COURSE

SME430: HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS

DATE TOPIC
04/27/10 BIG IDEAS
1
Itinerary
SIRS
Announcements
Biographies
Timeline
Finishing “Let’s Make a Deal”
Discussion on Reading
Break
Jigsaw Review
Closing

2
 Portfolio Check Points
Portfolio Checks

10 points - Biographies & Timeline

20 points - Portfolio Check #1

20 points - Portfolio Check #2

+ 10 points - Portfolio Check #3

60 points - Total Portfolio Points

3
Portfolio Check #3
Biography Facts from Weeks 13-15
Hilbert, Riemann, Lagrange, Pascal, Laplace,
Fermat, Cardano, Descartes, Cantor, Châtelet

Activities
Buffon’s Needle Activity
Calculus Activities
Today’s Jigsaw Review

Class Notes from Weeks 13-15

(Timelines & Biographies from Weeks 13-15)

4
Final Exam
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010, 5:45pm - 7:45pm
C214 Wells Hall (This Classroom)
Computer Lab (TBA)

Bring Laptops
We’ll try to bring several extension cords, but
there probably won’t be enough for everyone to
plug in.
Charge your computers before you come.

Part 1 - Given today, due by the Final

Part 2 - Essay (History of Mathematics) - 1 hour
Part 3 - Math (Historical Math Problems) - 1 hour

5
RENÉ DESCARTES GEORG CANTOR ÉMILIE DU CHÂTELET
BIOGRAPHIES
6
TIMELINE
1800 A.D. -2000 A.D.
7
 ONE OF THE GREATEST WORKS IN THE HISTORY OF
~300 MATHEMATICS WAS EUCLID’S THE ELEMENTS.
BC APPROXIMATELY WHEN WAS THE ELEMENTS FIRST
PUBLISHED?
MANY MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS (SUCH AS ZENO’S
1680 PARADOXES) WERE ABLE TO BE EXPLAINED WITH
AD THE USE OF CALCULUS. APPROXIMATELY WHEN WAS
CALCULUS INVENTED?

FIBONACCI’S LIBER ABACI IS CREDITED WITH

1202 INTRODUCING THE HINDU-ARABIC PLACE VALUE
AD DECIMAL SYSTEM AND ARABIC NUMERALS TO
EUROPE. WHEN WAS LIBER ABACI PUBLISHED?
WHILE THE USE OF “0” AS A PLACEHOLDER WAS
SOMEWHAT COMMON, THE NOTION OF 0 AS A
7th
Century NUMBER IN ITSELF TOOK MUCH LONGER TO BE
ACCEPTED. APPROXIMATELY WHEN DID 0 START
BEING USED AS A NUMBER?
8
 Let’s Make a Deal - Rules
• Host offers you 3 doors
• 1 door has great prize
• 2 doors have nothing
• After making your choice, the host (who
knows where the good prize is) opens
one of the doors you didn’t choose and
reveals one of the empty doors.

• The host then gives you the option to

switch your door if you want to, or you
can stay with your original door.

• What do you do?

9
 Class Results
•Of the 547 wins, ~65% came
from switching and ~35% came
Win Lose Total from staying

Stay 194 277 471

•Of the 478 losses, ~42% came
from switching and ~58% came
from staying
Switch 353 201 554
•Of the stayings, ~41% produced
wins, and ~59% produced losses
Total 547 478 1025
•Of the switches, ~64% produced
wins, and ~36% produced losses

10
 What’s going on here?

This chart shows what all

possible outcomes of the
game are

Blue = Stay to win

Red = Switch to win

From http://math.ucsd.edu/~crypto/Monty/montybg.html

11
The key to this advantage

What happens when the

host doesn’t know where
the good prize is?

