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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Bernhard Riemann was able to show how to generate the geometry for what, according to the author in Chapter 6, “Infinity’s Twin”?
(a) Non-Euclidean spaces.
(b) Sound waves.
(c) Differential equations.
(d) Light waves.

3. What term in geometry refers to a straight line that just touches a plane curve at a given point?
(a) A tangent.
(b) A divergent.
(c) A gravitational pull.
(d) A hyperbole.

4. What term refers to an elementary particle, the quantum of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation?
(a) Radon.
(b) Photon.
(c) Electron.
(d) Nucleus.

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

6. The author asserts in Chapter 8, “Zero Hour at Ground Zero” that today astronomers estimate the universe as being how old?
(a) 10 billion years.
(b) 4 billion years.
(c) 2 billion years.
(d) 15 billion years.

7. According to the author in Chapter 7, “Absolute Zeros,” thermodynamics led physicists to believe that light was not a particle but what?
(a) A proton.
(b) An electron.
(c) A vibrating string.
(d) An electromagnetic wave.

8. In particle physics, what refers to a proposed symmetry of nature relating two basic classes of elementary particles: bosons and fermions?
(a) Supersymmetry.
(b) Verisimilitude.
(c) A limit.
(d) A black hole.

9. The author says in Chapter 6, “Infinity’s Twin” that by employing the concept of infinity, Johannes Kepler showed that ellipses and what were the same?
(a) Tangents.
(b) Parabolas.
(c) Limits.
(d) Derivatives.

10. How is the Planck relation expressed?
(a) E=mvi.
(b) E=mc⅍.
(c) E=xy.
(d) E=hv.

11. What refers to an indeterminate polynomial equation that allows the variables to take integer values only?
(a) Tangent equation.
(b) Diophantine equation.
(c) Differential equation.
(d) Derivative equation.

12. The antiparticle of the electron is called what?
(a) Derivative.
(b) Neutron.
(c) Proton.
(d) Positron.

13. The absolute value of a number may be thought of as its distance from what?
(a) One.
(b) Zero.
(c) Two.
(d) Itself.

14. According to the author in Chapter 5, “Infinite Zeros and Infidel Mathematicians,” Jean le Rond d'Alembert had satisfied the mathematician's need for what?
(a) Theology.
(b) An all-encompassing theory.
(c) Logical rigor.
(d) Spirituality.

15. What term in theoretical physics refers to an extension of string theory in which 11 dimensions of spacetime are identified?
(a) Planck theory.
(b) Space theory.
(c) Big Bang theory.
(d) M-theory.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the middle of the 20th Century, Hendrik Casmir and what other Dutch physicist proposed the existence of a force between two polarizable atoms?

2. According to the author in Chapter 6, “Infinity’s Twin,” geometry shows that mathematically the north and south poles of spheres do what?

3. According to the author in Chapter 5, “Infinite Zeros and Infidel Mathematicians,” Leibniz wanted to use infinitesimals in calculus which were termed what?

4. 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?

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

(see the answer keys)

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