Unit 1- Mathematics in our World

In this unit, you will recognize patterns and numbers in nature and the world.
Recognizing and extending patterns are important skills needed for learning
concepts in mathematics. Mathematics is a tool to quantify, organize and control
our world, predict phenomena, and make life easier for us.

Learning Outcomes
 At the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 Identify patterns in nature and regularities in the world.
 Argue about the nature of mathematics what it is, how it is express, represent
and use.
 Articulate the importance of mathematics in one’s life.
 Express appreciation for mathematics as a human endeavor.

Pre-test

Fill in the Blanks:

Each item below shows a pattern. Answer the questions in the blank space
provided.
1. What is the next shape?
______
2. What is the next number? What is the 10th number?
0, 4, 8, 12, 16, ____, 24, 28, 32, _____
3. What is the next number? What is the 8th number?
9, 4, -1, -6, -11, ____, -21, _____
4. What is the next number? What is the 12th number?
1, 3, 9, 27, 81, ____, 12th: _____
5. What is the next number? What is the 7th number?
160, 80, 40, 20, 10, ____

Thank you for answering the pretest.

The next section is the content of this unit. It contains vital

information on the topics based on the learning outcomes.
Please read the content.

Content

Mathematics is a useful way to think about our nature, our world, and our lives. When
you learn more and more about your surroundings and climate you see that nature can be
mathematically defined. A flower’s beauty, a tree’s majesty, and even the rock on which you
walk may exhibit a sense of symmetry in nature.
Have you ever stopped looking around and seeing all the amazing shapes and patterns
you see around you in the world? Mathematics is the building blocks of the natural world, and
can be seen in stunning ways. Here are some of my examples of mathematics in nature, but
there are also many other examples.
Types of Patterns in Nature
Symmetry

Symmetry is usually used to refer to an object that is invariant in some transformations,

including translation, reflection, rotation or scaling. Symmetry is everywhere you look in nature,
when a figure has two sides that are mirror images of one another. It would then be possible to
draw a line through a picture of the object and along either side the image would look exactly
the same.

Tige r shows mirror or bilateral symmetry.

Starfish have fivefold symmetry

Snowflakes have sixfold symmetry

Water splash approximates radial symmetry

Volvox has spherical symmetry.

Sea anemones have rotational symmetry

Fractals
A fractal is a self-similar subset of image plane in mathematics whose fractal dimension
strictly exceeds its topological dimension. Fractals is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are
infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by
repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. Drive by recursion,
fractals are images of dynamic systems-the pictures of chaos.

The growth patterns of certain trees resemble these Lindenmayer system

fractals
Branching pattern of a baobab tree

Fractal spirals: Romanesco broccoli showing self-similar form

Angelica flowerhead, a sphere made of spheres (self-similar)

Spiral

Spiral is a curve that emanates from a point, moving further away as it rotates around a
point.

Fibonacci spiral

Bighorn sheep

Spirals: phyllotaxis of spiral aloe, Aloe polyphylla

Nautilus shell’s logarithmic growth spiral

Fermat’s spiral: seed head of sunflower, Helianthus annuus

Multiple Fibonacci spirals: Red cabbage in cross section

Spiraling shell of Trochoidea liebetruti

Water droplets fly off a wet, spinning ball in equiangular spirals

Chaos, Flow, Meanders

In mathematics, a dynamic system is chaotic if it is (highly) prone to initial conditions (the

so-called "butterfly effect") requiring the mathematical properties of topological mixing and
dense periodic orbits.

Alongside the fractals, chaos theory ranks as an inherently universal concept of patterns
in nature. There is a relationship between chaos and fractals — the odd attractors in the
universe.

