Karthik

Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran
History of Mathematics
Homework 1
Essay#1
The Do thus and so method of teaching
Mathematics and its instruction to students has its origins with the development of the
earliest societies and civilizations. As people began to settle down, mostly by great rivers
such as Nile, Tigris, Euphrates and Ganges, people began to cultivate crops and start a
system of agriculture. In order to sustain agriculture, people had to develop some sort of
an irrigation system, marsh drainage and flood control. The need to solve all of these
problems led to the birth of mathematics. Numerous Greek and oriental scientists started
research on mathematics making several important contributions to the subject and even
went on to start school of their own for instruction in mathematics. However, there is a
clear difference in the way mathematics was studied and pursued in Greece compared to
the ancient orients.

In the oriental system, the Do and thus so method was employed. In other words, in this
method, emphasis was laid on arriving at a conclusion and not on deriving it. This is fact
is further illustrated by the study of the works of Greek and Oriental mathematicians.
People such as Pythagoras and Plato went to great lengths to prove their theorems and to
demonstrate them. However, Indian mathematicians such as Bhaskara and Brahmagupta,
though equally capable, did not spend the same amount of effort in providing a proof for
their findings. For example, there is no proper proof for the solution of quadratics or the
dissection proof of the Pythagorean principle by oriental scientists. Brahmagupta felt the

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

proof of the Pythagoras theorem was too obvious and merely remarked Ha without
furnishing any proof for it. However, despite the inadequacies of the Do and thus so
method, it is still widely employed for the instruction of basic elementary principles in
the sciences and mathematics to elementary grade students.

A possible explanation for the continuation of this system would be that elementary grade
students are too young to appreciate a proper mathematical proof. Moreover, the proofs
of many mathematical properties and theorems are often more complicated than the
theorem itself. For example, as simple as Fermats last theorem may seem, the proof
provided by many mathematicians is exceedingly complicated. Therefore, by first
teaching the theorem itself to the student, the student will have time to master the
theorem and will soon realize how the theorem was derived. Although this method works
well for elementary grade students, it should not be employed for middle or high school
students as it kills the creativity and mathematical intuition in a student.

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

Karthik Ramachandran
History of Mathematics
Homework 1
Essay#2

Napoleon, Champollion and the Rosetta stone

The Rosetta stone is an ancient Egyptian stele that was constructed on the orders of
King Ptolemy V. The stone is a polished basaltic slab and was believed to be
constructed in 196 BC. The stone is particularly unique as it bears inscriptions in
three languages - Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic scripts and Ancient
Greek. Therefore, if one was fluent in the Ancient Greek language, the stone held the
clues for deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The stone measures three feet
and seven inches by two feet and six inches and was discovered by French engineers
during Napoleons fateful campaign of Egypt in 1799.

After the French discovered the stone, the rigorous task of deciphering the message
and understanding the Egyptian hieroglyphics and demotic language began. As
scholars were most familiar with the Greek inscriptions, the first translation of the
Greek text appeared in 1803, barely 3 years after the discovery of the stone.
However, the real task was deciphering the Egyptians texts engraved on the stone.
This task was accomplished by Jean Francois Champollion, a French scholar, who
published his findings in 1822, nearly 20 years after the discovery of the stone.
Thomas Young, an English scholar, also published his findings on the Egyptian
inscriptions and there is considerable debate over which of these two scholars had
the greater role to play in deciphering the inscriptions on the stone.

Karthik Ramachandran, History of Math, Homework#1

However, after the defeat of the French, the English demanded possession of the
stone and the stone currently rests in the British Museum. The loss of the French
possession of the stone led to more tension between the two countries at that time.
Since 2003, there has been a demand from Egypt to reclaim possession of the stone.