Mathematics

Testing

2011-05-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, Im testing out ways of putting equations directly into the blog

Let me know what you think

Top of the rollercoaster

2011-05-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

500 C.E.

Metrodorus (c. 500)
Anicius Maulius Severinus Boethius (c. 480-524)
Simplicius of Cilicia (c. 530)
Anthemius of Tralles (d. c. 534)
Aryabhata (476-c. 550)
Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus (c. 480-c. 575)
John Philoponus (c. 490)
Varahamihira (c. 505-c. 558)
Isidorus of Miletus (c. 540?)
Eutocius of Ascalon (c. 550?)
Liu Zhuo (544-610)
Zhen Luan (Shuzun) (fl. 566)
Isidore of Seville (c. 560-636)

Hope you enjoy it, the last hurrah
For your assignments, write a couple lines about how awful the Roman Empire was.

Absolutely!

2011-05-11T08:41:00.001-07:00

Ok guys, now that we know about absolute values, lets learn how to plot them on a number line.

Absolute Value

Earlier we talked about how to always think of absolute value as simply a numbers' distance from zero.

Now we will expand on this!

when are we ever gonna use this?!

2011-05-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

For today lets just list the ways we've used math in our daily lives
This does not apply if you don't use money or computers.

Tools! For The Tool Box!

2011-05-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

This is an important yet simple concept to grasp

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/absolute-value-1?p=Algebra%20I%20Worked%20Examples

An easy way to think of absolute value is to remember that when you are asked about the absolute value of a number, its asking how far away the number is from zero. So dont think of absolute value as simply removing a numbers' negative status.

GO GO!

2011-05-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a good concept we'll need involving algebra

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/averages?p=Algebra

Averages is a tool you will most likely use for the rest of your life, whether its the average of your test scores to see how well you're doing or the average amount of money you'll be making in your new business.
The importance of this cannot be underestimated and its essential that you have a firm graps of it because things will get much harder going forward.

Timeline update

2011-05-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

400 C.E.

Dominus of Larissa (fl. c. 450)
Proclus Diadochus (410-485)
Zhang Qiujian [Chang Ch'iu-chien] (c. 450?)
Zu Chongzhi (Wenyuan) [Tsu Ch'ung-chih] (429-500)
Eutocius of Ascalon (fl. c. 480)
Marinus of Sichem (Neapolis) (c. 480?)

The first two people on the list actually lived in the same region and developed a heated rivalry involving the works of Plato. When Proclus eventually won, Dominus left Athens and went back to Syria. You guys just dont know the fury of men until it involves mathematics!

Back into it

2011-05-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here we go!
We are going to move further into equations, once you have a firm basis in this we can move on.
This is very critical to learn as we will need it when we begin graphing ::GASP::

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/solving-equations-2?p=Algebra%20I%20Worked%20Examples

Its time to step it up, please continue emailing (personal email) me any questions and I will continue clarifying further. We have a very good discussion going and it will get more complicated as we continue.

Bane

2011-05-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

We need one more concept before we get back into algebra.
The following is what many students believe is the bane of their mathematical existence, this is what gave students nightmares before algebra: Lowest common multiple!

Round 1: Fight!

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/least-common-multiple?p=Arithmetic

Break is over

2011-05-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

300 B.C.E.

Pappus of Alexandria (fl. c. 300-c. 350)
Serenus of Antinopolis (c. 350)
Pandrosion (c. 350)
Theon of Alexandria (c. 390)
Martianus Capella (c. 365-440)
Synesius of Cyrene (c. 370-c. 413)
Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 370-415)

Alright class, final timeline update before we get back to to the really fun stuff!

Chinese contribution

2011-05-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

200 B.C.E

Diogenes Laertius (c. 200)
Liu Hong (fl. 178-187)
Wang Fan (217-257)
Diophantus of Alexandria (c. 250?)
Sun Zi (c. 250?)
Zhao Shuang (Jun Qing) (c. 260)
Liu Hui (c. 263)
Porphyry (c. 234-c. 305) (Malchus the Tyrian, Porphyrius)
Anatolius of Alexandria (fl. c. 269)
Sporus (c. 280)
Iamblichus (c. 250-c. 350)
Xiahou Yang (c. 350?)

This is a golden era for the Chinese and although they wont make such large contributions as this in the future (so far) it marks a beginning where the Chinese never let up on their contributions to not only math, but science as well.

In fact, recent studies have shown a large part of scientifically peer reviewed papers being published now are actually Chinese.
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-29/world/china.world.science_1_china-output-papers?_s=PM:WORLD

The article mentions how the US is still ahead, but that it may be reaching an apex. This is the price the US will pay for having a large portion of its populance remember the roster of their favorite sports teams or the cast of their favorite TV shows rather than the names and the contributions of great people.