Chaos: Shell of Gastropod Mollucs the cloth of gold cone, Conus textile
resembles Rule 30 cellular

Meanders: sinuous path of Rio Cauto, Cuba

Meanders: sinuous snake crawling

Meanders: symmetrical brain coral, Dirploria Strigosa

Waves, Dunes
 Wave is a movement that holds energy as it passes. Mechanical waves travel through
the medium — air or water, making them oscillate as they pass through. Wind waves are sea
surface waves that produce the characteristic chaotic pattern of any large body of water, while
their statistical behavior can be modeled by models of wind waves. When waves of water or
wind move through air, they form patterns of ripples. As the winds blow over large bodies of
sand, they produce dunes, often in vast dunes like the Taklamakan desert. Dunes can form a
variety of patterns, including crescents, very long straight lines, stars, domes, parabolas, and
linear or sword shapes.

Waves: breaking wave in a ship’s wake

Sand Dunes

Wind ripples with dislocations

Bubbles, Foam

A soap bubble
enclosed volume. Two bubbles together form a more complicated shape: the outer surfaces of
the two bubbles are spherical; these surfaces are joined by a third spherical surface as the
smaller bubble bulges slightly into the larger one.

Foam of soap bubbles: four edges meet at each vertex, at angles close
to 109.50, as in two C-H bonds in methane.

Circus tent approximates a minimal surface.

Beijing’s National Aquatics Center for the 2008 Olympics games has a
Weaire – Phelan structure
Tessellations

Tessellations are patterns formed by replicating tiles across a flat surface. There are 17
wallpaper groups of tiles. While common in art and design, it is less easy to find precisely
replicated tiles in living things. Cells in the paper nests of social wasps and honeycomb wax
cells formed by honey bees are well-known examples. Between animals, bony fish , reptiles or
pangolin, or fruits such as salak, are covered by overlapping scales or osteoderms, which shape
more or less precisely replicated units, although the scales in reality also vary continuously in
size.

Crystals: Cube-shaped crystals of halite (rock salt); cubic crystal

system, isometric hexoctahedral crystal symmetry

Arrays: Honeycomb is a natural tessellation

Tessellated pavement: a rare rock formation on the Tasman Peninsula

Cracks

Cracks are linear openings formed in materials to alleviate stress. When the elastic
material expands or shrinks uniformly, it eventually reaches its breaking strength and inevitably
fails in all directions, creating cracks of 120 degree joints, so that three cracks intersect at the
node. Conversely, when the inelastic material fails, straight cracks are formed to relieve stress.

Old pottery surface, white glaze with main 900 cracks

Drying inelastic mud in the Rann of Kutch with mainly 900 cracks

Veined gabbro with 900 cracks, near Sgurr na Stri, Skye

Spot, Stripes
 Leopards and ladybirds are spotted; angelfish and zebras are shaved. These patterns
have an evolutionary explanation: they have roles that improve the likelihood that the offspring
of the patterned species will live to reproduce. One feature of animal patterns is camouflage; for
example, leopards that are harder to see capture more prey. Another purpose is signaling — for
example, a ladybird is less likely to be targeted by aggressive birds that prey by sight, if it has
bold alert colors, and is also distastefully bitter or toxic, or mimics other distasteful insects.

Dirce beauty butterfly

Zebra’s stripes

Royal Angelfish stripes

Leopard stripes

Note: All photos used from (symmetry to spot and stripes) patterns in
nature. Adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patterns_in_nature

The Fibonacci Sequence in Nature

Name for
yet profound pattern.

A few examples include the number of spirals in a pine cone,

pineapple or seeds in a sunflower, or the number of petals on a
flower.
The numbers in this sequence also form a unique shape known as a Fibonacci spiral, which
again, we see in nature in the form of shells and the shape of hurricanes.

Fractals in Nature
Fractals are another
self-similar, repeating shape, meaning the same basic shape
is seen again and again in the shape itself. in other words, if
you were to zoom way in or out, the same shape is seen
throughout.
Hexagons in Nature
Another of nature’s
length, and this shape is seen again and again in the world
around us. The most common example of nature using
hexagon is in a bee hive.

Concentric Circles in Nature

Another common shape

share the same center, but have different radii. This
means the circles are all different sizes, one inside
the other.

A common example
we also see concentric circles in the layers of an
onion and the rings of trees that form as it grows and
ages. If you live near woods, you might go looking for
a fallen tree to count the rings, or look for an orb
spider web, which is built with nearly perfect
concentric circles.

