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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. During what years did Georg Cantor live?
(a) 1811-1878.
(b) 1777-1836.
(c) 1845-1918.
(d) 1689-1759.

2. When was Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz born?
(a) 1711.
(b) 1611.
(c) 1559.
(d) 1646.

3. An electron has what kind of electric charge?
(a) Positive.
(b) Negative.
(c) Neutral.
(d) Degenerative.

4. What principle states that no two electrons can occupy the same quantum state?
(a) The Pythagorean theorem.
(b) The Planck constant.
(c) The Pauli exclusion principle.
(d) Quantum gravity.

5. What refers to the branch of mathematics concerned with finding tangent lines to curves, areas under curves, minima and maxima, and other geometric and analytic problems?
(a) Algebra.
(b) Infinitesimal calculus.
(c) Geometry.
(d) Quantum mechanics.

6. Where was Carl Gauss from?
(a) France.
(b) Spain.
(c) Belgium.
(d) Germany.

7. What is the study of geometric properties that are invariant under projective transformations?
(a) Projective geometry.
(b) Classical relativity.
(c) General relativity.
(d) Projective algebra.

8. Johannes Kepler used calculus to determine that planets had what, according to the author in Chapter 5, “Infinite Zeros and Infidel Mathematicians”?
(a) Circular orbits.
(b) Elliptical orbits.
(c) Circular movement.
(d) Movement.

9. What mathematical term refers to a function giving an exact pairing of the elements of two sets?
(a) Bijection.
(b) Infinity.
(c) Injection.
(d) Derivation.

10. The name “electron” was introduced in 1891 by what Irish physicist?
(a) Sir Isaac Newton.
(b) George Johnstone Stoney.
(c) Albert Einstein.
(d) Galileo Galilei.

11. When did Sir Isaac Newton live?
(a) 1707-1746.
(b) 1559-1601.
(c) 1642-1727.
(d) 1624-1680.

12. Jean le Rond d'Alembert came up with what idea that solved the zero problem in calculus?
(a) A limit.
(b) A quanta.
(c) An equation.
(d) A derivative.

13. The Rayleigh–Jeans law revealed an important error in physics theory of its time. The law predicted an energy output that diverges towards infinity as wavelength approaches what?
(a) One.
(b) The sun.
(c) Zero.
(d) Pi.

14. What term refers to the production of nuclei other than those of the lightest isotope of hydrogen during the early phases of the universe?
(a) Quantum gravity.
(b) String theory.
(c) Big Bang nucleosynthesis.
(d) M-Theory.

15. Lord Kelvin is well known for determining the correct value of absolute zero. Absolute zero is approximately what temperature Celsius?
(a) -125.32 degrees.
(b) -32 degrees.
(c) -273.15 degrees.
(d) -59 degrees.

Short Answer Questions

1. Calculus allowed Newton to combine the known natural laws of physics into one grand set of laws that could be expressed as what?

2. Newton's notation for differentiation uses what symbol placed over a function name to denote the time derivative of that function?

3. The antiparticle of the electron is called what?

4. The Leibniz–Newton calculus controversy was an argument between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over what?

5. What term refers to numbers that are "infinite" in the sense that they are larger than all finite numbers, yet not necessarily absolutely infinite?

(see the answer keys)

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