LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET # 1

Course Title Mathematics in the Modern World

Type of Activity
Activity Title The Nature of Mathematics
Duration 3 hours
Learning Target a. identify patterns in nature and regularities in the world;
b. articulate the importance of mathematics in one’s life;
c. argue about the nature of mathematics, what it is, how it is expressed,
represented, and used;
d. express appreciation for mathematics as a human endeavor;
Reference/s Nature’s numbers by Ian Stewart
Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World by
John A. Adam
Cristobal Vila’s Short Movie
The Story of an elephant and six Blind Men
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/esmemc/fibonacci
A. Concept Digest PART I. THE NATURE OF MATHEMATICS

Mathematics is a useful way to think about nature and our

world.

I. MATHEMATICS IN OUR WORLD

 Mathematics is everywhere.
 Mathematics exists hand in hand with the creation of God
(proofs of God’s creation)
 Explores nature’s patterns – are numerical
 Exhibits the order in nature and get awed by which all these
things came about.
 Mathematics is embedded in Nature and more have to be
discovered.
 Challenges us to do more mathematical investigations in nature
and formulate conjectures
 Numbers originate from nature, the use of numbers in exploiting
nature.
 Beauty of Mathematics, it helps us predict behavior of nature
 Mathematics is not just about the abstract things and it connects
to many concrete things
 Nature is better appreciated because of mathematics
 Any physical occurrence proves that math enables us to move
and have our being
 Mathematics is every breath we take, video shares the power of
mathematics
  Mathematics can help us explain the patterns in nature
 These patterns give order
 Mathematics lead us to discover new things (metaphor for
Math)
 Nature unfolds before us – no one completes it

-Cristobal Vila’s Short Movie

STORY OF THE ELEPHANT AND THE 6 BLIND MEN

A folk tale from India that teaches intercultural awareness by

illustrating how different perspectives lead to distinct points of view.

Long ago six old men lived in a village in India. Each was born blind.
The other villagers loved the old men and kept them away from harm.
Since the blind men could not see the world for themselves, they had to
imagine many of its wonders. They listened carefully to the stories told
by travelers to learn what they could about life outside the village.

The men were curious about many of the stories they heard, but they
were most curious about elephants. They were told that elephants could
trample forests, carry huge burdens, and frighten young and old with
their loud trumpet calls. But they also knew that the Rajah's daughter
rode an elephant when she traveled in her father's kingdom. Would the
Rajah let his daughter get near such a dangerous creature?
The old men argued day and night about elephants. "An elephant must
be a powerful giant," claimed the first blind man. He had heard stories
about elephants being used to clear forests and build roads.

"No, you must be wrong," argued the second blind man. "An elephant
must be graceful and gentle if a princess is to ride on its back."

"You're wrong! I have heard that an elephant can pierce a man's heart
with its terrible horn," said the third blind man.

"Please," said the fourth blind man. "You are all mistaken. An elephant
is nothing more than a large sort of cow. You know how people
exaggerate."

"I am sure that an elephant is something magical," said the fifth blind
man. "That would explain why the Rajah's daughter can travel safely
throughout the kingdom."

"I don't believe elephants exist at all," declared the sixth blind man. "I
think we are the victims of a cruel joke."

Finally, the villagers grew tired of all the arguments, and they arranged
for the curious men to visit the palace of the Rajah to learn the truth
about elephants. A young boy from their village was selected to guide
the blind men on their journey. The smallest man put his hand on the
boy's shoulder. The second blind man put his hand on his friend's
shoulder, and so on until all six men were ready to walk safely behind
the boy who would lead them to the Rajah's magnificent palace.

When the blind men reached the palace, they were greeted by an old
friend from their village who worked as a gardener on the palace
grounds. Their friend led them to the courtyard. There stood an
elephant. The blind men stepped forward to touch the creature that was
the subject of so many arguments.

The first blind man reached out and touched the side of the huge animal.
"An elephant is smooth and solid like a wall!" he declared. "It must be
very powerful."

The second blind man put his hand on the elephant's limber trunk. "An
elephant is like a giant snake," he announced.

The third blind man felt the elephant's pointed tusk. "I was right," he
decided. "This creature is as sharp and deadly as a spear."
The fourth blind man touched one of the elephant's four legs. "What we
have here," he said, "is an extremely large cow."

The fifth blind man felt the elephant's giant ear. "I believe an elephant
is like a huge fan or maybe a magic carpet that can fly over mountains
and treetops," he said.

The sixth blind man gave a tug on the elephant's coarse tail. "Why, this
is nothing more than a piece of old rope. Dangerous, indeed," he
scoffed.

The gardener led his friends to the shade of a tree. "Sit here and rest for
the long journey home," he said. "I will bring you some water to drink."

