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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What region in the Middle East is widely considered to be the cradle of civilization?

2. What term refers to the worship of multiple deities?

3. The author states in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured” that the Indians borrowed Greek geometry but never worried about what?

4. Approximately when did Aristotle live?

5. Pythagoreanism developed into two separate schools of thought. What group was called “the learners” in Greek?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does the author describe the ancient Greek and Roman mathematical systems in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

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 discoveries did Archimedes make in the mathematical world?

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

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

8. What inventions is Blaise Pascal credited with, according to the author in Chapter 4, “The Infinite God of Nothing”?

9. How did mathematics and the concept of zero evolve in India through the 5th Century AD?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the origins and developments of mathematics in Mayan culture. What was the base of the Mayan numeral system? How did this system compare with that of the Egyptians and the Babylonians? How did it deal with zero?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the advancements made in mathematics, music, and philosophy by Pythagoras. What is the Pythagorean Theorem? When was it developed? What were the beliefs of the Pythagoreans?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the USS Yorktown and its computer crash in 1997 as examined in Chapter 0, “Null and Void.” What program was the ship a test-bed for in the U.S. Navy? What caused the crash? How was the problem approached?

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