From http://math.ucsd.edu/~crypto/Monty/montybg.html

12
 Marilyn vos Savant

Listed in 1986 Guinness Book of World Records

as having the highest IQ
Columnist in Parade Magazine
Asked question in 09/09/90 column about
Monty Hall problem.
http://www.marilynvossavant.com/index.php

13
Discussion
(Sketch 24 - Logic)
What does logic mean to you?
How is mathematics and logic related?

Give an example of the equivalence not(P and Q)

<-> not (P) or not Q)

Give an example of the equivalence not(P or Q) <-

> not (P) and not(Q)

14
Truth Table (And)
A B A^B A B A*B

T T T 1 1 1

T F F 1 0 0

F T F 0 1 0

F F F 0 0 0

15
Truth Table (Addition)
A B A&B A B XOR

1 1 0 T T F

1 0 1 T F T

0 1 1 F T T

0 0 0 F F F

16
~(P^Q) <=> (~P) V (~Q)
P Q P^Q ~(P^Q) ~P ~Q ~P V ~Q

T T T F F F F

T F F T F T T

F T F T T F T

F F F T T T T

17
~(P V Q) <=> (~P)^(~Q)
P Q P V Q ~(P V Q) ~P ~Q ~P ^ ~Q

T T T F F F F

T F T F F T F

F T T F T F F

F F F T T T F

18
Discussion
(Sketch 25 - Infinity)
If we wanted to see if every student in our class
had a desk to sit in, how could we find out besides
counting the number of students and counting the
number of desks?

How did society react to the idea of infinity?

Do you think the size of the set of odd numbers is

the same as the size of the set of even numbers?
Support your claim with some of Cantor’s ideas.

19
 Hilbert Hotel
15

14

13

12

The Hilbert Hotel has an infinite

11

10

number of floors with one room per 9

floor. 8

Can you find a way to assign an 6

infinite number of football players
to individual rooms? 5

3
11 12 13 14 15
7 8 9 10 2
4 5 6
2 3 1
1
20
 Hilbert Hotel
15 15

14
14
13
13

12

Cont’d
12
11
11
10
10
9
9
8
8

If all the rooms are filled, can you 7

7

find a way to make space for the 6

6
water boy who wasn’t traveling with 5
the team? 5
4
4

3
3

0 2
2

1 1

21
 Hilbert Hotel
15 15

14
14
13
13

12

Cont’d
12
11
11
10
10
9
9
8
8

If all the rooms are filled, can you 7

7

find a way to make space for the 6

6
second string team players (also an 5
infinite number of them)? 5
4
4

3
3
-11 -12 -13 -14 -15
-7 -8 -9 -10 2
2
-4 -5 -6
-2 -3 1 1
-1
22
What if we need to make room for the first string, second
string, etc.? (There are an infinite number of strings.)

1/1 1/2 1/3 1/4 1/5 1/6 1/7

2/1 2/2 2/3 2/4 2/5 2/6 2/7

3/1 3/2 3/3 3/4 3/5 3/6 3/7

4/1 4/2 4/3 4/4 4/5 4/6 4/7

5/1 5/2 5/3 5/4 5/5 5/6 5/7

23
Is there a mapping from the natural
numbers onto the real numbers?
Natural Numbers Real Numbers
1 0.159863982398473...
2 0.200000000000000...
3 0.353535353535353...
4 0.121232343454565...
5 0.999999999999999...
6 0.162738956909748...
7 0.123456789098765...
8 0.697342974218746...
9 0.141592635064398...
10 0.784920270986231...
11 0.367836783678367...
12 0.400400400400400... 24
BREAK
BACK IN 10 MINUTES
25
Review Jigsaw
In your first group, take your assigned strand and
identify the following:
Big Ideas & Themes for your strand
Include justification of why these are big ideas
(either historical justification or general
justification)
Common vocabulary for your strand
The historical development of your strand
Class activities (or other ideas) for your strand
Big names in your strand
How this strand relates to other strands
Historically & Generally
26
 Arithmetic

Geometry (Euclidean)

Geometry (Non-Euclidean)

Algebra (Linear & Quadratic)

Algebra (Cubic & Quartic) & Trigonometry

Calculus

Statistics

27
Homework
Everyone is getting 10 points for Homework 15

Check your Grades

Everything posted except HW14, Portfolio #3,

Participation Points, & Final Exam

Final Exam Part 1

Due by the start of the Final (Tuesday, May 4th

@ 5:45pm)

Dropbox on ANGEL

28
 Final Exam Question
Pick one historical mathematical topic that was of
interest to you. Discuss why it was of interest to you, and
describe how you think this knowledge might be useful
in teaching mathematics.
(Historical Mathematical Topics - The beginnings of mathematical probability,
different algebraic representations used throughout history, the difference between
Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, mathematical rigor (definitions, axioms,
postulates, etc.), the motivation/beginning of the Cartesian plane, zero and
negative numbers (their importance throughout the history), rational numbers, etc.)

