Mathematics

in the
Modern World

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 The course then proceeds to
INTRODUCTI survey ways in which
mathematics provides a tool

ON for understanding
dealing with various aspects
and

of present-day living, such

This course deals with the nature as managing personal
of mathematics, appreciation of finances, in making social
its practical, intellectual and choices appreciating
aesthetic dimensions and geometric designs,
applications of mathematical tools understanding codes used
in daily life. The course begins in data transmission and
with an introduction to the nature security, and dividing limited
of mathematics as an exploration
resources fairly. These
aspects will provide
patterns (in nature and in the
opportunities for actually
environment) and as an
doing mathematics in a
application of inductive and
broad range of exercises
deductive reasoning. that bring out various
dimensions of mathematics
By exploring these topics, as a way of knowing and
students are encouraged to go test the students’
beyond the typical understanding understanding and capacity.
of mathematics as merely a set of
formulas but as a source of
aesthetics in patterns of nature, (CMO. No. 20, series of 2017)
for example, and rich language in
itself (and of science) governed
by logic and reasoning.

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 NATURE OF
MATHEMATICS
The emergence of digital technology has sparked
a monumental rise in the rate at which we
consumed and produce data. Before the
Internet, it could take hours to get several
volumes of resources from the library for a
research paper. Today, a few minutes using your
mobile device’s browser could get you the same
information, or even more. A few decades ago, it
took hours for photographs to be printed and
shared. Now, it only takes a matter of seconds
for your perfect selfie to be uploaded and viewed
by your relatives and friends on the other side of
the world.

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 In this fast-paced
society, how often
have you stopped to
appreciate the beauty
of the things around
you? Have you ever In similar fashion, many flora and fauna also
paused and pondered follow certain patterns such as the
about the underlying
arrangement of leaves and stems in a plant,
principles that govern
the shape of a snowflake, the flowers’ petals,
the universe? How
or even the shape of a snail’s shell.
about contemplating
about the processes
and mechanisms that Do you also notice patterns around you? What
make our lives easier, other examples can you think of?
if not more
comfortable? Most In this chapter, we will be looking at patterns
people do the same and regularities in the world, and how
routine tasks every mathematics come into play, both in nature
day and the and in human endeavors.
fundamental concepts
that make these
activities possible are
often overlooked.

As rational creatures,
we tend to identify and
follow patterns,
whether consciously or
subconsciously.
Recognizing patterns
feels natural, like our
brain is hardwired to
recognize them. Early
humans recognized the
repeating interval of
day and night, the
cycle of the moon, the
rising and falling of
tides, and the changing
of the seasons.
Awareness of these
patterns allowed
humans to survive.

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 PATTERNS AND
NUMBERS IN
NATURE AND THE
WORLD

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Section 1.1 PATTERNS AND NUMBERS IN NATURE AND THE WORLD

In the general sense of the world, patterns are regular,

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
repeated, or recurring forms or designs. We see
patterns every day - form the layout of floor tiles,
designs of skyscrapers, to the way we tie our
shoelaces. Studying patterns help students in What is the next figure in the pattern below?
identifying relationships and finding the logical
connections to form generalizations and make
predictions.

Let’s take a look at this pattern:

What do you think will be the next shape in the

sequence? It should be easy enough to note the
pattern is made up of two different shapes – one
rectangle and one star. Beginning with a rectangle, the
two shapes alternate. Logically, the shape that should
follow is

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Patterns in nature are visible regularities of form found in the
natural world and can also be seen in the universe.

Nature patterns which are not just to be admired, they are vital
clues to the rules that govern natural processes.

Check out examples of some of these patterns and you may be

able to spot a few the next time you go for a walk.

1. Patterns can be observed even in stars which move in circles

across the sky each day.

2. The weather season cycle each year. All snowflakes contain

six-fold symmetry which no two are exactly the same.

3. Patterns can be seen in fish patterns like spotted trunkfish,

spotted puffer, blue spotted stingray, spotted moral eel, coral
grouper, red lion fish, yellow boxfish and angel fish. These
animals and fish stripes and spots attest to mathematical
regularities in biological growth and form.

