SME 430: History of Mathematics

Week 6: Greek Geometry (Cont’d)

1
 Itinerary
 Announcements

 Biographies

 Timeline

 Pythagorean Presentations

 Activities (Part 2)

 Discussions

 Go over worksheet

2
 Announcements
 Portfolios Due Next Week

 Everyone
 Mathematician Facts from weeks 3-6
 Completed In-Class Activities
 Arithmetic Journal Entry
 Classroom Notes
 Some
 Biography you Wrote
 Timeline you Presented

3
Zeno of Elea, Augustus De Morgan, Henri Poincaré

Biographies
4
Timeline
5
Pythagorean Theorem Presentations
6
 Activities (Part 2)
Last Name Adamus through Mastin - Computer Lab
Last Name Mech through Zoet - Classroom
7
Discussion
8
bank of a river. The river deposits silt so thatnew land is formed at the
riverside. How is this new fertile soil to be divided up ?

Mevius

F LUMEN
'\ , alluvio

GaIus Lucius Tc u s

FIGURE 1.

A possible solution is to construct the boundariesin the deposit by

Euclid’s Elements
extending in a straightline the boundariesbetween the propertiesin the
old land. This solution however caused trouble and could lead to
conflicts; imagine if in figure 1 Lucius insisted on this procedure! In
fact Bartolus became involved in just such a conflict while on holiday
9
 old boundariesin a straightline we must conclude that he fares badly
FIGURE2. constructed. with Bartolus's rule, for in all the cases in figures 1, 2 and 3 he must
reducehis claims.
Figure 5 shows the manuscriptfrom which this transla
namely from the words ponas duas I
lineas at the end of
perfinduntin puncto .n. in lineFit18. UMEN Interestingtoo is th
line 11: ut probatur per x. primi Euclidis which explic
al Iu vio
Proposition 10 of book 1 of Euclid's Elements. In th
Euclid shows how "to bisect
Ga a
iusgiven finite
Luc iu straight
s line", w
by applyingProposition9 ('To bisect a
FIGURE2.
given rectilineal an

N
G

FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 3.

FIGURE4.

10
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FIGURE5. The constructionof the bisectorby Bartolus. Vaticanlibrary:Barb. Lat.

1398f.164r lower half. Acknowledgement:The Vaticanlibrary.

11
describedmaterial.

Bartolus in the classroom

The goals set for the work in the class (three first-yearclasses of a
Dutch grammar school, pupils about 11 years old who follow a
curriculumof 3 hours of Latin and 4 hours of mathematicsa week) were:
i) to demonstratethe importanceof mathematicsin society;
ii) to show how profitableit can be to work together solving open
problems;
iii) to integratedisciplines (in this case Latin and mathematics)
and more specificallyrelatedto the mathematicscurriculum;
iv) to let pupils discover a number of constructionswith ruler and
compasses (in The Netherlandsthis is no longer a subject in the basic
programmebut it is a very naturalextension of work on symmetry and
reflection);
v) to let pupils solve some juridicalproblemsusing the constructions
thatthey had discoveredearlier.
The project was split into a series of three lessons about ruler and
compass constructionsand a month later a series of five lessons (two of
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 Discussion: Pi
 What is the mathematical definition/description of
pi?
 How have people represented pi throughout
history?
 Why has there been so attention paid to pi
throughout history?

13
Applets for Exploring π
 Monte Carlo JAVA Applet (http://
polymer.bu.edu/java/java/montepi/
montepiapplet.html)
 Archimedes and the Computation of Pi (http://
www.math.utah.edu/~alfeld/Archimedes/
Archimedes.html)
 Riemann Sum (http://www.math.psu.edu/dlittle/
java/calculus/area.html)

14
Discussion: Coordinate
Geometry
 What is the mathematical definition/description of
analytic geometry?
 How has a coordinate system been used
throughout history?
 What new mathematics became available because
of the use of analytic geometry (and the
perpendicular y-axis)?

15
 Real World Examples MO
OTTIIO
ONN

Equiangular
11. The actual width of the water fountain pictured below is 30 cm. The initial point of projection and point
where the water lands are indicated. You will need to make measurements on the photograph to answer the
 following questions.

Spiral

a. What is the maximum height reached by the water?

