The Story of

Mathematics

Name:___________________________________ No:__________

The Language Of The Universe & The Origins Of Mathematics

Professor Marcus Du Sautoy describes himself as a ___________________. He
believes that this is what Mathematicians are really trying to do.
What was the main reason that Mathematics began?
_____________________________________________________________________
What did the Egyptians first use to calculate measurement?
_____________________________________________________________________
The Egyptians were responsible for creating the ________________ system in Maths.

About 2700 BC Egyptians introduced

the earliest fully developed base
10 numeration system.

What was the main problem with this number system?

_____________________________________________________________________
The Rhind papyrus was recorded by a scribe named Achmez around ____________.
The Horus Eye was the first hint at a ________________ series.
Mathematicians from which continent discovered the concept of an infinite series?
_____________________________________________________________________
Name the famous ratio used by the Egyptians when they built the pyramids.
_____________________________________________________________________

Describe how the Egyptians perfected right angles of pyramids.

_____________________________________________________________________
Name the famous Greek Mathematician who developed this concept and how long
after the Egyptians.______________________________________________________

The Great Sphinx of Giza,

with the Pyramid of Khafre
in the background

Where did the next huge development of Maths (after the Egyptian era) take place?
_____________________________________________________________________
These people were commonly known as the _______________________________.
Today, our number system uses powers of ten for counting, but their number system
used powers of _________________________________________________________
The Babylonian calendar was based on the cycles of the ________________________
Farmers were always interested in calculating the area of their land. This is what lead
to the creation of _______________________________________________________
In modern Mathematics, what application would we use to solve such a problem?
_____________________________________________________________________

Why did the Babylonian era of Mathematics end?

_____________________________________________________________________
Who gave us the power of proof in Mathematics?
_____________________________________________________________________
When Professor Du Sautoy describes about Greek Mathematics, he says that it has
always been ____________________ and __________________________.
Pythagoras founded a school in ___________________ in the 6th Century BC.

Very little is known about Pythagoras

because none of his writings have survived.
Many of the accomplishments credited
to Pythagoras mayactually have been
accomplishments of his colleagues and
successors

Explain briefly what Pythagoras theorem states.

_____________________________________________________________________
Pythagoras also made a significant discovery in the field of music. What was it?
_____________________________________________________________________
The problem of the diagonal on the triangle was one which frustrated the Greeks. Why
could they not express it as a fraction?
_____________________________________________________________________
Name the famous Philosopher and mathematician who founded the Academy School
in Athens in 387 B.C.
_____________________________________________________________________
What did he describe as being the key to unlocking the universe?
_____________________________________________________________________

A regular tetrahedron is one in which the four triangles

are regular, or "equilateral", and is one of the Platonic solids

What did the tetrahedron and the cube represent?

_____________________________________________________________________
What city in Egypt became the heart of mathematics after the Greek era?
_____________________________________________________________________
The narrator describes one famous mathematician as his hero. What is his name?
_____________________________________________________________________
What is the name of his most famous textbook and what does it describe?
_____________________________________________________________________
Name the famous mathematician who joined Euclids school.
_____________________________________________________________________
Archimedes contributions to Mathematics were so great
that he was even represented on postage stamps
in Italy. Some of his inventions are seen in the picture.
Give his main area of interest and how he used these items?
_____________________________________________________________________
Archimedes described a circle as being what?
_____________________________________________________________________
His approximation gave him the first accurate value for what important symbol?
_____________________________________________________________________

The Genius Of The East

The Great Wall of China
is approximately 6,400 km
long. Almost 3 million people
died during its construction

When did the building of the Great Wall of China begin?

_________________________________________________________
Give two reasons why the Chinese needed mathematics to build the Great Wall.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Chinese did not have a symbol for the number ___________. They believed that
odd numbers were male and that even numbers were
_______________________________________
Chinese artwork showing some of the
symbols used in ancient Chinese mathematics

The Chinese people also developed the first version of the popular number game we
know today as ____________________________. They called it the
_________________________________
Draw the magic square in the box.

Name the famous mathematics textbook written by the Chinese and give its central
theme.
_____________________________________________________________________

Today we know these equations to be called ____________________________

equations.
Quadratic equations involve numbers which are
_______________________________________
was interested in ________________________ . This method was not discovered in
the West until ___________________ by
__________________________________________
What was the main problem with Chins technique?
_____________________________________________________________________
The narrator describes mathematics as being an ________________________ science.
What country changed the face of mathematics after China?
_____________________________________________________________________

Indian mathematics used trigonometry to make

calculations about the planets and the world around us.
These were the first major steps in linking mathematics
with astronomy.

