilization. ?

The role of studying the history of mathematics in the development of mathematics itself is also immeasurable. As we all know, Academician Wu Wenjun, who won the first National Highest Science and Technology Award in 2000, is an advocate of mathematical mechanization research. He achieved fundamentally important results in the research on explicit classes and embedded classes, and has been widely used in a variety of problems. The method he proposed to use computers to prove geometric theorems is fundamentally different from the commonly used methods based on mathematical logic. It shows incomparable superiority and has changed the face of automatic inference research internationally. It is called a pioneering work in the field of automatic inference. And thus received the Herbrand Award for Outstanding Achievement in Automated Inference. When analyzing the achievements, Professor Wu Wenjun pointed out, “We followed the inspiration of ancient Chinese mechanized mathematics, transformed geometry into algebra, and transformed non-mechanized geometric theorem proofs into the processing of polynomial equations, thereby realizing machine proofs of geometric theorems. "There are countless examples of people who have carefully studied mathematical ideas and used them to guide mathematical research and achieved significant results. Even for the teaching of advanced mathematics, the role played by the history of mathematics cannot be underestimated. ?

If the entire mathematics is compared to a big tree, then elementary mathematics is the root of the tree, the various branches of mathematics are the branches, and the main part of the trunk is calculus. This reflects the importance of calculus and its relationship with various subjects.

We believe that for teachers of advanced mathematics, if they are familiar with the lives, achievements, academic attitudes, academic methods, anecdotes, etc. of mathematical figures, it will be beneficial to the teaching of advanced mathematics without any harm, and they will definitely teach advanced mathematics. Mathematics is taught more vividly, interestingly and philosophically. For many students who are studying advanced mathematics, once they understand the academic achievements and moral character of these mathematical seniors, they will be inspired by them, and then they will increase their interest in learning and achieve greater results.