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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The word “Renaissance” derives from what meaning?
(a) Rebirth.
(b) Beauty.
(c) Art.
(d) Destruction.

2. René Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician who spent most of his adult life where?
(a) Great Britain.
(b) South America.
(c) Northern Africa.
(d) The Dutch Republic.

3. How is zero represented in Roman numerals?
(a) X.
(b) It is not represented.
(c) I.
(d) C.

4. The author states in Chapter 2, “Nothing Comes of Nothing” that the concepts of infinity and the void frightened the ancient Greeks. They feared the infinite because it threatened the possibility of what?
(a) God.
(b) The Devil.
(c) Time.
(d) Motion.

5. The Italian word “zefiro,” meaning “west wind” derived from what Latin and Greek word?
(a) Sifr.
(b) Zyloph.
(c) Zephyrus.
(d) Zebra.

6. Pythagoreanism was a cult that greatly influenced what philosophical system?
(a) Hinduism.
(b) Buddhism.
(c) Athenism.
(d) Platonism.

7. What region in the Middle East is widely considered to be the cradle of civilization?
(a) The Nile Region.
(b) The Fertile Crescent.
(c) The Twin Towers.
(d) The Mayan Region.

8. Any number multiplied by zero equals what?
(a) 15.
(b) 0.
(c) -100.
(d) 1.

9. What in graphical perspective refers to a point in the picture plane π that is determined by a line in space?
(a) A black hole.
(b) A hyperbole.
(c) A vanishing point.
(d) A vector.

10. The preclassic Maya and their neighbors supposedly developed the concept of zero by what year?
(a) 23 BC.
(b) 10 BC.
(c) 36 BC.
(d) 50 BC.

11. Where does the author say early medieval Jews took up residence and discovered that Aristotle’s aversion to zero contradicted Jewish theology in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured”?
(a) South America.
(b) Ancient Egypt.
(c) Muslim Spain.
(d) Rome.

12. The author states in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured” that India adopted a Babylonian style number system around what century?
(a) 1st Century.
(b) 5th Century.
(c) 6th Century.
(d) 2nd Century.

13. The ancient Egyptians used math to create what type of calendar?
(a) A geocentric calendar.
(b) A plexus calendar.
(c) A lunar calendar.
(d) A solar calendar.

14. The introduction of nothingness and zero into Jewish theology led in part to what offshoot Jewish mysticism?
(a) Kabbalism.
(b) Hasidism.
(c) Orthodoxy.
(d) Sufism.

15. What was the Pythagorean cult’s most sacred symbol because it contained the golden ratio?
(a) The sphere.
(b) The hexagram.
(c) The pentagram.
(d) The diamond.

Short Answer Questions

1. When did René Descartes live?

2. Approximately when did Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khwarizmi live?

3. When did the Protestant Reformation begin?

4. Filippo Brunelleschi was born in approximately what year?

5. Ptolemy wrote what mathematical and astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths?

(see the answer keys)

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