4. Natural patterns like the intricate waves across the oceans;

sand dunes on deserts; formation of typhoon; water drop with
ripple and others. These serves as clues to the rules that govern
the flow of water, sand and air.

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 invariant
5. Zebras, tigers, cats to anyare
and snakes various transformations
covered in
(reflection, rotation or
patterns of stripes; leopards and hyenas are scaling.)
covered in pattern of spots and giraffes are covered
in pattern of blotches.a.) Bilateral Symmetry: a symmetry in
which the left and right sides of the
organism can be divided into
approximately mirror image of each
other along the midline. Symmetry
exists in living things such as in insects,
animals, plants, flowers and others.
Animals have mainly bilateral or vertical
6. Other patterns in nature can also be seen in the
symmetry, even leaves of plants and
ball of mackerel, the v-formation of geese in the sky
some flowers such as orchids.
and the tornado formation of starlings.

b.) Radial Symmetry (or rotational

PATTERNS AND REGULARITIES symmetry): a symmetry around a fixed
Mathematics is all aroundpoint known
us. As as the center
we discover more and it can be
about our environment,classified
we can asmathematically
either cyclic or dihedral.
describe nature. The beauty of a have
Plants often flower, radial
the or rotational
majestic tree, even thesymmetry, as to flowers
rock formation and some group
exhibits
nature’s sense of symmetry.of animals. A five-fold symmetry is
Have you ever thought aboutfound how
in thenature
echinoderms,
likes to the group in
arrange itself in patterns which
in orderincludes starfish (dihedral-D5
to act efficiently?
Nothing in nature happens without a reason, all ofand sea lilies.
symmetry), sea urchins
Radial symmetry
these patterns have an important reasonsuits organism like sea
to exist
and they also happen to be anemones
beautifulwhose adults do not
to watch.
TYPES OF PATTERNS move and jellyfish (dihedral-D4
1. SYMMETRY – a sense ofsymmetry).
harmoniousRadialand symmetry is also
evidentorinandifferent
beautiful proportion of balance object iskinds of flowers.

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2. FRACTALS – a curve or geometric figure, each part of which has
the same statistical character as the whole. A fractal is a never-
ending pattern found in nature. The exact same shape is replicated
in a process called “self-similarity.” The pattern repeats itself over
and over again at different scales. For example, a tree grows by
repetitive branching. This same kind of branching can be seen in
lightning bolts and the veins in your body. Examine a single fern or
an aerial view of an entire river system and you’ll see fractal
patterns.

3. SPIRALS - A logarithmic spiral or growth spiral is a self-similar

spiral curve which often appears in nature. It was first described by
Rene Descartes and was later investigated by Jacob Bernoulli. A
spiral is a curved pattern that focuses on a center point and a series
of circular shapes that revolve around it. Examples of spirals are
pine cones, pineapples, hurricanes. The reason for why plants use a
spiral form is because they are constantly trying to grow but stay
secure.

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 FIBONAC
CI

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 year, if it supposed that every month each pair
produces a new pair, which from the second
The Fibonacci sequence is a month onwards becomes productive?” This is
series of numbers where a best understood in this diagram:
number is found by adding
up the two numbers before it.
Starting with 0 and 1, the
sequence goes 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5,
8, 13, 21, 34, and so forth.
Written as a rule, the
expression is

𝑿𝒏=𝑿𝒏−𝟏+𝑿𝒏−𝟐

Named after Fibonacci, also

known as Leonardo of Pisa
or Leonardo Pisano,
Fibonacci numbers were first
introduced in his Liber
Abbaci (Book of Calculation)
in 1202. The son of a Pisan
merchant, Fibonacci traveled
widely and traded
extensively. Mathematics was
incredibly important to those
in the trading industry, and
his passion for numbers was
cultivated in his youth.

