History Of Math Online Journey

There are two questions a math teacher hears on a regular basis.  The first one "When will I ever use this?" is often asked whenever a new topic or concept is being taught. The second  "Who invented this stuff?"  is asked when students get frustrated or don't think it's important enough to learn.  Well in answer to the second question, you can take the students on a field trip to the history of math exhibit.

I think it is great being able to take students on an expedition to checkout the history of math with real articles rather than having them read a book on it.  In fact, some of the exhibits are ones that students can relate to. For instance, there is a clay tablet with a student's practice of multiplication tables from Ancient Sumerian.  The tablet written about 1900 B.C. includes all the errors the student made and it is something students can relate to. 

This exhibit was put together by the National Museum of Mathematics in New York City and Wolfram Research.  There are about 70 artifacts contained in the exhibit showing how math cuts across cultures throughout history.  These artifacts are divided up into 9 areas that show the development of various key topics from counting and prime numbers to geometry, to algebra, and arithmetic.

Each of the 9 areas have a short timeline with artifacts that act as entryways into the topic so students can explore milestones in the history of math in more detail.  One artifact is considered one of the earliest surviving calculating machine from the Greek island of Salamis and dates to 300 B.C. This calculating machine predates the abacus.  It operates by having people move pebbles across a board.  On the other hand, the earliest documented time that zero is used for a place holder, appears in a document dated from 300 A.D. that comes from India. 

For those into algebra, there is a reference the Al-Jabr.  This book established the field of Algebra and written in 820 A.D. by a Persian author. It is said that the term Algebra comes from this title. In addition to having all this historical information, the exhibit takes time to show that modern math developed from a need to keep track of people and supplies due to the growth of cities. 

The exhibit also shows the way some cultures shared the same idea at different times.  We all know the Pythagorean theorem of a^2 + b^2 = c^2.  It is taught in geometry and is used to find the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle but did you know know there is a clay tablet from Mesopotamia created a 1000 years earlier contained the same information.  There is also evidence that both the Chinese and Indians knew about it too.

I took a look at the site to explore the history of Algebra because I have to teach it. I clicked on the page from Al-Jabr which explains how X^2 + bx = c is solved visually. The page shows where the page was found, where it appears in the mini timeline, an interactive point where you play with the visual representation, and an in-depth explanation of this concept and links for additional information.

Check it out, see if you can use it in your class.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.