We’re looking for justification and examples from the course material

29
 • What does logic mean to you?

o How is mathematics and logic related?

Logic is using data or statistics to reach a reasonable conclusion. (Well thought out).

Using knowns and assumptions to get to new ideas.

Logic deals with using step by step processing (as opposed to skipping over
mathematical details)

• Give an example of the equivalence not(P and Q) <-> not (P) or not Q)

You can’t do (A & B) is the same as not doing A or not doing B

P=I am a boy

Q=I like baseball

I am not (a boy who likes baseball) same as not being a boy or not liking baseball.

P=Go to store

Q=Got to movies

Not going to (store and movies) same as not going to store or not going to movies.

• Give an example of the equivalence not(P or Q) <-> not (P) and not(Q)

P=She is old

Q=She is grumpy

She is not (old or grumpy) is the same as she is not old and she is not grump.
 • If we wanted to see if every student in our class had a desk to sit in, how
could we find out besides counting the number of students and counting the
number of desks?

Have everyone go sit in a desk (see if there’s any of either left over).

Assigning labels to desks and to students.

(One-to-one correspondence)

• How did society react to the idea of infinity?

Church believed that infinity was a challenge and heresy.

• Do you think the size of the set of odd numbers is the same as the size of the
set of even numbers? Support your claim with some of Cantor’s ideas.
 Review Jigsaw
4-27-2010

ARITHMETIC
• Big Ideas
o Number Systems
o Algorithms of arithmetic
 Egyptian Multiplication
 Naplers Bones
 Roman Multiplication
 Russian Multiplication
o Base systems
o Positional structure
o Zero
o Fractions
o Types of Numbers
o Negative Numbers
o Imaginary Numbers

• Vocabulary
o Types of Number
 Natural
 Whole
 Integers
 Rational
 Real
 Complex
 Irrational Imaginary
o Base value
o Negative

• Historical Development
o Fibonacci – brought the number system to the west
o Groups from around the word made huge advances in mathematics.

• Class Activities
o Different methods of arithmetic algorithms
o Hops on the number line
o

• Big Names
o Brahmagupta and Francis Maseres impacted knowledge about zero
o Fibonacci – brought the number system to the west
• How does it relate to other strands
o Recognize zero as a number made and made the field of algebra possible
which is integrated within all other fields
o You need it to do most other fields in math. It is the building blocks.
 EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY
Big Ideas:
• Euclid’s Elements
o Step-by-step using logic
• Pythagorean Theorem
o Originated from needs in land use
o Several proofs in different cultures
• Proof
• Euler’s Formula
o Number of Faces + Number of Vertices - Number of Edges = 2
o Helps to determine whether a shape is a convex polyhedron

Class Activities:
• Euclid’s Elements and some Euclidean Geometry
• Pythagorean Theorem Proofs
• Solids with Modular Origami

Common Vocabulary:
• Proof
• Plane
• Pythagorean Theorem
• Convex/concave
• Platonic solid
• Pi
• Hypotenuse
• Postulate
• Definition
• Theorem
• Common notion

Historical Development:
• Euclid wrote Elements
o Defined entire field of plane geometry
o Created consistent theorems
• Natural uses for Pythagorean Theorem helped cultures independently discover
theorem
• Euclid and Pythagoreans worked on discovering the platonic solids

Big Names:
• Euclid
• Pythagoras
• Euler

Relation to Other Topics:

• Relates to Algebra through coordinate geometry
 NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY
There are three brands of geometry: Euclidean (exactly 180 degrees), Non-Euclidean
(Lobachevskian)(less than 180 degrees), and Riemannan geometry (greater than 180
degrees)

Euclidean geometry is on the surface of a plane and non-Euclidean is not on the surface
of a plane.