HABBIT RABBIT

One of the book’s

exercises which is written
like this “A man put a pair of
rabbits in a place surrounded
on all sides by a wall. How
many pairs of rabbits are
produced from that pair in a

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 GOLDEN RECTANGLE
Leonardo of Pisa also known as
Fibonacci discovered a sequence of
numbers that created an interesting
numbers that created an interesting
pattern the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,
13, 21, 34… each number is obtained by
adding the last two numbers of the
sequence forms what is known as
golden rectangle a perfect rectangle. A
golden rectangle can be broken down
into squares the size of the next
Fibonacci number down and below. If
we were to take a golden rectangle,
break it down to smaller squares based
from Fibonacci sequence and divide
each with an arc, the pattern begins to
take shapes, we begin with Fibonacci
spiral in which we can see in nature.

The sequence encountered in the

rabbit problem 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,
34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, …. is called
the Fibonacci sequence and its terms
the Fibonacci numbers.

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 FIBONACCI NUMBERS IN FIBONACCI SEQUENCE IN
NATURE NATURE

The sunflower seed conveys the

Fibonacci sequence. The pattern of two
Flower petals exhibit the Fibonacci spirals goes in opposing directions
number, white calla lily contains 1 petal, (clockwise and counter-clockwise). The
euphorbia contains 2 petals, trillium number of clockwise spirals and
contains 3 petals, columbine contains 5 counter clockwise spirals are
petals, bloodroot contains 8 petals, black- consecutive Fibonacci numbers and
eyed susan contains 13 petals, shasta usually contains 34 and 55 seeds.
daisies 21 petals, field daisies contain 34
petals and other types of daisies contain The Fibonacci sequence can also be
55 and 89 petals. seen in the way tree branches form or
split. A main trunk will grow until it
produces a branch, which creates two
growth points. Then, one of the new
stems’ branches into two, while the
other one lies dormant. This pattern of
branching is repeated for each of the
new stems. A good example is the
sneezewort. Root systems and even
algae exhibit this pattern.

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 which was explored by Luca Pacioli
entitled “De Divina Proportione” in
1509. This contains the drawings of the
five platonic solids and it was probably
da Vinci who first called it “section
aurea” which is Latin for Golden Secion.

In mathematics, two quantities are in

the Golden ratio if their ratio is the
same of their sum to the larger of the
two quantities. The Golden Ratio is the
relationship between numbers on the
Fibonacci sequence where plotting the
relationships on scales results in a spiral
shape. In simple terms, golden ratio is
expressed as an equation, where a is
larger than b, (a+b) divided by a is
equal to a divided by b, which is equal
to 1.618033987…and represented by 𝝋
(phi).

GOLDEN RATIO
Fibonacci discovery of Fibonacci sequence
happened to approach the ratio
asymptotically. He found the interesting
and mysterious properties of the Fibonacci
sequence that the series has a deep
relationship with the golden ratio.

The golden ratio was first called as the

Divine Proportion in the early 1500s in
Leonardo da Vinci’s work

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 The spiral converges at the intersection
𝝋=𝒂+𝒃𝒂=𝒂𝒃=𝟏.𝟔𝟏𝟖𝟎𝟑𝟑𝟗𝟖𝟕…. of the two lines and this ratio of the
lengths of these two lines is in the
Golden Ratio.

GOLDEN TRIANGLE
Golden ratio can be deduced in an GOLDEN RATIO IN NATURE
isosceles triangle. If we take the isosceles
triangle that has the two base angles of It is often said that math contains the
72 degrees and we bisect one of the base answers to most of universe’s
angles, we should see that we get another questions. Math manifests itself
golden triangle that is similar to the everywhere. One such example is the
golden rectangle. If we apply the same Golden Ratio. This famous Fibonacci
manner as the golden rectangle, we sequence has fascinated
should get a set of whirling triangles. With mathematicians, scientist and artists
these whirling triangles, we are able to for many hundreds of years. The
draw a logarithmic spiral that will Golden Ratio manifests itself in many
converge at the intersection of the two places across the universe, including
lines. right here on Earth, it is part of Earth’s
nature and it is part of us.

