Print
Word
PDF
|
| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. What word did the Arabs use for zero during Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khwarizmi’s time?
2. Where was Giordano Bruno from?
3. Approximately when did Aristotle live?
4. The Italian word “zefiro,” meaning “west wind” derived from what Latin and Greek word?
5. Pythagoreanism developed into two separate schools of thought. What group was called “the listeners” in Greek?
Short Essay Questions
1. What were Blaise Pascal’s theological beliefs? How was zero viewed in his beliefs?
2. How does the author assert zero’s existence has been responsible for mathematical progress in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?
3. 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?
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. How did mathematics and the concept of zero evolve in India through the 5th Century AD?
6. Where does the author claim zero was “born” in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”? How was zero involved in early mathematics?
7. What mathematical properties of zero presented problems in the ancient world, according to the author in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?
8. How are ancient Babylonian mathematics described in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?
9. 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”?
10. What mathematical advancements were made by the ancient Egyptians?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
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?
Essay Topic 2
Discuss the biography and the mathematical and philosophical contributions of Archimedes of Syracuse. How did Archimedes first encounter the infinite? How did this discovery influence his work and the work of mathematicians after him?
Essay Topic 3
Discuss the biography, works, and mathematical developments of Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khowarizmi. When was his work, Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing completed? What did this work entail?
|
This section contains 796 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
