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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where would Archimedes sketch his diagrams when he was sitting by the fire in the evening?
(a) A piece of cloth.
(b) Clay tablets.
(c) Papyrus.
(d) Ashes on the hearth.

2. What was Archimedes' father's occupation?
(a) Mathematician.
(b) Historian.
(c) Astronomer.
(d) Physician.

3. How much money would a laborer earn in Archimedes' day?
(a) 3 to 5 cents.
(b) 2 cents.
(c) 6 to 10 cents.
(d) 12 cents.

4. Where was Archimedes taken when he had spent days staring at the King's crown and little else?
(a) To his parents' home.
(b) To see the king.
(c) To a place to eat.
(d) The baths.

5. What laws did Archimedes discover that led to machines that could move heavy loads or increase speeds, or change directions?
(a) Laws of the wheel and axle.
(b) Laws of inclined plane.
(c) Laws of the wedge.
(d) Laws of the pulley and lever.

6. How much would a skilled craftsman earn in Archimedes' day?
(a) 10 cents a day.
(b) 20 cents a day.
(c) 15 cents a day.
(d) 25 cents a day.

7. What field of mathematics is necessary to create rockets and space travel?
(a) Trigonometry.
(b) Calculus.
(c) Computation.
(d) Algebra.

8. What type of mathematics must engineers use to build bridges?
(a) Trigonometry.
(b) Arithmetic.
(c) Applied Mathematics.
(d) Geometry.

9. What is heavier than wood?
(a) Iron.
(b) Bronze.
(c) Silver.
(d) Copper.

10. What branch of mathematics did Archimedes invent?
(a) Trigonometry.
(b) Algebra.
(c) Calculus.
(d) Geometry.

11. What principle did Archimedes discover that is one of the basic scientific tests of all the elements?
(a) Thermodynamics.
(b) Conservation of Energy.
(c) Electromagnetism.
(d) Specific gravity.

12. What would Archimedes' nurse read to him if he was good?
(a) Tales of the Gods.
(b) Stories about wars.
(c) Aesop's Fables.
(d) Stories about giants.

13. What was the mathematical subject that Archimedes did not write about?
(a) Arithmetic.
(b) Geometry.
(c) Calculus.
(d) Algebra.

14. Which astronomers believed that the earth was inside a hollow iron sphere?
(a) Persian.
(b) Indian.
(c) Babylonia.
(d) Egyptian.

15. What Greek poet would Archimedes have studied?
(a) Aeschylus.
(b) Homer.
(c) Antimachus.
(d) Hesiod.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Archimedes invent that is still used to drain or irrigate fields, load grain, and run high-speed machines?

2. What is not an example of a lever?

3. How long was Ptolemy's Museum the center of Greek learning?

4. How many hours did the Greeks believe it took the earth to turn on its axis?

5. For how many years did Archimedes' war machines defend the city of Syracuse?

(see the answer keys)

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