THE

BEAUTY AND REALITY

OF MATHEMATICS
HEARTFELT THANKS TO THOSE
BEFORE US……..WITH US
NOW…………AND TO COME

ALL THE GIFTS HAVE MADE LIFE

BETTER
 The
Greeks

The Chinese
The Indians

The Sumerians The Egyptians The Arabs

Beauty: What do we define it to be?
The quality present in a thing or person that
gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to
the mind, whether arising from sensory
manifestations (as shape, colour, sound, etc.),
a meaningful design or pattern, or something
else (as a personality in which high spiritual
qualities are manifest).
Chaos
Theory
 Fractals – the delight of Chaos Theory.

A fractal expression looks like Z = Fn1(Z); Z = Z*Z + Fn2(C)

Mathematics and Physical Beauty
 Mathematics and Physical Beauty

Leonardo da Vinci's drawings of

the human body emphasised its
proportion. The ratio of the
following distances is the
Golden Ratio:
(foot to navel) : (navel to head)
 Mathematics and Physical Beauty
 Why do we find people to be attractive?
 Because the proportions of the length of
the nose, the position of the eyes and the
length of the chin all conform to some
aspect of the Golden Ratio.
The Golden Ratio
The Fibonacci Sequence: the first 20

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89,

144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597,
2584, 4181, 6765.
 Where did 1.6180339887……. come from?
Let’s look at the ratio of each number in The Fibonacci
sequence to the one before it:
 The Golden Ratio
Measure the length and width of your face. Divide the
length by the width. This should give approximately
1.6, which means a beautiful person’s face is about
11/2 times longer than it is wide.
The Golden Ratio: Some Other Examples
The Golden Ratio: Some Other Examples
The Golden Ratio: Some Other Examples
In seed heads such as the sunflower
shown here and the coneflower
previously, spirals curve left and
right. The number of spirals curving
left and the number of spirals curving
right are neighbours in the Fibonacci
sequence, for example, the number
of spirals curving left is 34 and the
number of spirals curving right is 55.
 Mathematics and Architecture

In ancient times architecture was a field of mathematics.

Architects were simply mathematicians that someone
would hire.
Geometry is the guiding principle between the two areas.
Mathematics, however, is indispensible to the
understanding of structural concepts and calculations.
 Mathematics and Architecture

Both areas search for order

and beauty- Mathematics in
nature and architecture in
construction.
 Mathematics and Architecture
The tallest building in the world:
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Very tall buildings are in danger of

many things depending on where
they are. Stability against
earthquakes is important as well as
ensuring aerodynamic designing is
done perfectly to mitigate against
swaying.
 Mathematics and Architecture

Some are purely

utilitarian such as
the Great Wall of
China.
Mathematics and Architecture

Some failed miserably and

provide us with mirth and
wonder.
 Mathematics and Architecture

 TheAlhambra Palace in
Andalucia, Spain

 Building started in 1238

Watch
 Mathematics and Architecture
Not to be outdone,
we have our own
styles.
Topology – Some Games
Answers
 Numerology
It has always been, and still is the desire to understand people and
ourselves. Numbers were used a very long time ago, in the absence of more
scientific means, to tell of one’s personality and future. In this example we
look at calculating the Soul Urge Number.

Write out your full birth name (this includes your middle name (s). Using only
the vowels in your name, assign these values:
A = 1, E = 5, I = 9, O = 6 and U = 3.

Example: Heather Ina Brown, the vowels are eae ia o

5 + 1 + 5 + 9 + 1 + 6 = 27 = 9
So this persons soul urge number is 9 and they can go read up about their
personality.
Mathematicians – believe it or not, we are human!

Galois Nash
Noether
Newton
Germain
Gauss
Einstein
Green
Mathematicians – our minds
Mathematicians – our minds
Mathematicians – our minds

Numbers are to
mathematics what words
are to language.
To the ‘distress’ of the
general society
mathematicians have
‘dreamt’ up types of
numbers.
Mathematics in life - numbers
 The first securely datable

Mathematical Table in World History,

circa 2600 BCE was developed by the

Sumerians, in ancient African Tribe.

Ye Gads!!! Algebra!!!
THE DISTRIBUTIVE PROPERTY
y z

x
 5 x

x+4 (x+4)5 (x+4)x

Area = (x+4)(5+x)
= (x+4)5 +(x+4)x
= 5x+20+x2+4x
= x2+9x+20
 Perfect-Square Trinomials
a b

a a2 ab

b ab b2

You can see from the diagram that the

area of the large square is both (a+b)2
and a2 +2ab+b2 .
 Completing the Square
Incomplete square Completed square
x 6

x2 x x2 6x
6x

6x ?? 6 6x 62
RESOURCES TO TEACH
MATHEMATICS
WHY ARE WE DOING
ALL OF THIS?

WHERE DO WE GO
FROM HERE?