The Crest of the Peacock

I've never really thought about how history was written, I have just always taken all history I have ever learned to be fact. This is why the first point that stuck out to me was that history is written by winners, which makes total sense when you think about it. This can relate to Math, war, science, or anything of the such. When one civilization conquers another it can easily force its history and way of living upon the other. 

I was also very interested to read about how theories such as the Pythagorean theory took years upon years to come up with. It is a very selfless act if you think about it, dedicating your life to something that will be used by many generations after you. I'm sure it is also a very rewarding task, knowing that although you may die that your theorem will live on. 

Lastly, I thought that the portion that focussed on the Mayans was very interesting. It is fascinating how the Mayans and Babylons from ancient Mesopotamia utilized a similar math system and figures. They were also the "inventors" of the number zero. I put inventors in quotations because of course zero was always there, but the Mayans were the first to quantify it and use it in math. This is yet another part of this reading I never thought about before, how had no one "invented" zero before then? Quite interesting.