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History of Science and Mathematics

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    $\begingroup$ If your test is that arithmetic is "scientific" then numerology definitely precedes it since science emerged along with Pythagoreans. But it is more accurate to say that practical and playful/ritualistic uses of numbers developed in parallel, sometimes inseparably, see e.g. I Ching or Babylonian astrology. For prehistoric arithmetical artifacts see hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/3334/… $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 24, 2017 at 2:35
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    $\begingroup$ Numerology is alive and well still today. There are lot of people trying to discover "deep meaning" into numbers. In ancient civilizations, the first speculations about numbers mixed purported "deep meaning" with "scientific" arithmetical meaning (e.g. the property of being prime) of numbers. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 24, 2017 at 9:53
  • $\begingroup$ @Conifold Thanks for the paleolithic ink! Right now I'm working on a combinatorial game, and found this cave etching to be quite compelling, because it's on the floor as opposed to a wall (i.e. raising at least the possibility it could have been a gameboard.) Interesting point is that, in developing a novel set of combinatorial game mechanics, it was the application of metaphors to integers that provided the key insight, not mathematics per se. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 24, 2017 at 19:53
  • $\begingroup$ @MauroALLEGRANZA I find it interesting that mystical terms are still being applied to mathematical concepts, such as with transcendental numbers. I also know that Cantor's work on infinite sets, for instance, carried philosophical as well as mathematical implications. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 24, 2017 at 19:54
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    $\begingroup$ I wonder if there is a record of some number-theoretic properties discovered in the course of practicing numerology. On the other hand, Gematria-- a numerological system based on the Hebrew alphabet-- developed some pretty sophisticated techniques using what we would call recursive procedures, permutations, substitutions etc. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria So one could argue that numerology is a precursor to combinatorics. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 25, 2017 at 18:12