Understanding the history of mathematics is an important part of understanding and learning modern mathematics, improving academic taste and cultivating academic ambition. The course will introduce the history of mathematics, including fundamental problems, key figures, and major developments.

For more than 2000 years, every leap in human understanding of the universe and the laws of the universe depends on a better measurement of the distance of more distant celestial bodies. This lecture will review the human method of ranging celestial bodies for 2000 years, and take you from the Earth Moon system to the era of galactic cosmology.