Mathematics reveals hidden patterns that help us

understand the world around us. Now much more than arithmetic and geometry, mathematics
today is a diverse discipline that deals with data, measurements, and observations from
science; with inference, deduction, and proof; and with mathematical models of natural
phenomena, of human behavior, and of social systems.
 As a practical matter, mathematics is a science of pattern and order. Its domain is not
molecules or cells, but numbers, chance, form, algorithms, and change. As a science of abstract
objects, mathematics relies on logic rather than on observation as its standard of truth, yet
employs observation, simulation, and even experimentation as means of discovering truth.

What is Mathematics?
According to Hom (2013), Mathematics is the science that deals with the logic of shape,
quantity and arrangement. Math is all around us, in everything we do. It is the building block for
everything in our daily lives, including mobile devices, architecture (ancient and modern), art,
money, engineering, and even sports.

In research from Wikipedia contributors (2020), Mathematics is the study of numbers,

shapes and patterns. The word comes from the Greek word "μάθημα" (máthema), meaning
"science, knowledge, or learning", and is sometimes shortened to maths (in England, Australia,
Ireland, and New Zealand) or math (in the United States and Canada. Mathematics is useful for
solving problems that occur in the real world, so many people besides mathematicians study
and use mathematics. Today, some mathematics is needed in many jobs. People working in
business, science, engineering, and construction need some knowledge of mathematics.

Whatever the reasons, mathematics definitely is a useful way to think about nature.
What do we want it to tell us about the patterns we observe? There are many answers. We want
to understand how they happen; to understand why they happen, which is different; to organize
the underlying patterns and regularities in the most satisfying way; to predict how nature will
behave; to control nature for our own ends; and to make practical use of what we have learned
about our world. Mathematics helps us to do all these things, and often it is indispensable.
(Stewart, 1995, p.15)

The meanings of Mathematics

Mathematics is used to communicate information about a wide range of different

subjects. Here are three broad categories:

 Mathematics describes the real world: many areas of mathematics originated with
attempts to describe and solve real world phenomena - from measuring farms
(geometry) to falling apples (calculus) to gambling (probability). Mathematics is
widely applied in modern physics and engineering, and has been hugely successful
in helping us to understand more about the universe around us from its largest
scales (physical cosmology) to its smallest (quantum mechanics). Indeed, the very
success of mathematics in this respect has been a source of puzzlement for some
philosophers (see The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural
Sciences by Eugene Wigner).
 Mathematics describes abstract structures: on the other hand, there are areas of
pure mathematics which deal with abstract structures, which have no known physical
counterparts at all. However, it is difficult to give any categorical examples here, as
even the most abstract structures can be co-opted as models in some branch of
physics (see Calabi-Yau spaces and string theory).
  Mathematics describes mathematics: mathematics can be used reflexively to
describe itself—this is an area of mathematics called meta-mathematics.


Why math is important?

Math is very important in our daily lives. In reality, it is implemented everywhere. It is
useful for solving problems that occur in the real world. This is the reason that so many people
besides mathematicians study and use mathematics. There are too many fields such as natural
science, engineering, medicine, finance, etc. that uses mathematics.

These are the following reasons that makes the mathematics as a powerful tool.

 Math is involved around us. So, it is an essential and powerful discipline in today's world.
Our perspective of the important issues facing us as individuals, families, businesses,
and nations.
 It provides an effective way of building mental discipline.
 It improves mental rigor for developing logical, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
 The knowledge of mathematics plays a crucial role in understanding other subjects such
as physics, art, music, etc.

The Fibonacci Sequence

Here is a statement of Fibonacci’s rabbit problem. “At the beginning of a month, you
are given a pair of newborn rabbits. After a month the rabbits have produced no
offspring; however, every month thereafter, the pair of rabbits produces another pair of
rabbits.”

The offspring reproduce in exactly the same manner. If none of the rabbit dies, how
many pairs of rabbit will there be at the start of each succeeding month?

