COLEGIO DE STA.

TERESA DE AVILA
6 Kingfisher St., Zabarte Subd., Brgy. Kaligayahan Novaliches,
Quezon City www.csta.ph/ 939-6983/355-9116

MATHEMATICS IN THE MODERN WORLD – GE4

FIRST SEMESTER/2021-2022
Course Description:
This course aims to discuss the nature of mathematics leading to
appreciation of its practical, intellectual, social, and aesthetic
dimensions. It includes the study of the nature of mathematics and how
the perception of this leads to different tools for understanding and
dealing with various aspects of present day living such as managing
personal finances, making social choices, appreciating geometric
designs, understanding codes used in data transmissions and security,
and dividing limited resources fairly.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, the students would be able to
1. Discuss and argue about the nature of mathematics, what it is, how it
is expressed, represented, and used.
2. Use mathematics in other areas such as finance, voting,
health and medicine, business, environment, arts and design, and
recreation.
3. Appreciate the nature and uses of mathematics in everyday life.

Lesson 1
NATURE OF MATHEMATICS
Learning Outcomes
1. Demonstrate knowledge and skills in mathematics.
2. Recognize the usefulness of pattern recognition in solving real life
problems.
3. Demonstrate understanding of the presence of mathematics in nature
and
in the arts.

Lesson Proper
Patterns and Numbers in Nature and the World
Patterns – are regular, repeated or recurring forms or design.
We see patterns everyday – from the layout of floor tiles, design of skyscrapers,
to the way we tie our shoelaces. Studying patterns help students in identifying
relationships and finding logical connections to form generalizations and make
predictions.

Example. What comes next ?

?

Sol. Looking at the given figures, the lines seem to

rotate at 90-degree intervals in a
counterclockwise direction, always parallel to
one
A B side of the square. The other patterns, the
length
of the lines inside the square follows
decreasing
trend. Looking at the number of lines inside
the
box, each succeeding figure has the number
of
lines increase by 1. This means that the next
figure should have five lines inside. This
leads to
option A as the correct choice.
Example. What number comes next in 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, _____?
Solution. Looking at the given numbers, the sequence is increasing, with each
term being two more than the previous term: 3 = 2 + 1; 5 = 3 + 2; 7 = 5 + 2; 9 = 7
+ 2. Therefore, the next term should be 11 = 9 + 2.
Example. What number comes next in 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, _____?
Solution. Looking at the given numbers, the sequence is increasing, with each
term being increased by odd numbers successfully starting with 3, 5, 7, …, ;4 =
1 = 3; 9 = 4 + 5;
16 = 9 + 7; 25 = 16 + 9. Therefore, the next term should be 36 = 25 + 11.
Snowflakes and honeycombs
Recall that symmetry indicates that you can draw an imaginary line across an
object and the resulting parts are mirror images of each other.
|
| The figure is symmetric about the axis indicated by the dotted
│ line. Note that the left and right portion are exactly the same.

This type of symmetry, known as line or bilateral symmetry, is evident in

most animals, including humans. Look in a mirror and see how the left and right
sides of your face closely match. Note that if you rotate the spiderwort and
starfish by several degrees, you can still achieve the same appearance as the
original position. This is known as rotational symmetry. The smallest angle
that a figure can be
rotated while still preserving the original formation is called the angle of
rotation. For the spiderwort, the angle of rotation is 120° while the angle of
rotation for the baby starfish is 72°

A more common way of describing rotational symmetry is by the order of

rotation.
A figure has a rotational symmetry of order n (n-fold rotational symmetry) if 1/n
of a complete turn leaves the figure unchanged. To compute the angle of
rotation, we use the following formula:
Angle of rotation = 360°/n
Consider the image of a snowflake, indicating that there is a six-fold symmetry.
The angle of rotation is 360°/6 = 60°.
Example. Compute the angle of rotation of a starfish with five-fold symmetry.
Solution. Angle of rotation = 360/5 = 72ᵒ

Packing Problem involve finding the optimum method of filling up a given space
such as a cubic or spherical container.
Let us illustrate this mathematically. Suppose you have circle of radius 1 cm.
each of which will then have an area of πcm2. We are then going to fill a plane
with these circles using square packing and hexagonal packing.
For square packing, each square will have
an
area of 4 cm2. Note from the figure that
for
each square, it can fit only one circle
(4 quarters). The percentage of the square’s
area
covered by circles will be
area of the circles x 100% = π cm2 x 100%
area of the square 4 cm 2
= 78.54%
For hexagonal packing, we can think of each hexagon as composed of six
equilateral triangles with side equal to 2 cm.
The area of each triangle is given by
A = side2 √ ❑ = (2 cm)2 √ ❑ = √ ❑ cm2
4 4
This gives the area of the hexagon is 6√ ❑ cm2
Looking at the figure, there are 3 circles that could fit

inside one hexagon(the whole circle in the middle, and 6 one-thirds of a

circle)which gives the total area as 3π cm2. The percentage of the pentagon’s area
covered by circles will be
area of the circles x 100% = 3π cm2 x 100% = 90.69%
area of the hexagon 6√ ❑ cm2
Comparing the two percentages, we can clearly see that using hexagons will
cover a larger area than when using squares.
World Population
Recall that the formula for exponential growth is A = Pert , where A is the size of
the population after it grows, P is the initial number of people, r is the rate of
growth, and t is time.

Example. Population Growth. The exponential growth model A = 30e0.02t

describes the population of a city in the Philippines in thousands, t years after
1995
1. What was the population of the city in 1995 ?
2. What will be the population in 2017 ?
Solution.
1. t = 0
A = 30e0.20(0) = 30e0 = 30(1) = 30
Therefore the city population in 1995 was 30,000.
2. t = 22
A = 303e0.20(22). = 30e0.44 = 46.581
Therefore the city population would be about 46,581 in 2017.

Learning Enrichment Activity

A. Determine what comes next in the given patterns.
1. A , C , E , G , I _____ 4. 27, 30, 33, 36, 39 _____
2. 15, 10, 14, 10, 13, 10 ____ 5. 41, 39, 37, 35, 33 _____
3. 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96 _____
B. Compute the angle of rotation for the following symmetry.
1. Eleven-fold symmetry
2. Eighteen-fold symmetry
4. Twenty five-fold symmetry
C. Packing problem. Find the optimum method of filling up a given space such
as a cubic or spherical container, given a circle of radius 2.5 cm each. Use
square packing and hexagonal packing.

D. Substitute the given values in the formula A = Pe rt to find the missing

quantity.
1. P = 680,000; 12% per year; t = 8 years
2. A = 1,240,000; r = 8% per year; t = 30 years
3. A = 786,000; P = 247,000; t = 17 years
4. A = 731,093; P = 525,600; r = 3% per year

E. Answer completely.
Suppose the population of a certain bacteria in a laboratory sample is 100. If it
doubles in population every 6 hours, what is the growth rate? How many
bacteria will there be in two days ?