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 1. Flower petals
trees or the number of leaves on a
number of petals in a flower is often one floral stem; numbers like 4 are not. 3’s
of the following numbers: 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and 5’s, however, are abundant in
34 or 55. For example, the lily has three nature.
petals, buttercups have five of them, the
chicory has 21 of them, the daisy has 6. Shells
often 34 or 55 petals, etc.
Snail shells and nautilus shells follow
2. Faces the logarithmic spiral, as does the
cochlea of the inner ear. It can also be
Faces, both human and nonhuman, seen in the horns of certain goats, and
abound with examples of the Golden the shape of certain spider’s webs.
Ratio. The mouth and nose are each
positioned at golden sections of the 7. Spiral Galaxies
distance between the eyes and the bottom
of the chin. Similar proportions can be Spiral galaxies are the most common
seen from the side, and even the eye and galaxy shape. The Milky Way has
ear itself. several spiral arms, each of them a
logarithmic spiral of about 12 degrees.
3. Body parts
8. Hurricanes
The Golden Section is manifested in the
structure of the human body. The human It’s amazing how closely the powerful
body is based on Phi and the number 5. swirls of hurricane match the Fibonacci
The number 5 appendages to the torso, in sequence.
the arms, leg and head. 5 appendages on
each of these, in the fingers and toes and
5 openings on the face. Animal bodies
exhibit similar tendencies.

4. Seed heads

Typically, seeds are produced at the

center, and then migrate towards the
outside to fill all the space. Sunflowers
provide a great example of these spiraling
patterns.

5. Fruits, Vegetables and Trees

Spiraling patterns can be found on

pineapples and cauliflower. Fibonacci
numbers are seen in the branching of

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 GOLDEN RATIO IN ARTS 3. Euclid was the first to give definition
of the golden ratio as “a dividing line in
The golden ratio can be used to achieve the extreme and mean ratio” in his
beauty, balance and harmony in art, book the “Elements”. He proved the link
architecture and design. It can be used as of the numbers to the construction of
a tool in art and design to achieve balance the pentagram, which is now known as
in the composition. Check out some golden ratio. Each intersection to the
examples of golden ratio in arts. other edges of a pentagram is a golden
ratio. Also, the ratio of the length of the
1. The exterior dimension of the shorter segment to the segment
Parthenon in Athens, Greece embodies the bounded by the two intersecting lines is
golden ratio. a golden ratio.

4. Leonardo da Vinci was into many

2. In “Timaeus” Plato describes five interests such as invention, painting,
possible regular solids that relate to the sculpting, architecture, science, music,
golden ratio which is now known as mathematics, engineering, literature,
Platonic Solids. He also considers the anatomy, geology, botany, writing,
golden ratio to be the most bringing of all history and cartography. He used the
mathematical relationships. golden ratio to define the fundamental
portions in his works. He incorporated
the golden ratio in his own paintings
such as the Vitruvian Man, The Last
Supper, Monalisa and St. Jerome in the
Wilderness.

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 5. Michaelangelo di Lodovico Simon was
considered the greatest living artists of his
7. The golden ratio can also be found in
time. He used golden ratio in his painting
the works of other renowned painters
“The Creation of Adam” which can be seen
such as
on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. His
painting used the golden ratio showing a.) Sandro Botticelli (Birth of Venus);
how God’s finger and Adam’s finger meet
precisely at the golden ratio point of the b.) George-Pierre Surat (“Bathers at
weight and the height of the area that Assinieres”, “Bridge of Courbevoie” and
contains them. “A Sunday on La Grande Jette”), and

c.) Salvador Dali (“The Sacrament of

the Last Supper”).

6. Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino or more

popularly known as Raphael was also a
painter and architect from the
Renaissance. In his painting “The School
of Athens,”, the division between the
figures in the painting and their
proportions are distributed using the
golden ration. The golden triangle and
pentagram can also be found in Raphael’s
painting “Crucifixion”.

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 GOLDEN RATIO IN 6. The CN Tower in Toronto, the
tallest tower and freestanding
ARCHITECTURE structure in the world, contains
the golden ratio in its design. The
Some of the architectural structures that ratio of observation deck at 342
exhibit the application of the Golden ratio meters to the total height
are the following:
7. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France,
1. The Great Pyramid of Giza built erected in 1889 is an iron lattice.
4700 BC in Ahmes Papyrus of Egypt The base is broader while it
is with proportion according to a narrows down the top, perfectly
“Golden Ratio”. The length of each following the golden ratio.
side of the base is 756 feet with a
height of 481 feet. The ratio of the
base to the height is roughly
1.5717, which is close to the Golden
ratio.

