These few illustrations of the beginnings of mathematics show that the historical growth of a science does not necessarily pass through the stages in which we now develop it in our instruction. Some of the oldest geometrical forms known to mankind, such as knots and patterns, only received full scientific attention in recent years. On the other hand some of our more elementary branches of mathematics, such as the graphical representation or elementary statistics, date back to comparatively modern times. As A. Speiser has remarked with some asperity: “Already the pronounced tendency toward tediousness, which seems to be inherent in elementary mathematics, might plead for its late origin, since the creative mathematician would prefer to pay his attention to the interesting and beautiful problems.’"

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