Mathematics as an ongoing cultural activity

Prepared by
Ooi Li Xuan
 Definition
• Mathematics is deeply linked to culture and that this link
cannot be considered by isolating it from social, political
and economic factors which determine the evolution of
thought in general.
• Culture refers to the following ways of life, including but
not limited to:
a. Language
b. arts and sciences
c. Thought
d. Spirituality
e. social activity
f. interaction
 Mathematics and arts…
• The ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks
knew about the golden ratio, regarded as an
aesthetically pleasing ratio, and incorporated
it into the design of monuments including the
Great Pyramid, the Parthenon, and the
Colosseum.
• The Golden Ratio, roughly equal to 1.618, was first
formally introduced in text by Greek mathematician
Pythagoras and later by Euclid in the 5th century BC.
• Aside from interesting mathematical properties,
geometric shapes derived from the golden ratio,
such as the golden rectangle, the golden triangle,
and Kepler’s triangle, were believed to be
aesthetically pleasing.
• Many works of ancient art exhibit and incorporate
the golden ratio in their design.
• Evidence of mathematical influences in art is
present in the Great Pyramids, built by
Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu and completed in
2560BC.
• Pyramidologists since the nineteenth century have
noted the presence of the golden ratio in the
design of the ancient monuments.
• They note that the length of the base edges range
from 755–756 feet while the height of the
structure is 481.4 feet. Working out the math, the
perpendicular bisector of the side of the pyramid
comes out to 612 feet. If we divide the slant height
of the pyramid by half its base length, we get a
ratio of 1.619, less than 1% from the golden ratio.
• This would also indicate that half the cross-section
of the Khufu’s pyramid is in fact a Kepler’s triangle.
 Mathematics and interactions…
• Measuring activity
• Length is the most necessary measurement in
everyday life, and units of length in many
countries still reflect humanity's first
elementary methods.
• Example, the inch is a thumb. The foot speaks
for itself. The yard relates closely to a human
pace, but also derives from two cubits (the
measure of the forearm).
• For the complex measuring problems of
civilization - surveying land to register property
rights, or selling a commodity by length - a more
precise unit is required.
• The solution is a rod or bar, of an exact length,
kept in a central public place. From this 'standard'
other identical rods can be copied and distributed
through the community. In Egypt and
Mesopotamia these standards are kept in
temples.
• When a length is standardized, it is usually the
king's dimension which is first taken as the norm.
• The measuring activity has developed by more
standardize units like the SI units.
 Mathematics and language…
• numeral system
• Some of the systems for representing
numbers in previous and present cultures are
well known.
• Roman numerals use a few letters of the
alphabet to represent numbers up to the
thousands, but are not intended for arbitrarily
large numbers and can only represent positive
integers.
• Arabic numerals are a family of systems,
originating in India and passing to medieval
Islamic civilization, then to Europe, and now
standard in global culture—and having
undergone many curious changes with time
and geography—can represent arbitrarily large
numbers and have been adapted to negative
numbers, fractions, and real numbers.
• Less well known systems include some that
are written and can be read today, such as the
Hebrew and Greek method of using the letters
of the alphabet, in order, for digits 1–9, tens
10–90, and hundreds 100–900.
 Hebrew number system

Greek number system

• A completely different system is that of the
quipu, which recorded numbers on knotted
strings.