View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Aristotle referred to Zeno of Elea as the inventor of what?
(a) The dialectic.
(b) Geometry.
(c) The Zeno theorem.
(d) Algebra.

2. The introduction of nothingness and zero into Jewish theology led in part to what offshoot Jewish mysticism?
(a) Kabbalism.
(b) Hasidism.
(c) Orthodoxy.
(d) Sufism.

3. Where was Giordano Bruno from?
(a) Great Britain.
(b) Italy.
(c) Spain.
(d) France.

4. The Renaissance roughly spanned the period of what centuries?
(a) The 14th to the 17th Centuries.
(b) The 16th to the 19th Centuries.
(c) The 10th to the 12th Centuries.
(d) The 9th to the 14th Centuries.

5. What term refers to the worship of multiple deities?
(a) Atertheism.
(b) Omnitheism.
(c) Monotheism.
(d) Polytheism.

Short Answer Questions

1. The Italian word “zefiro,” meaning “west wind” derived from what Latin and Greek word?

2. What was the fifth element that Aristotle proposed, in addition to earth, water, fire, and air?

3. The Gregorian calendar replaced what calendar system in 1582?

4. Approximately when did Copernicus live?

5. René Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician who spent most of his adult life where?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What theory was developed through Blaise Pascal’s mathematical approach to theology?

4. How does the author describe the early counting systems of prehistoric mathematics in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

5. 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”?

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

7. What mathematical properties of zero presented problems in the ancient world, according to the author in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

8. How did zero enter into Babylonian mathematics, according to the author in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

9. How was zero dealt with in the Pythagorean view, according to the author in Chapter 2, “Nothing Comes of Nothing”?

10. How does the author describe Islam’s history in the seventh century in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured”?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 793 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample