The Mad Scientists Present:

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The Mad Scientists Present

• Scientific and Mathematical
• Inventions
• A Web Quest

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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The
same brainteaser could probably be applied to
math and technology. Did the math come out of the
technology or are they in fact inseparable. In
the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey, there is a
famous opening scene that depicts our Neolithic
ancestors using rocks and sticks as tools and
then abruptly transitions to space aged humans of
the future living in space colonies. The point
being that when the first human picked up a rock
and used it as a tool the future was determined.
Unfortunately, mankind had to wait 50,000 years
until the Greeks, Archimedes in particular,
realized that there was a direct relationship
between the size of the rock, the length of the
arm, and the force of the blow. The mind of man
had managed, through pure thought, to harness the
forces of the universe for his own purpose.
Archimedes, in mathematical terms, could now in a
fundamental way predict the outcome of an event
before it happened. Archimedes laid down the
foundation for the most powerful mathematic tool
known to mankind the Calculus. Unfortunately
again, mankind had to wait another 2,500 years
for Newton and Leibnitz to work out all the
details. Math and technology are interrelated
one describes the other and one predicts the
other. All technologies have mathematical roots
computers, the internet, telecommunications and
all math has practical application - one is the
language of the other.
The Chicken and the Egg and the Caveman and the
Space Station!
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The Web Quest
1. Read each question carefully
2. Visit each web site and browse the suggested
pages
3. Answer the questions
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Pythagorus and EuclidIts all Greek to me
Application of Pythagorean Theorum to Einsteins
theory of special relativity
Pythagorus

• Question 1.
• Throughout 8th grade math you learn many concepts
  related to geometry. One in particular is the
  Pythagorean Theorem, 1st proven by Pythagoras and
  his followers. In what subject were Pythagoreans
  most interested?
• http//www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/science
  /math/pythagoras.htm

• Question 2.
• Euclid established or invented many of the rules
  we all use in Geometry today. Euclid wanted to
  prove things were true by using what?
• http//www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/science
  /math/euclid.htm

Example of Euclidian geometric shape
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Its Pi or Nothing

• Question 3.
• Pi is an important mathematical invention for
  understanding circles.
• Mathematicians in what Empire are credited for
  figuring out or inventing pi?
• http//www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/math/
  geometry/pi.htm

• Question 4.
• The Indian mathematicians biggest invention was
  the use of the number zero as what?
• http//www.historyforkids.org/learn/india/science/
  math.htm

Mathematicians have nothing to shout about
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New to Numbers and Shapes

• Question 5.
• What is the name of the sequence in which the
  next number in the series is generated by adding
  the two previous numbers (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55
  )?
• http//www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/natsum
  s.html

• Question 6.
• In the 17th century, who showed that if two
  bodies attract each other with force that was
  proportional to the square of the distance
  between them, then the resulting motion of body
  relative to the other would be a precise
  mathematical curve called a conic section (that
  is, a circle, ellipse, parabola or hyperbola)?
  Although this person was not the first person to
  suggest that the inverse square law of force was
  responsible for the motion of the planets, his
  great triumph was to provide a mathematical proof
  of the consequences of such a law.
• http//www.fortunecity.com/emachines/e11/86/solars
  ys.htmlNewton

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Cotton Gins and Flying Buttresses Practical
Applications
Question 10. What is a cotton gin? Who invented
it? What function does it serve? What was the
unfortunate side-effect of its invention? http//
www.eliwhitney.org/cotton.htm Question
11. Relating to mathematics how much more
cotton could be harvested by using a cotton
gin? http//edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/inventor.html

Question 7. What is a buttress? Who invented
it? What function does it serve? http//www.histo
ryforkids.org/learn/architecture/buttress.htm Que
stion 8. What are some famous locations where
flying buttresses are used? http//www.historyf
orkids.org/learn/architecture/flyingbuttress.htm
Question 9. Relating to mathematics a size X
buttress can support a size Y wall. Find the
ration of X and Y? Go to the following site for
useful information. http//www.mae.ufl.edu/uhk/S
TATICS.html
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Geometry and Perspective
Question 12. In which masterpiece did Leonardo Da
Vinci use a complex formula based on the
relationship 12643? (Note The entire piece
measures 6 by 12 units. The wall in the back is
equal to 4 units. The windows are 3 units and the
recession of the tapestries on the side walls is
12643.) http//www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/udaepp
/090/w2/Magee.htm
Question 13. What book written by Euclid became
the basis of geometry? It was based on the
geometry of the Greeks. After it was written, it
became the basis of geometry itself. People used
the information in the volumes to do a lot of
practical things, such as making accurate
measurements. For example, building a house, or a
computer would be very hard without geometry, as
you would have to measure the shapes of the
computer. People use geometry to calculate
numbers, measure shape, width, and
height. http//derrel.net/math/euclid/euclid_inve
ntions.htm
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Ones andZeros
In 1911, four companies, including the Herman
Hollerith Tabulating Machine Company combined to
form a larger company known as the International
Business Machines Corporation (IBM). Herman
Hollerith had devised a way to store information
on punched cards. Hollerith borrowed the idea for
punched cards from a weaving machine, the
Jacquard Loom, which used a card system for
ordering weaving operations on a silk loom. A
hole in the card was a signal for the loom to
perform an operation. In other words the card
represented a machine code. The machine code, a
simple yes-no, on-off concept is transcribed
mathematically as 0 for off, or no, and a 1 for
on or yes. This mathematic formulation has
brought us personal computers (PCs),
supercomputers, the digital revolution, and the
internet.
Jacquard Loom
Punched card
Question 14. Review the following web site. Who,
like Hollerith, planned to use punched cards to
control an analytical engine? http//www.cs.uiowa.
edu/jones/cards/history.html
Question 15. Review the following web site. What
decimal number does the binary number 101101
correspond to 3, 4, 17, 45, 53? http//php.about.
com/od/programingglossary/qt/binary.htm
BONUS
In the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey, the talking
supercomputer is called HAL. Move each letter
forward one in the alphabet and see what you get.