2. Notre Dame is a Gothic Cathedral in

Paris, which was built in between
1163 and 1250. It appears to have
a golden ratio in a number of its key
proportions of designs.

3. The Taj Mahal in India used the

golden ratio in its construction and
was completed in 1648. The order
and proportion of the arches of the
Taj Mahal on the main structure
keep reducing proportionately BEHAVIOR OF NATURE
following the golden ratio. Behavior of nature can be observed
around us.
4. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Natural regularities of nature:
Chartres in Paris, France also Symmetry Fractals Spirals
exhibits the Golden ratio. Trees Meanders Waves
Foams Tessellations Cracks
5. In the United Nation Building, the Stripes Spots
window configuration reveals golden
proportion.

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 Golden Ratio can be found in the beauty 8. Cracks can also be found on the
of nature, the growth patterns of many barks of trees which show some
plants, insects, and the universe. sort of weakness in the bark.
The meander is one of a series of
1. Honeycombs of the bees show regular sinuous curves, bends,
specific regular repeating hexagons. loops, turns, or windings in the
It uses the least amount of wax to channel of the body of water.
store the honey giving a strong
structure with no gaps.
APPLICATIONS OF
2. Zebra’s coat, the alternating pattern MATHEMATICS IN THE
of blacks and white are due to WORLD
mathematical rules that govern the
pigmentation chemicals of its skin. In our daily life, we use mathematics
directly or indirectly in various fields.
3. Spider webs illustrate a beautiful The application of mathematical
pattern. The spider creates a methods in different fields such as
structure by performing innate science, engineering, business,
steps. computer science and industry is a
combination of mathematical science
4. The nautilus shell has natural and specialized knowledge. For
pattern which contains a spiral example, statistics, combinatorics, and
shape called logarithmic spiral. graph theory are used by investigators
to solve crimes.
5. Age of the trees can be determined Other applications of mathematics are in
by applying dendrochronology which forensic science, medicine, engineering,
is a scientific method of dating information technology, cryptography,
based on the number of rings found archaeology, social sciences, political
in the core of a tree. science and other fields.

6. Turtles have growth rings called 1. In forensic, mathematics is applied

“scutes” which are hexagonal. specifically the differential and integral
Scutes estimates the age of the calculus to clarify the blurred image to
turtle. Smallest scute is in the clear image. Another application of
center and is the oldest one, while calculus is optimization (maximize or
the largest ones on the outside are minimize) surface areas, volumes, profit
the newer ones. and cost analysis, projectile motion, etc.

7. Lightning during storms creates

fractals. Foam bubbles formed by
trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or
solid.

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 2. In medical field, much of a function of a 6. In archaeology, archaeologists use a
protein is determined by its shape and variety of mathematical and statistical
how the pieces move. Many drugs are techniques to present the data from
designed to change the shape or motions archaeological surveys and try to find
of a protein by modeling using geometry patterns to shed on past human
and related areas. Mathematics is also behavior an in-carbon dating artifact.
being applied in the development of
medicine to cure diseases. 7. In Social Sciences such as
economics, sociology, psychology and
3. In fluid dynamics, engineers use linguistics all now make extensive use
numerical analysis in phenomena of mathematical models, using the
involving heat, electricity and magnetism, tools of calculus, probability, game
relativistic mechanics, quantum theory, and network theory.
mechanics and other theoretical
constructs. 8. In Economics, mathematics such as
matrices, probability and statistics are
4. In Information Technology, modern used. The models may be stochastic or
computer is invented through the help of deterministic, linear or non-linear,
mathematics. An important area of static or dynamic, continuous or
applications of mathematics in the discrete and all types of algebraic,
development of formal mathematical differential, difference and integral
theories related to the development of equations arise for the solution of these
computer science. Computer models.
science development includes logic,
relations, functions, basic set theory, 9. In political Science, political analysts’
counting techniques, graph theory, study past election results to see
combinatorics, discrete probability, changes in voting patterns and the
recursion, recurrence relations and influence of various factors on voting
number theory, computer-oriented behavior or switching of votes among
numerical analysis and Operation political parties and mathematical
Research techniques. models for Conflict Resolution using
Game Theory and Statistics.
5. Cryptography is a combination of both
mathematics and computer science and is 10. In music and arts, the rhythm that
affiliated closely with information theory, we find in all music notes is the result
computer security and engineering. It is of innumerable permutations and
used in applications present in combinations. Music theorists
technologically advanced societies, understand musical structure and
examples include the security of ATM communicate new ways of hearing
cards, computer passwords and electronic music.
commerce.

