80-110 The Nature of Mathematical Reasoning

Thursday, July 6 2000

Quiz 1

  1. What did the Egyptians use to construct a right angle?
  2. A cord with knots. (Osserman, page 4).

  3. Describe in a sentence the relation between Pythagoras and the Pytagorean theorem.
  4. Pythagoras (or one of his followers) stated the theorem in general and gave a proof for it. Implicitly it was well known already to the Egyptians and Babylonians. (Osserman, page 4).

  5. Who is the "first philosopher"?
  6. Thales of Miletus. (Lecture #2, 7/5/00)

  7. What is the author's explanation for the fact that Chinese children can in average recite longer series of numbers than American children of the same age?
  8. The Chinese number system is superior: it is more systematic and there are less and shorter words for numbers. (Dehaene, page 102-106).

  9. Say when the last ice age was, or why was it mentioned in class.
  10. It was mentioned because around that time people started to settle, thus having more time and more needs for mathematics. The last ice age was 12000-10000 B.C. (Lecture #2, 7/5/00)