 Projectile Motion
MO
OTTIIO
ON
b. What is the initial vertical speed of the water?
N

CHAPTER 10: PROJECTILE MOTION

T
c. What is the horizontal speed of the water?
HE
FIRST
HUMAN
cannonbal
l was a
14-year- d. How much time does it take the water to get from the spout to the basin?
old girl named Zazel
who toured with the
P.T. Barnum Circus. A
compressed spring in
the canon launched her
into a path that
resembled that of thee. What is the velocity (speed and direction) of the water when it hits the basin?
 Headlights
water out of a fountain
or the spark from a
welder’s rod or baseball
from Barry Bond’s bat. Figure 10.1: Human Cannonball David Smith is projected to a net 50 m away. His
It wasn’t until I had projectile motion feat, while daring, is well understood. All projectiles (water out
started studying physics of fountains, sparks from fireworks and kicked soccer balls) follow the same
unalterable parabolic path that is 341produced by two simultaneous, yet unrelated
that I noticed something
startling about motions: constant speed horizontally and freefall vertically.
projectiles. Their paths 16
 Worksheet
Counting on Commensurability
Name _____________________________________

Quest for the Golden Ruler—Part 1

5 3
We know that a segment of length 6 feet can be measured as 10 inches, and a segment of length 4
meters can be measured as 75 centimeters. The Pythagoreans, a group of early mathematicians (ca. 550
B.C.), supposed that the counting numbers would always suffice for measurement if the ideal units could be
found, as in the above examples.

271
1. Suppose that you have a blank ruler and a line segment that is as long as your ruler. Also sup-
360
pose that to measure the segment, you divide your blank ruler into 360 equal units that you will call
“jarboos.”
a. How long is your line segment, as measured in jarboos? _______
5
b. Suppose that you have a second line segment that is as long as the ruler. How long is this sec-
6
ond segment if you measure it in jarboos? _______
5
2. Suppose that you have two different line segments, one as long as your ruler from step 1, and the
7
4
other as long as the ruler.
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a. Why would it not be convenient for you to measure these two segments in jarboos?

b. What is the smallest number of equal units into which you would need to divide the ruler if you
wanted to measure both of these segments with whole numbers of units? ________
5893
3. Suppose that you have two other line segments, one of which is as long as the ruler, and the
3798
1379
other is as long as the ruler.
482
a. Could you divide the ruler into yet another set of units that would allow you to measure both of
these segments with whole numbers of those units? _________
b. How would you determine how many units your ruler would have?

You can measure the pairs of line segments in steps 2 and 3 in whole numbers of units as long as you
choose the right units. This result means that the line segments in each pair are commensurable. The
Pythagoreans believed that any two segments are commensurable.
Is this true? Part 2, “That’s Irrational,” continues the investigation.

Navigating through Measurement in Grades 9–12 Copyright © 2005 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc.
www.nctm.org. All rights reserved.

17
Worksheet: Cont’d

18
 Homework
 Portfolios: Bring in or Post URL to Discussion Forum

 Read Sketch:

 #15 - In Perfect Shape (The Platonic Solids) - pp. 131-134

 Read Opening - In the Beginning & Greek Mathematics - pp. 5-24

 Discussion Forum

19
 • What is the mathematical definition/description of pi?

Π=Ratio of circumference of a circle to its diameter

• How have people represented pi throughout history?

Fractions or Mixed numbers - between 3+10/71 and 3+10/70, using the symbolic
symbol pi, decimal approximations, 22/7.

• Why has there been so attention paid to pi throughout history?

Since pi is irrational, we’ll never know all the digits of the decimal. There also is no
patterns found in the digits. Challenge to find more digits. Ratio is used so often (so
popular) because of its relation to a circle. Also, possible discovers await if we can
discover about the nature of irrational numbers within the digits.
Introduction to Radians
In this activity, you’ll use an eye-catching Sketchpad animation to learn about
radians and discover an interesting connection to estimating the value of

SKETCH AND INVESTIGATE

1. Download from ANGEL and open page 1 of Radians.gsp.
2. Press the Animate Points button. Point A will travel along the circle’s radius,
and point B will move along the circle’s circumference.

When point A reaches the circle’s circumference, press the button again to
stop the animation. If your timing is off, you can press the Reset button and try
again.

3. Points A and B move at the same speed. Select the arc traced by point B,
and measure its length. It should be equal, or nearly so, to the radius of
the circle.

To construct a radian, you sweep out an angle whose corresponding arc length is
equal to the radius of the circle. The angle is defined to be one radian.

4. Open page 2 ofthe sketch. Again, press the Animate Points button. This
time, let point B travel around the entire circumference of the circle. Stop
the animation when point B returns to “Start.”

Notice that point A leaves a trace of its path. Each trip that point A makes from
the center of the circle and back produces a petal.