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 Assessment Task 1

I. Encircle the letter on the right which corresponds to the correct answer.

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 Assessment Task 2
I. Determine what comes next in the given patterns.

1. A, C, E, G, I, _________
2. 15 10 14 10 13 10 ________
3. 3 6 12 24 48 96 _________
4. 27 30 33 36 39 _________
5. 41 39 37 35 33 _________

II. Substitute the given values in the formula A=Pert to find the missing quantity.

1. P = 680,000; r = 12% per year; t = 8 years

2. A = 1,240,000; r = 8% per year; t = 30 years
3. A = 786,000; P = 247,000; t = 17 years
4. A = 731,093; P = 525,600; r = 3% per year
5. Suppose the population of a certain bacteria in a laboratory sample is 100. If it doubles in
population every 6 hours, what is the growth rate? How many bacteria will be there in
two days?

III. Analyze the given sequence for its rule and identify the next three terms.

1. 1, 10, 100, 1000

2. 2, 5, 9, 14, 20
3. 16, 32, 64, 128
4. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8

IV. Let Fib(n) be the nth term of the Fibonacci sequence, with Fib(1) = 1, Fib(2) = 1, Fib(3) = 2,
and so on.

1. Find Fib (8)

2. Find Fib (19)
3. If Fib (22) = 17,711 and Fib (24) = 46,368, what is Fib (23)?
4. Evaluate the following sums:
a. Fib (1) + Fib (2) = _______________
b. Fib (1) + Fib (2) + Fib (3) + Fib (4) = __________
c. Fib (1) + Fib (2) + Fib (3) … + Fib (8) = _____________

V. Two-to-three pages synthesis paper focusing on one of the following aspects of mathematics:

a. Mathematics helps predict the behavior of nature and phenomena in the world.
b. Mathematics helps organize patterns and regularities in the world.
c. Mathematics helps control nature and occurrences in the world for our own ends.

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 MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE
AND SYMBOLS

This aim of this chapter is to introduce you to a mathematical way of

thinking that can serve you to a variety of situations. Often when you
start work on a mathematical problem, you may have only a vague
sense of how to proceed. You may begin by looking at examples,
drawing pictures, playing around with notation, rereading the problem
to focus on more of its details, and so forth. The closer you get to a
solution, however, the more your thinking has to crystallize. And the
more you need to understand, the more you need language that
expresses mathematical ideas clearly, precisely and unambiguously.

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 INTRODUCTION
Mathematics has its own language, much of which we are already familiar with. For
example, the digits

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

are part of our everyday lives. Whether we refer to 0 as ‘zero’, ‘nothing’, ‘nought’,
or ‘O’ as in a telephone number, we understand its meaning.

There are many symbols in mathematics and most are used as a precise form of
shorthand. We need to be confident when using these symbols, and to gain that
confidence we need to understand their meaning. To understand their meaning
there are two things to help us –

context - this
is the context
in which we
are working, or
the particular
topics being
studied, and

convention -
where
mathematician
s and scientists
have decided
that particular
symbols will
have particular
meaning.

Some common mathematical symbols, let us look at some symbols commonly

associated with mathematical operations.
The symbol +
Words associated with this symbol are ‘plus’, ‘add’, ‘increase’ and ‘positive’. As
it stands, ‘+’ clearly has some sort of meaning, but we really need to
understand it within a context. So, for example, if we see the + symbol written
in the sum
2+3

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 we understand that the context is one of adding the two numbers, 2and 3, to give
5. So here, the symbol + is an instruction to add two numbers together.
Let us look at another context in which we see the + symbol.
If you study telephone numbers on business cards you will often see them given,
for example, as
+44 191 123 4567
In this context, the + symbol means that, in addition to the usual telephone
number, a person dialing that number from overseas will need to include the
country code (in this case 44).
So, we see that the + symbol can have completely different meanings in different
contexts, and it is important to be clear about the context.