Timeline Update

2011-05-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

100 C.E.
Balbus (fl. c. 100)
Menelaus of Alexandria (c. 100 CE)
Nicomachus of Gerasa (c. 100)
Zhang Heng (78-139)
Theon of Smyrna (c. 125)
Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus) (c. 100-c. 170)
Marinus of Tyre (c. 150)
Nehemiah (c. 150)
Apuleius of Madaura (Lucius Apuleius) (c. 124-c. 170)

You may have noticed I am using B.C.E. and C.E, as in Before Common Era and Common Era
While its not new, its much more popular now.
Its good to move away from religion based historical periods, now while this change may indirectly still be linked to christianity its a step in the right direction.

Leveling up!

2011-04-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ok guys, looks like most of you think its pretty easy, so lets turn it up a notch

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/level-2-exponents?p=Pre-algebra

Side Quest

2011-04-29T22:15:00.001-07:00

Its not exactly algebra but you need to know this before we continue with our algebra journey

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/level-1-exponents?p=Pre-algebra

Before

2011-04-29T07:18:00.000-07:00

We'll take a break from algebra for a bit to focus on a concept that will be used a lot while learning algebra.
Negative numbers. Yes, there are things less than zero !
Amazing isnt it! Kinda like your bank account being negative 25 dollars because you were charged an overdraft fee. Now you will need 25 dollars just to make it back to zero dollars! Capitalism at its finest.

Lets get started. First adding and subtracting negative numbers

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/adding-subtracting-negative-numbers?p=Pre-algebra

Second: multiplying and dividing negative numbers

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/multiplying-and-dividing-negative-numbers?p=Pre-algebra

Forward March!

Thats it!

2011-04-28T00:03:00.000-07:00

1 C.E.
Theodosius of Tripoli (c. 50? CE?)
Pamphila (c. 60 CE)
Heron of Alexandria (fl. 62 C.E.)

Yup, needless to say humanity was doing other things at this time rather than focusing on math.
History shows that whatever they were doing, it was nothing important.

What are the chances?

2011-04-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

Now that we got a foothold in algebra, we can dive into probability.
There are these people called actuaries, they mostly work for insurance companies and are about as close as you can get to real fortune tellers. They are paid about 80,000 USD just to start. They are able to calculate how likely something bad is going to happen to you and based from those calculations your premiums will be figured out.
Now while the math involved in that job is a far cry from what youre about to learn, they had to take this same exact lesson.

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/probability--part-1?p=Probability

Level up!

2011-04-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

Alright guys, Im glad youre all still with me. Its gonna get a bit rougher
Remember, Fear is the Mindkiller

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/equations-2?p=Algebra

A new challenger appears!

2011-04-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Today is a great day, we will be learning a concept that will stay with you for the rest of your academic life and beyond!
Algebra: from the Arabic Al meaning hard and gebra meaning as hell. (j/k)

http://www.khanacademy.org/v/simple-equations?p=Algebra

Math Level: Grade 5

Division Final Form!

2011-04-24T07:31:00.001-07:00

The final boss form of division: Dividing Decimals!
Attack with courage, remember your training, and you will make it back alive!
http://www.khanacademy.org/v/dividing-decimal?p=Arithmetic

Picking it up

2011-04-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

200 B.C.E.
Diogenes Laertius (c. 200)
Liu Hong (fl. 178-187)
Wang Fan (217-257)
Diophantus of Alexandria (c. 250?)
Sun Zi (c. 250?)
Zhao Shuang (Jun Qing) (c. 260)
Liu Hui (c. 263)
Porphyry (c. 234-c. 305) (Malchus the Tyrian, Porphyrius)
Anatolius of Alexandria (fl. c. 269)
Sporus (c. 280)
Iamblichus (c. 250-c. 350)
Xiahou Yang (c. 350?)

The Chinese join the fray!
Now while this isnt the first instance of Chinese contributors to mathematics, it is the biggest!
This great trend continues for hundreds of years. When all humans have a chance of contributing to something, awesome things can happen.

It gets worse

2011-04-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

Another update for the timeline, I think we can all appreciate just how bad it is that the entire human race only had six humans contribute to mathematics over the course of 100 years.

100 B.C.E.
Zenodorus (c. 100?? BCE?)
Posidonius (c. 135-c. 51)
Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27)
Zeno of Sidon (c. 79 BCE)
Geminus of Rhodes (fl. c. 77 BCE)
Cleomedes (c. 40? BCE?)

Part of this

2011-04-21T07:10:00.001-07:00

This is important as we get into fractions
http://www.khanacademy.org/video/equivalent-fractions?playlist=Arithmetic
Have no fear!

Level 4

2011-04-20T07:35:00.001-07:00

Super Saiyan Level 4 division!
http://www.khanacademy.org/video/level-4-division?playlist=Arithmetic
Final stop before we expand our horizons again!

Downhill

2011-04-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

200 B.C.E.
Dionysodorus of Amisus (c. 200?)
Diocles of Carystus (fl. c. 180)
Hypsicles of Alexandria (fl. c. 175)
Hipparchus of Nicaea (c. 180-c. 125)
Umaswati (c. 150)

It’s another slow century and it stays this bad for a couple hundred years.
In this time period, Mathematical advancement is still concentrated in the Mediterranean region