Def: geometry based upon one or more postulates that differ from those of Euclid, esp.
from the postulate that only one line may be drawn through a given point parallel to a
given line.

Lines that are less than or greater than 180 degrees.

Big Names:
- Riemann-
- Euclid- Euclid’s Postulate
- Lobachevsky
- Gauss

Big Ideas:
The geometries are distinguished by how they treat parallel lines.

Vocabulary:
- Parallel Lines
- Euclids’ Parallel Postulate
- Playfair’s form of the Parallel Postulate- Through a point not on a line there is exactly
one line parallel to the given line.
- Great Circles

Historical Development:
By the mid 19th Century, there were three distinguished strands of geometry.

Gauss
(1810) Explored can there be a system of plane geometry in which through a point not on
the line there is more than one line parallel to the given point.
(1829) This investigation was published by Lobachevsky.

This came from trying to prove that the parallel postulate was a theorem and not a
postulate.

Class Activities:
The world/globe activity- west wing video

Relationship:
Euclidean Geometry was used to relate to Non-Euclidean Geometry.
 ALGEBRA: LINEAR AND QUADRATIC
Big Ideas and Themes:
• Functions in the first and second powers
• Linear important because what happens naturally in the real world
• Quadratic is important because it is the first thing that considers both positive and
negative
• Uses arithmetic- algebra is a generalization of arithmetic

Common Vocabulary:
• Symbolic
• Rhetoric
• False position method
• Quadratic equation

Historical Development
• Rhetoric to symbolic style
• With the invention of zero-better able to solve quadratic equations, recognized as
easier to set it equal to zero

Class Activities
• Linear modeling activity

Big Names
• Pythagoras
• Al-Khwarizmi
• Harriot
• Descartes

Relates to other strands

• Led to cubic and quartic equations
• Imaginary numbers
• Basis for other strands of mathematics- Calculus, Geometry
 ALGEBRA- CUBIC AND QUARTIC AND
TRIGONOMETRY
- Big ideas
o Algebra
o Formula to solve cubic and quartic equations.
o 14 different kinds of cubic equations.
- Common vocabulary
o Cubic
o Quartic
o Sine
o Cos
o Tangent
- The historical development
o It was competitive, caused mathematicians to be secretive.
o Still didn’t use zero or negative numbers
- Class activities
o Seeing someone else’s eyes in the mirror : trig
o Ladder against the wall activity
- Big names in your strand
o Algebra
 Al- Khayammi produced a solution method to the cubic equation
 Rafael Bombelli showed that it is possible to work with square roots of negative
numbers and still get reasonable answers.
- How this strand relates to other strands
o Historically and generally
 CALCULUS
• Big Ideas
o Area under a curve
o Changing rates
o Break area down into smaller parts

• Names
o Libniz
o Newton
o Cauchy
o The two Bernulies

• Class Activities
o Burfons needle
o Calculus Packet

• Vocab
o Integral
o Dirvitive
o Method of exhaustion
o Convergence
o Divergence
o Limit

• Historical Development
o Yohan Bernulie formed the foundation of calculus of variations
o Libniez developed integral notation
o Cauchy developed a standard for the rigor of calculus

• Related Areas
o Geometry - finding area and volume
o Algebra – the use of slope
o Analytical Geometry
o Physics
 STATISTICS
-Big Ideas
• Logic and chance
• Statistics and probability developed together as two closely related fields
-Common vocabulary for statistics
• Theory of probability
• Standard deviation
• Logic
• Data
• Margin of error
-Historical Development of statistics:
• Finding out probability in gambling games
• Statistics comes from state: it was it was coined in the 18th century to mean the
scientific study of the state and quickly shifted to focus on political and
demographic data of interest to the government
Class activities for statistics
• Let’s Make a deal
• Buffon Needle Activity
Big Names in statistics
• Bernoulli-Sharpened Cardano’s Ideas of the law of large numbers
• Cardano- Law of Large Numbers
• Pascal and Fermat-Theory of Probability
• De Morgan- Truth tables
Statistics related to the other strands, historically or generally?
• One of the later developed strands of mathematics.
• Statistics utilizes graphing