The symbol −

Words associated with this symbol are ‘minus’, ‘subtract’, ‘take away’, ‘negative’
and ‘decrease’. Again, to understand the symbol we need a context.
So, if we see the − symbol written in the sum
6−4
we know this means 6 subtract 4, and we know the answer is 2.
In a different context, we might see −5◦C, meaning a temperature of minus five
degrees Celsius, that is five degrees below zero.

The symbol ×

Words associated with this symbol are ‘multiply’, ‘lots of’, and ‘times’.
This is really just a shorthand for adding. For example, if we see
6+6+6+6+6
we have five lots of six, or five sixes, and in our shorthand, we can write this as 5
× 6. Suppose we have
a+a+a+a+a
We might write this expression as 5 × a. However, in this context, especially in
hand-written work, we may confuse the × symbol with the letter x, and so we
would often write simply 5a. We see that our shorthand has become even
shorter. Multiplication is one of those rare occasions when we can omit a symbol
altogether

The division symbols

Division is symbolized in several different ways. For example

10 ÷ 5, 10/5
are three equivalent ways of writing ten divided by 5. We might also read this as
‘how many times will 5 go into 10?’.

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 The = sign and its variants
Another symbol used frequently is the equals sign =.
The = sign does not mean anything on its own - we need a context.
For example, in the sum 1+2= 3, what we are saying is that whatever we have
on the left-hand
side is exactly equal to whatever we have on the right-hand side.
Variations on the equals sign are
≠ which means ‘is not equal to’
≈ which means ‘is approximately equal to’
≥ which means ‘is greater than or equal to’,
e.g. x ≥ 2means that x can equal 2, but it might also be any value larger than 2.
≤ which means ‘is less than or equal to’,
e.g. y ≤ 7 means that y might equal 7 or might be any number less than 7.

VARIABLES

Variables are another form of mathematical symbol. These are used when
quantities take different values.
Imagine taking a car journey and think about the speed at which you are
travelling. As you travel along your speed may change. So, speed is a variable -
that is, a quantity which can change. We will be using letters to stand for
quantities like this. For example, we might use the letter v for speed. To a large
extent we can use any letter we choose, although there are conventions.
We might choose to use d for distance and t for time.
By convention, we use u to be an initial speed, and v to be a final speed.
In a different context, v might refer to volume. We need to check the context to
fully understand the meaning.
If we see v = d/t where d = distance, and t = time, then we would know that v is
a speed.
On the other hand, if we see v = 4/3 πr3 where r is the radius of a sphere, we
know that v stands for the volume of the sphere.
Returning to our car journey. We might want to record the journey time on
several different days. In this context we might choose to use a subscript and
write
t1, t2, t3, t4, t5
for the journey times on each of five different days. Alternatively, we could write
tm, tt, tw, th, tf
for the journey times on Monday through to Friday.

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 Note how we have used th for the journey time on Thursday to avoid confusion
with tt for the journey time on Tuesday. So, a subscript is a small number, or
other symbol, written to the bottom right of a variable to distinguish different
instances of that variable.

THE GREEK ALPHABET

You will find that Greek letters are used in many calculations.

For example, the Greek letter ‘pi’, written π, is used to represent the number
3.14159.... This number continues forever without repeating.

We often use α (‘alpha’), β (‘beta’), and θ (‘theta’) to represent angles.

The Greek capital letter ‘sigma’ or Σ is frequently used to represent the addition
of several numbers, and you will see it provided for this purpose on the toolbar of
any spreadsheet program.

For future reference the full alphabet is given here:

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 THE LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS

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 Assessment Task 3

II. If possible, classify the entries in the list below as:

• an English noun, or a mathematical expression
• an English sentence, or a mathematical sentence

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