While they waited, the six blind men talked about the elephant.

"An elephant is like a wall," said the first blind man. "Surely we can
finally agree on that."

"A wall? An elephant is a giant snake!" answered the second blind man.

"It's a spear, I tell you," insisted the third blind man.

"I'm certain it's a giant cow," said the fourth blind man.

"Magic carpet. There's no doubt," said the fifth blind man.

"Don't you see?" pleaded the sixth blind man. "Someone used a rope to
trick us."

Their argument continued and their shouts grew louder and louder.

"Wall!" "Snake!" "Spear!" "Cow!" "Carpet!" "Rope!"

"Stop shouting!" called a very angry voice.

It was the Rajah, awakened from his nap by the noisy argument.

"How can each of you be so certain you are right?" asked the ruler.

The six blind men considered the question. And then, knowing the
Rajah to be a very wise man, they decided to say nothing at all.

"The elephant is a very large animal," said the Rajah kindly. "Each man
touched only one part. Perhaps if you put the parts together, you will
see the truth. Now, let me finish my nap in peace."
When their friend returned to the garden with the cool water, the six
men rested quietly in the shade, thinking about the Rajah's advice.

"He is right," said the first blind man. "To learn the truth, we must put
all the parts together. Let's discuss this on the journey home."

The first blind man put his hand on the shoulder of the young boy who
would guide them home. The second blind man put a hand on his
friend's shoulder, and so on until all six men were ready to travel
together.

 The story explains how we see the nature of mathematics (we

see it in different ways – understand it in different ways)
 Math can be viewed as a way in understanding what’s around
us.
 We may not be able to capture the whole truth about
mathematics but at least we share some common proofs
 Mathematics is universal

GETTING TO KNOW MATHEMATICS

Mathematics is defined as:

 Study of numbers and arithmetic operations
  Set of tools that can be used to answer questions involving
quantities
 A science that involves logical reasoning, drawing conclusions
from assumed premises and strategic reasoning based on
accepted rules, laws and probabilities
 An art which studies patterns
 A specialized language that deals with form, size and quantity

II. PATTERNS AND NUMBERS IN NATURE AND THE

WORLD

Many patterns and occurrences exist in nature, in our world, in our life.
Mathematics helps makes sense of these patterns and occurrences. It’s
a tool to quantify, organize and control our world, predict phenomena,
and make life easier for us

Patterns and Numbers in Nature and the World: the snowflake and
honeycomb; tiger’s stripes and hyena’s spots; the sunflower, the
snail’s shell, flower petals; the world’s population, the weather, etc.

III. THE FIBONACCI SEQUENCE

Who is Fibonacci?
Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician. He was really named
Leonardo de Pisa nut his nickname was Fibonacci.
About 800 years ago, in 1202, he wrote himself a Math problem
all about rabbit that went like this:
“A certain man put a pair of rabbits in a place surrounded by a wall.
How many pairs of rabbits can be produced from that pair in a year if it
is supposed that every month each pair breed a new pair from which the
second month on becomes productive?” (Liber abbaci, pp. 283-284)
A load of….
  Fibonacci’s rabbit theory turned out not to be true BUT the
sequence he created is incredibly useful…
 The sequence goes:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…..Can you work out which number comes

next?

Continue the sequence…

 Fibonacci’s sequence is made by adding the two previous

numbers together to create the next, starting with zero and one:
 0 + 1 =1
1+1=2
1+ 2 = 3
2+3=5
3+5=8
….keep going in your minds!

 The sequence Fibonacci created may not have solved his rabbit
reproduction problem
 But other mathematicians looked at his numbers and started
seeing them all over the place.

Mathematics helps organize patterns and regularities in the world. It

helps predict the behavior of nature and phenomena in the world. It
helps control nature and occurrences in the world for our own ends.
Mathematics has numerous applications in the world making it
indispensable.

DO YOU STILL HATE MATHEMATICS?

B. Examples
C. Exercises Watch Cristobal Vila’s Short Movie: Nature by Numbers

A. Answer the following questions.

1. Is God a mathematician?
2. What is Mathematics?
3. Where is Mathematics?
 4. What is Mathematics for?
5. What is Mathematics about?
6. How is Mathematics done?
7. Who uses Mathematics?

B. Write an essay based on one question. Choose ONE of the

following questions.

1. What new ideas about Mathematics did you learn?

2. What is it in Mathematics that might have changed your
thoughts about it?
3. What is the most useful about Mathematics for humankind?
4. Nature of mathematics: Its Role and Its influence
5. Mathematics and the Language of Nature
6. Why is it important to learn and study Mathematics?
7. The Role of Mathematics

Prepared by:
Lorena U. Mandal, BSEd-Mathematics