The solution of this problem is a sequence of numbers that we now call the Fibonacci
sequence. The following figures below shows the numbers of pairs of rabbits on the first day of
each of the first six months. The larger rabbits represent mature rabbits that produce another
pair of rabbits each month. The number is the blue region – 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 – are the first six
terms of the Fibonacci sequence.
 Fibonacci discovered that the number of pairs of rabbits for any month after the first two
months can be determined by adding the numbers of pairs of rabbits in each of two previous
months. For instance, the number of pairs of rabbits at the start of the six month is 3 + 5 = 8.
A recursive definition for a sequence is one in which each successive term of the
sequence is defined by using some of the preceding terms.
If we use the mathematical notation Fn to represent the nth Fibonacci number, then the
numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are given by the following recursive definition.

Example 1. Find a Fibonacci Number

Use the definition of Fibonacci numbers to find the seventh and eight Fibonacci numbers.
Solution
The first six Fibonacci numbers are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8. The seventh Fibonacci number is
the sum of the two previous Fibonacci numbers.
Thus, F7 = F6 + F5
=8+5
= 13
The eight Fibonacci number is
F8 = F7 + F6
= 13 + 8
= 21

Now that you had learned about mathematics in our world,

do the succeeding activities. If you have questions
regarding the activity, feel free to ask or leave a message in
google classroom or messenger.

Learning Activities

Activity 1. Essay

Write an essay for the following questions below. See Rubric in writing on page__.

1. What is mathematics in your own understanding?

2. Where is mathematics?
 3. What role does mathematics play in our world?
4. What new ideas about mathematics did you learn?
5. What is it about mathematics that might have changed your thoughts about it?

Activity 2. Create and design a Photo Album about Math in Nature

Explore 15 patterns in nature and present them as photo album, photo exhibit, etc. See Rubric
in showing your photo album in page ____.

Activity 3. Use the definition of Fibonacci numbers to find the following Fibonacci
number below.

a. 10th Fibonacci number

b. 13th Fibonacci number
c. 17th Fibonacci number
d. 45 Fibonacci number
e. 70 Fibonacci number

Congratulations! You did a great job! You may now take the
assessment. If you have not completed the task, or you
have difficulty in accomplishing the activity, please send me
a message to our google class or you may ask clarifications
through a text message or phone calls on the contact
number included in your course guide.

Assessment

Multiple Choices:
Directions: Read the following statements carefully and select the best answer from the choices.
Encircle the letter of the correct answer. See page ____ or you may click this link for the answer
key.

1. Which of the following pattern in nature refers to an object that is invariant in some
transformations, including translation, reflection, rotation or scaling?
a. Fractals c. Symmetry
b. Spiral d. Chaos
2. Which of the following pattern in nature emanates from a point, moving further away as it
rotates around a point?
a. Fractals c. Symmetry
b. Spiral d. Chaos
3. Which of the following is a never-ending pattern in nature?
a. Fractals c. Symmetry
b. Spiral d. Chaos
4. Which patterns in nature formed by replicating tiles across a flat surface?
a. Cracks c. Stripes
b. Tessellations d. Waves
5. Which of the following patterns in nature has a sixfold symmetry?
a. Volvox c. Tigers
b. Starfish d. Snowflakes
6. Which of the following patterns in nature has a spherical symmetry?
a. Volvox c. Tigers
b. Starfish d. Snowflakes
7. Which of the following patterns in nature has a bilateral symmetry?
a. Volvox c. Tigers
b. Starfish d. Snowflakes
8. Which of the following patterns in nature has a fivefold symmetry?
a. Volvox c. Tigers
b. Starfish d. Snowflakes
9. Which is NOT belong to the group of fractals pattern in nature?
a. Bighorn Sheep
b. Branching pattern of a baobab tree
c. Romanesco Broccoli
d. Angelica Flowerhead

10. Which is NOT belong to the group of spiral pattern in nature?

a. Aloe polyphylla
b. Nautilus shell’s
c. Seed head of sunflower
d. Romanesco Broccoli

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assessment.