When was math invented?

Mathematics is the basis of all science and has come a long way since humans started counting. But when did people start doing math? The answer is complicated because abstract mathematics is thought to be different from counting — although counting is the foundation of math — and because many advanced types of mathematics, such as calculus, were developed only within the past few hundred years.

The origins of counting
Humans couldn't have mastered complex and abstract math without figuring out how to count first, and evidence suggests our species was counting tens of thousands of years ago.