> only made possible because some other person invented the abstraction of averages then that was collectively disseminated to everyone in education
What I find most fascinating about the history of mathematics is that basic concepts such as zero and negative numbers and graphs of functions, which are so easy to teach to students, required so many mathematicians over so many centuries. E.g. Newton figured out calculus because he gave so much thought to the works of Descartes.
Yes, I think "new" ideas (meaning, a particular synthesis of existing ones) are essentially inevitable, and how many people come up with them, and how soon, is a function of how common those prerequisites are.
What I find most fascinating about the history of mathematics is that basic concepts such as zero and negative numbers and graphs of functions, which are so easy to teach to students, required so many mathematicians over so many centuries. E.g. Newton figured out calculus because he gave so much thought to the works of Descartes.
Yes, I think "new" ideas (meaning, a particular synthesis of existing ones) are essentially inevitable, and how many people come up with them, and how soon, is a function of how common those prerequisites are.