Classroom Questions

Questions for ‘Ever wonder where our math symbols came from? Here are their stories’ 

Modern math relies on a whole zoo of notations and symbols to stand in for words. But they didn’t exist for much of math’s history. Historians offer a glimpse into how today’s “language” of math has evolved.

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By Science News Explores

To accompany ‘Ever wonder where our math symbols came from? Here are their stories’

SCIENCE

Before Reading:

  1. List four symbols used in math that are not numbers or letters. (If you’re having trouble thinking of some, consider how you would write an equation.) Pick one of these and speculate on how this particular symbol, in this form, might have arisen.
  2. Come up with at least one way you use math in your daily life, outside of school. To what degree do you think this usage relates to the math that you’ve learned in school? Based on your answers, do you think math is very important, somewhat important or unimportant in daily life? Briefly explain.

During Reading:

  1. In what year did the + and – symbols first appear in a German text?
  2. Contrast the original use of these symbols with how they are used in math formulas today.
  3. Consider the ship example used to demonstrate the value of symbols in this story. Point to one benefit gained by substituting symbols for the previous “longhand” approach.
  4. Raúl Rojas traced the first documented use of the “x” symbol to a 17th-century mathematician. What was this expert’s name? What is another symbol he introduced, and what did he use it to mean?
  5. In what year was the “÷” symbol first used in a book? How does this symbol relate to previous symbols used to denote the same function?
  6. What similarities does this story point out between al-Khwarizmi’s “not a math” book and a recipe book?
  7. What does the math constant pi mean? What symbol is used to represent it?
  8. Why was pi later nicknamed “Archimedes’ constant”?
  9. Consider the number -4. Explain how adding the “absolute value” symbol around this number, such as |-4|, changes its meaning.
  10. What was Giuseppe Peano’s goal when he tried writing math completely without words? According to the story, how well did this work?

After Reading:

  1. Consider this old saying: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Explain what this means in your own words. Draw parallels between this story and this saying. Use at least one specific example from this story to support your answer.
  2. List the centuries or years mentioned in this story that mark the first documented use of four different math symbols. (Include the “:” and “÷” symbols in this list.) Create a simple timeline and mark these points. Add a notation to this timeline to explain the origin of the “÷” symbol.
  3. Refer to your answer to Question 2 in Before Reading. After reading this story, are your views on how important math is in daily life the same or different? If your views are the same, point to information in this story that supports your original perspective. If your views are now different, point to information that caused you to adjust your perspective.