d other feasts, and for assisting people in matters of the calendar in personal affairs (Smith & Ginsburg 3-4). Medical practitioners primarily used astrology and astronomy. In general, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a very low level of mathematics was required, and mathematics made its progress through innovative individuals rather than through schools.
In the eighteenth century, education began to be more widely available, although many people were opposed to it because "it made boys lazy and dissatisfied with farm life, and led to religious skepticism" (Smith & Ginsburg 15). During this time period a small number of colleges were established, which later became universities--Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Columbia, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth. College work included algebra, geometry, trigonometry, astronomy, and theory of music, which was considered a part of mathema
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