MODULE 1

Mathematics in the Modern World

(An Overview)
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES TOPIC
At the end of this module, the student MODULE 1. Mathematics
should be able to: in Our World

• Explain the nature of mathematics 1) Patterns and Numbers in

• Discuss how mathematics is exhibited in Nature and the World
nature and art
• Identity (types of) patterns in nature and
2) The Fibonacci Sequence
regularities of the world
• Critically examine the presence of
3) The Gold Ratio
Fibonacci sequence in nature and in art
• Relate Fibonacci Numbers and the
Golden Ratio
 a set of
problem -
solving tools

an art a language

Mathematics is ...

a study of a process of
patterns thinking

SOURCE: Essential Mathematics for the Modern World by Rizal and Ederlina Nocon (2018, C&E Publishing, Inc.)
 a science of an intellectual
measures game

an intuitive the art of drawing

method
Nature of
conclusions
Mathematics

a system of
a tool subject
logical procedures

SOURCE: Mathematics in the Modern World by Recto Calingasan, et al, (2018, C&E Publishing, Inc.)
WHAT IS MATHEMATICS?

Mathematics today is much more than algebra and

geometry. It evolved from just performing calculations or
deduction into …

▪ revealing patterns that help individuals to better

understand the world
▪ testing conjectures
▪ estimating results
▪ data management and measurements
▪ modeling natural and phenomenon including human
behavior and social systems
 Mathematics in Nature

Patterns in Nature
Mathematics is all around us.
As we discover more and more about our environment and
our surroundings
we see that nature can be described mathematically.

▪ ARE VISIBLE REGULARITIES OF FORM FOUND IN THE

NATURAL WORLD

▪ THESE PATTERNS RECUR IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS AND

CAN SOMETIMES BE MODELLED MATHEMATICALLY.
LOOK AT THESE FLOWERS.
What have you observed?
 TYPES OF PATTERNS IN NATURE

1) SYMMETRY

• Is pervasive in living things

• Animals mainly have bilateral or mirror symmetry or strip pattern
• Leaves of plants and some flowers such as Orchids
• Plants often have radial or rotational symmetry
Examples: Sea Anemones Starfish (radial)

Radial - is rotational symmetry around a fixed point known as the

center.
Radial symmetry can be classified as either cyclic or dihedral.
Sunflowers boast radial symmetry and an interesting type
of numerical symmetry known as the Fibonacci sequence.
If we took the time to count the number of seed spirals in a
sunflower, we’d find that the amount of spirals adds up to a
Fibonacci number.

In fact, a great many plants (e.g. Romanesco broccoli)

produce petals, leaves, and seeds in the Fibonacci
sequence, which is why it’s so hard to find a four-leaf
clover.
2) FRACTALS
• A fractal is a never-ending pattern.
• Fractals are objects in which the same patterns occur again and again
at different scales and sizes.
• Each pattern is made up of smaller copies of itself, and those smaller
copies are made up of smaller copies again, forever.
• If you divide a fractal pattern into parts you get a nearly identical
reduced-size copy of the whole.

Examples: ferns , corals, trees, river networks, animal coloration,

mountains, snow flakes, broccoli
3) SPIRALS
• Such arrangements in molluscs, sunflower seed heads or structure
of a pineapple fruit are called spirals.
Some of these spirals can be generated mathematically
from Fibonacci ratios (sequence)
4) CHAOS, FLOW, MEANDERS

Chaos is an unpredictable behavior which appears random and is often

the result of disorder and confusion.
Flow means to move along in a steady or continuous fashion.
Meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves, bends, loops,
turns, or windings in the channel of a river, stream, or other
watercourse. It is produced by a stream or river swinging from
side to side as it flows across its floodplain or shifts its channel
within a valley.

Chaos is the science of surprises, of the nonlinear and the unpredictable.

It teaches us to expect the unexpected. While most traditional science deals with
supposedly predictable phenomena like gravity, electricity, or chemical reactions,
Chaos Theory deals with nonlinear things that are effectively impossible to predict or
control, like turbulence, weather, the stock market, our brain states ...
5) WAVES, DUNES
• these are disturbances that carry energy as they move
(breaking wave in a ship’s wake, sand dunes in a desert,
wind ripples with dislocations)
6) CRACKS
• Linear openings that form in materials to relieve stress
Ex. drying inelastic mud , old pottery surface , some barks
7) SPOTS, STRIPES
• These patterns have an evolutionary explanation:
camouflage, signaling, survival, etc.
EX. Leopard , Zebras , Butterfly , Royal angelfish
8) BUBBLES, FOAMS
 9) TESSELATIONS
• Patterns formed by repeating tiles all over a flat surface common
in art and design EX. Honeycomb, crystals
10. Daily cyclic pattern
11. Seasonal pattern