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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The preclassic Maya and their neighbors supposedly developed the concept of zero by what year?

2. Approximately when did Copernicus live?

3. When the Indians adopted a Babylonian style number system, its base was what, according to the author in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured”?

4. In what written work did Aristotle describe Zeno of Elea’s paradox of motion?

5. The ancient Babylonians are credited with the creation of what calculation tool?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the author describe the ancient Greek and Roman mathematical systems in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

2. What reason does the author give for why the Greeks and Romans resisted using zero in their mathematical systems in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

3. How did zero enter into Indian mathematics, according to the author in Chapter 3, “Nothing Ventured”?

4. How did the Protestant Reformation influence the Aristotelian philosophy in the West?

5. Where does the author claim zero was “born” in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”? How was zero involved in early mathematics?

6. How does the concept of zero relate to the beliefs of Hinduism?

7. 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”?

8. What inventions is Blaise Pascal credited with, according to the author in Chapter 4, “The Infinite God of Nothing”?

9. How are multiplication and division involving zero described in Chapter 1, “Nothing Doing”?

10. What discoveries did Archimedes make in the mathematical world?

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

Define and discuss imaginary numbers and their impact on algebra and mathematic philosophy. Who discovered imaginary numbers and when? How do imaginary numbers behave in comparison to real numbers?

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?

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