math scavenger hunt (history of math part 2)

8/9/2019 Math Scavenger Hunt (History of Math Part 2)

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History of Math Project, Part 2: Scavenger Hunt Anna Messina The answers to the following questions can be found in section 3.1.

! The "gy#tian hierogly#hic syste$ of nu$eration, one of the oldest and $ost

#ri$itive ty#es of nu$eration syste$s, dates bac% to when&

a! To about '((( )!*!

2! +hat is the significance of the hind Pa#yrus& +hat was the %ey to translationof the hind Pa#yrus&

a. Unlike the straightforward accounting of property and events common to

Egyptian tombs, the Rhind Papyrus has inscribed on it 85 mathamatical

problems and solutions involving addition, subtraction, multiplication,

division, and geometry. The key to translation of the papyrus was the

Rosetta Stone.

'! -a$e four #laces that o$an nu$erals are used today!

a. Buildings, Clocks, in Books, and the Super bowl Logo

The answers to the following questions can be found in section 3.2

.! +hat is the $ost co$$on ty#e on nu$eration syste$ used in the world today&

a. The place-value system

/! +hat eighteenth0century $athe$atician, s#ea%ing of the #ositional #rinci#le, said1The idea is so si$#le that this very si$#licity is the reason for our not beingsufficiently aware of how $uch attention it deserves!1

a! Pierre Simon, Marquis de Laplace

! +hat civili3ation is credited with the invention of the 3ero and the other sy$bolsused in our syste$!

a. The Hindus in India

4! How did the Hindu0Arabic nu$erals and the #ositional syste$ of nu$erationrevolutioni3e $athe$atics&

a. It made addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division much easier to

learn and very practical to use.

5! +ho were %nown as the 1algorists!1



a. The first group of mathematicians who computed with the Hindu-Arabic

system rather than with pebbles or beads on a wire.

6! +hat civili3ation develo#ed the oldest %nown nu$eration syste$ that rese$bled a #lace0value syste$ and when&

a. The Babylonians in about 2500 B.C.


(! The 7ree%s often thought of nu$bers as having hu$an qualities! The nu$bers25. and 22( are considered friendly nu$bers! +hy&

a. Because each number was the sum of the other number’s proper factor.

! More than 2((( years ago, the ancient 7ree%s develo#ed a technique for

deter$ining which nu$bers are #ri$e nu$bers and which are not! +hat is thistechnique called&

a. Sieve of Eratosthenes

2! +ho #roved that there is no largest #ri$e nu$ber& +hen&

a. The Greek mathematician Euclid, more than 2000 years ago.

The answers to the following questions can be found in section4.8.

'! +ho is credited with introducing the Hindu0Arabic nu$ber syste$ into "uro#e!

a. Fibonacci

The answers to the following questions can be found in section 5.1.

.! 8n $athe$atics, what is a google&

a. It is the name of a very large number: 10100. In 1938, Edward Kasner

named the number 10100 a googol.


/! 9ne of the #roble$s in the hind Pa#yrus translates to 1Aha, its whole, itsseventh, it $a%es 6! +hat does the word Aha re#resent& Setu# and solve this #roble$!

a. The word Aha is not an exclamation, it represents the

unknown quantity.




! +hat civili3ation is credited with the first treat$ent of 7eo$etry as ascience& How did this civili3ation a##ly geo$etry&

a. The Nile Valley of ancient. The Egyptians used geometry to measure land

and to build pyramids and other structures.

4! The word geo$etry is derived fro$ what two 7ree% words& State their $eanings

a. It is derived from the Greek words: ge meaning earth, and metron,

meaning measure.

5! +hy is #lane geo$etry also called Euclidean geometry&

a. Euclid laid the foundation for plane geometry. Named after him comes,Euclidean geometry.

The answers to the following questions can be found in section 7.3!

6! The Pythagorean theore$ is one of the $ost fa$ous theore$s of all ti$e! +hatancient civili3ation %new about this theore$ ((( years before Pythagoras&

a. The ancient Babylonians in about 1600 B.C.


2(! 8n Ancient )abylonia, as early as 2((( )!*!, te$#les were considered safede#ositories for assets! +hy&

a. It was believed that these sacred places enjoyed the special protection of

the gods and were not likely to be robbed.

2! The wor% bank is derived fro$ the 8talian word banca $eaning 1board1!

a! +hat board is it referring to&

i. It refers to the counting boards used by merchants.

b! +hat ha##ened to dishonest $oney0changers in the $ar%et#lace&

i. They had their boards smashed to prevent them from continuing in

business.

c! +hat did the word bankrupt originally $ean&



i. “a broken (ruptured) board”

22! How did )ritish ban%s record a$ount of loans and de#osits #rior to 52&a. They used tally sticks to record the amounts of loans and deposits. The

tallies were flat pieces of wood. The amount was recorded as notches,

different values represented by different widths.

2'! or $ost of hu$an history, the #ractice of charging interest on $oney borrowed,or usury, was considered not only i$$oral, but a cri$e! +hy&

a. Because a peasant or farmer could literally be enslaved if payments could

not be made. Charging interest over time was considered “selling time”.


2.! +ho saida! 1The $ost #owerful force in the universe is co$#ound interest!1

b! 1Money $a%es $oney and the $oney that $oney $a%es $a%es$ore $oney!1

i. Albert Einstein

2/! DID YOU KNOW , in 2, Peter ;u Minuit traded beads and blan%et <valued at=2.> to the -ative A$erican inhabitants of Manhattan 8sland for the island! +hatwould the invest$ent be worth in 2(2 if at that ti$e the =2. had been invested at? interest co$#ounded annually&

a. $140,693,888,847


2! The study of #robability originated fro$ the study of ga$es ofchance! Archeologists have found artifacts used in ga$es of chance dating bac% to'((( )!*! by what civili3ation&

a! "gy#t

math scavenger hunt (history of math part 2)

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