The Indians were known to be using a decimal system by the middle of the ________
century.
They also discovered the number ___________________ in the ________________
century. They believed that one divided by zero is equal to
______________________________________
The Indian mathematicians also discovered ___________________________
numbers.

Quadratic equations always have _____________ solutions, one which can be

_______________
This was later discovered in the West in ___________by French mathematician
______________
The Indian mathematicians also made major developments in
____________________________
Name two areas where the sine function is commonly used today.
_____________________________________________________________________
How much further from the earth is the sun than the moon?
_____________________________________________________________________
Madhava, a famous Indian Mathematician, made huge progress on what topic?
_____________________________________________________________________
The symbol is the ratio of
______________________________________________________
Madhavas approximation of was more accurate
than anyone who had attempted it before him. He
used the concept of infinite series to get an exact value.

Mathematics of Ancient Babylonia (now Iraq), once the centre of the Mesopotamian Empire

The Frontiers of Space

An artistic technique known as ____________________ became popular with artists in
Italy. It was used to change objects from ________________________ to
_________________________
Rene Descarte was one of the greatest mathematicians
of all time. He made huge contributions to many areas
and led the way for the beginning of calculus.

Rene Descarte was a famous __________________ mathematician who was also

interested in ____________________________________.
What was the name of his famous textbook and what connection did it make?
_____________________________________________________________________
Who became Descartes main rival during his time as a scholar?
_____________________________________________________________________
Name one of Fermats famous theorems.
_____________________________________________________________________
What is Sir Isaac Newton most famous for discovering?
_____________________________________________________________________
Newton developed a very important concept in mathematics. What was it?
_____________________________________________________________________
Isaac Newton discovered gravity when an apple fell
on his head as he sat under a tree.
If I have seen further than others, it is by standing
upon the shoulders of giants. (Sir Isaac Newton).

Newtons main rival was another great mathematician from Germany. What was his
name?
_____________________________________________________________________

At what age did his developments in differential and integral calculus take place?
_____________________________________________________________________
What credit did the Royal Society give to both Newton and Leibniz?
_____________________________________________________________________
In which years did Newton and Leibniz die?
_____________________________________________________________________
Name the great dynasty (family) of mathematicians who studied in Basel.
_____________________________________________________________________
Give one use of the calculus of variation in the world today.
_____________________________________________________________________
The narrator describes a Swiss mathematician as being the most famous name in
mathematics. What is his name?
_____________________________________________________________________
Euler got a job as a university lecturer in which Russian city?
_____________________________________________________________________

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Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) was arguably the greatest

mathematician of the 18th century and one of the most
prolific of all time. He published a massive total of 886
books and papers throughout his life.

Euler made huge contributions in every field of mathematics at the time, and also
developed a new theory of
___________________________________________________________________
Who does the narrator say is his favorite mathematician of all time?
_____________________________________________________________________
Gauss developed a new set of numbers perpendicular to those on the number line.
These numbers are known as
___________________________________________________________________
What problem did Euclid discover with Euclids geometry?
_____________________________________________________________________
The Romanian mathematician Bolyai developed geometry known today as
_____________________________________________________________________
The famous picture of Janos Bolyai which in fact is actually
a picture of his brother. By the age of 13, he had mastered
calculus and other forms of analytical mechanics,
receiving instruction from his father. He studied at the
Royal Engineering College in Vienna from 1818 to 1822.

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To Infinity and Beyond 20th Century Mathematics

Name two of the great unsolved problems that confronted mathematicians in the 20th
century _______________________________________________________________
How many problems did Hilbert pose which he believed were
crucially important? ___________
David Hilbert - German mathematician who was regarded as
one of the most influential of the 20th century

Name one major contribution to 20th century mathematics by Georg Cantor.

_____________________________________________________________________
By the age of 20, variste Galois was making major
contributions to mathematics and was being described
as a true genius. What stopped him from making further
progress in the 20th century?
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Name one famous female mathematician of the 20th century
_____________________________________________________________________
The Riemann Hypothesis, still unsolved as of today, deals with distribution of
___________ numbers.
Name one idea or topic or problem which you found interesting over the course of this
class, and describe how it has helped you understand mathematics a little better. Does
it have any applications in the real world? What are they?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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