Q1 How many petals are formed during point B’s journey around the
circumference?

3 and a bit extra

Q2 Let r be the radius of the circle. For each petal formed, how far does point B
travel?

2 radians

Q3 Based on your answers to Q1 and Q2, how many lengths of radius r

(approximately) are traced by point B as it moves once around the
circumference?

6 radians and a little bit extra r

Q4 Explainwhy your answer to Q3 makes sense based on the circumference
formula, C=2*π*r.

If there are 6 radians and a bit more in a circle, then take that number and divide
it by 2 getting 3 radians and a bit more which is roughly pi
3.14159265358979323846 radians.

5. Press the Reset button to return points A and B to their

original locations.

6. Start the animation again. This time let the animation

run for a while, and watch as point A traces a
collection of petals. Stop the animation when point A
has filled the circle with evenly spaced petals. Keep
track of how many times point B travels around the
circle.
Q5 How many petals did point A trace? How many times did point B travel around
the circle’s circumference?

22 petals and 7 times around the circle

Q6 Based on your answer to Q5, fill in the blanks in the following statement with
integers:
______44____ radii = _____7_____ circumferences

Q7 Put your statement from Q6 in equation form, letting r = radius and writing
circumference as 2*π*r. Isolate π on one side of the equation.

44 radians = 7C
44r = 7C; C = 2 pi r
44r = 7 (2 pi r)
44/14 = pi

Q8 What fraction do you obtain for π? Is this an exact value of π? If not, where
might the inexactness have occurred?

44/14 = 3.142857, pi = 3.14159265358979323, so no because 7 does not divide

evenly into 22. We have a good approxiamtion but not exact. When looking at the
sketch pad, after 22 petals are created, the points begin to almost trace each other
but it is off a tiny bit.
Introduction to Radians
In this activity, you’ll use an eye-catching Sketchpad animation to learn about
radians and discover an interesting connection to estimating the value of

SKETCH AND INVESTIGATE

1. Download from ANGEL and open page 1 of Radians.gsp.
2. Press the Animate Points button. Point A will travel along the circle’s radius,
and point B will move along the circle’s circumference.

When point A reaches the circle’s circumference, press the button again to
stop the animation. If your timing is off, you can press the Reset button and try
again.

3. Points A and B move at the same speed. Select the arc traced by point B,
and measure its length. It should be equal, or nearly so, to the radius of
the circle.

To construct a radian, you sweep out an angle whose corresponding arc length is
equal to the radius of the circle. The angle is defined to be one radian.

4. Open page 2 ofthe sketch. Again, press the Animate Points button. This
time, let point B travel around the entire circumference of the circle. Stop
the animation when point B returns to “Start.”

Notice that point A leaves a trace of its path. Each trip that point A makes from
the center of the circle and back produces a petal.

Q1 How many petals are formed during point B’s journey around the
circumference?

3 and a bit extra

Q2 Let r be the radius of the circle. For each petal formed, how far does point B
travel?

2 radians

Q3 Based on your answers to Q1 and Q2, how many lengths of radius r

(approximately) are traced by point B as it moves once around the
circumference?

6 radians and a little bit extra r

Q4 Explainwhy your answer to Q3 makes sense based on the circumference
formula, C=2*π*r.

If there are 6 radians and a bit more in a circle, then take that number and divide
it by 2 getting 3 radians and a bit more which is roughly pi
3.14159265358979323846 radians.

5. Press the Reset button to return points A and B to their

original locations.

6. Start the animation again. This time let the animation

run for a while, and watch as point A traces a
collection of petals. Stop the animation when point A
has filled the circle with evenly spaced petals. Keep
track of how many times point B travels around the
circle.
Q5 How many petals did point A trace? How many times did point B travel around
the circle’s circumference?

22 petals and 7 times around the circle

Q6 Based on your answer to Q5, fill in the blanks in the following statement with
integers:
______44____ radii = _____7_____ circumferences

Q7 Put your statement from Q6 in equation form, letting r = radius and writing
circumference as 2*π*r. Isolate π on one side of the equation.

44 radians = 7C
44r = 7C; C = 2 pi r
44r = 7 (2 pi r)
44/14 = pi

Q8 What fraction do you obtain for π? Is this an exact value of π? If not, where
might the inexactness have occurred?

44/14 = 3.142857, pi = 3.14159265358979323, so no because 7 does not divide

evenly into 22. We have a good approxiamtion but not exact. When looking at the
sketch pad, after 22 petals are created, the points begin to almost trace each other
but it is off a tiny bit.