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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The House of Wisdom was based in Baghdad during what centuries?
(a) The 12th to 17th centuries.
(b) The 2nd to 6th centuries.
(c) The 5th to 7th centuries.
(d) The 9th to 13th centuries.

2. What work by Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khwarizmi presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations in Arabic?
(a) The Death of the Prophet.
(b) A book of Annals.
(c) Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing.
(d) An Index of Arabic Books.

3. According to the author in Chapter 2, “Nothing Comes of Nothing,” the Pythagorean view tied numbers to what?
(a) Words.
(b) Shapes.
(c) Gods.
(d) Chakras.

4. The USS Yorktown was located off the coast of what location when the computer systems malfunctioned in September of 1997?
(a) Del Norte, California.
(b) New York, New York.
(c) Cape Charles, Virginia.
(d) Havana, Cuba.

5. When the Indians adopted a Babylonian style number system, its base was what, according to the author in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured”?
(a) 20.
(b) 10.
(c) 5.
(d) 60.

Short Answer Questions

1. The author states in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured” that India adopted a Babylonian style number system around what century?

2. Filippo Brunelleschi was born in approximately what year?

3. The reason for the reform of the Gregorian calendar was to solidify what Christian holiday to a particular time of year?

4. The author states in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured” that Indian mathematicians first learned of zero from the Babylonians by way of what?

5. The preclassic Maya and their neighbors supposedly developed the concept of zero by what year?

Short Essay Questions

1. What mathematical advancements were made by the ancient Egyptians?

2. How did Aristotle approach the concept of zero, according to the author in Chapter 2, “Nothing Comes of Nothing”?

3. What paradox of Zeno of Elea’s is presented by the author in Chapter 2, “Nothing Comes of Nothing”?

4. How are ancient Babylonian mathematics described in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

5. How does the author describe the relationship between early Christianity and zero in Chapter 2, “Nothing Comes of Nothing”?

6. How are multiplication and division involving zero described in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

7. What caused the USS Yorktown to have a computer meltdown in 1997, according to the author in Chapter 0, “Null and Void”? How is the ship described?

8. What were Blaise Pascal’s theological beliefs? How was zero viewed in his beliefs?

9. What results came about when Indian mathematicians began separating numbers from shapes, according to the author in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured”?

10. What is the focus of the book, as established by the author in Chapter 0, “Null and Void”?

(see the answer keys)

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