Classroom Questions

Questions for ‘Ancient pottery shows the earliest evidence of humans doing math’ 

a fragment of pottery is decorated with dark circles surrounded by smaller dark dots

The designs of flowers on Halafian pottery were made almost 8,000 years ago. Some show regular patterns in the number of petals.

Y. Garfinkel

By Science News Explores

To accompany ‘Ancient pottery shows the earliest evidence of humans doing math’

SCIENCE

Before Reading:

  1. Our standard counting system used today is based on the number 10. Explain what it means to be a base-10 numbering system.
  2. What are some ways in which numbers are useful in society? Brainstorm at least three examples of how numbers are useful today. Describe how they could have been useful in an ancient civilization.

During Reading:

  1. Give one example of a specific year that is about the mid-way mark of the Halafian civilization.
  2. What image from nature was a common pottery decoration of the Halafian people?
  3. How many pottery fragments did researchers look at in their study? Floral designs decorated how many of the items?
  4. What common feature did researchers find among the floral designs on the pottery pieces? What mathematical principle does this imply an understanding of?
  5. Give two examples of a floral design that researchers did NOT observe.
  6. Give an example of a way Halafians may have applied their mathematical knowledge, according to researchers.
  7. Explain the connection between our mathematical measurement of time today and the ancient Sumerians.

After Reading:

  1. Researchers claim that artifacts from Halafian society support a theory that these ancient people had an understanding of mathematics. What was the evidence for this claim. Now, use simple words and direct language to explain how this evidence supports the claim.
  2. Consider the symbols for different mathematical operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division etc. Based on the evidence, what is the best-fit mathematical operation to describe the kind of math researchers now claim the Halafians were using? Briefly explain your answer.
  3. Here’s something for extra credit. A binary — or base-2 — numbering system uses only two numerals: zeros and ones. (That’s in contrast to the 10 numerals available in our base-10 system.) Every binary number higher than one is expressed as some combination of 0’s and 1’s. ‘Zero’ is written as 00; one as 01. To represent any binary number above one, you move to a new ‘place’. (Much like moving to a new decimal place.) In binary, each ‘place’ is worth twice as much as the one behind it. Therefore, number two in a binary system is written as 10. Use this pattern to write out numbers three to five in a binary numbering system. Briefly explain your answer.