Tips on writing a History of Mathematics Essay

Question

I'm a third year maths undergrad currently taking a 'History and Development of Mathematics' module.

As a maths student, you can probably guess my skills at writing an essay are a little (if not very) dusty, and wondered if anyone could give me some tips on how to structure it, and if there is anything vital I need to include?

The title is "What influence did the Pre-Christianity Babylonians and Greeks have in the development of mathematical astronomy?"

Answer 1

If anyone could give me some tips on how to structure it

Babylon

• Babylonian Mathematics
• Babylonian Astronomy $1$
• Babylonian Astronomy $2$
• Babylonian Numerals

Greece (and Egypt, which lies just across the Mediterranean)

• Greek Mathematics
  • Egyptian Geometry $1$
  • Egyptian Geometry $2$
  • Egyptian Algebra
• Greek Mathematicians $1$
• Greek Mathematicians $2$
• Greek Astronomy $0$ — Egyptian Astronomy
• Greek Astronomy $1$
• Greek Astronomy $2$
• Greek Astronomers $1$
• Greek Astronomers $2$
  • Eratosthenes
  • Ptolemy — Post-Christian, but pagan. (Not so sure what you mean by “Pre-Christian”).
  • The Almagest
• Greek Astronomic Inventions
  • The Astrolabe
  • The Antikythera Mechanism

Hope some of this helps.