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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. What branch of mathematics are the ancient Egyptians credited with creating in order to successfully build objects to block the flooding of the Nile River each year?
(a) Projective physics.
(b) Quantum mechanics.
(c) Geometry.
(d) Algebra.

2. Approximately when did Aristotle live?
(a) 384-322 BC.
(b) 214-181 BC.
(c) 601-548 BC.
(d) 520-459 BC.

3. What refers to a system of tribunals developed by the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church during the second half of the 16th Century?
(a) The Medieval Inquisition.
(b) The Spanish Inquisition.
(c) The Roman Inquisition.
(d) The Catalina Inquisition.

4. Pythagoreanism developed into two separate schools of thought. What group was called “the learners” in Greek?
(a) The mathēmatikoi.
(b) The omnimatioi.
(c) The akousmatikoi.
(d) The Hippasusikoi.

5. When did the Protestant Reformation begin?
(a) 1517.
(b) 1623.
(c) 1445.
(d) 1725.

Short Answer Questions

1. The ancient Babylonians are credited with the creation of what calculation tool?

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

3. How many minutes made up an hour in the ancient Greek system?

4. Whom does the author claim the Greeks learned about astronomy from in Chapter 2, “Nothing Comes of Nothing”?

5. What term refers to the religious or philosophical concept that the soul is reborn after biological death?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What Italian mathematician was responsible for the introduction of zero to Christianity and the Western world, according to the author in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured”?

4. What reason does the author give for why the Greeks and Romans resisted using zero in their mathematical systems in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

5. What mathematical developments was Pythagoras credited with in ancient Greece?

6. How did Filippo Brunelleschi introduce the concept of zero to the Italian Renaissance?

7. How did the Protestant Reformation influence the Aristotelian philosophy in the West?

8. How does the author assert zero’s existence has been responsible for mathematical progress in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

9. What discoveries did Archimedes make in the mathematical world?

10. How did zero enter into Indian mathematics, according to the author in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured”?

(see the answer keys)

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