Chapter Outline

4.1 Introduction
4.2 Descriptive Statistics
4.3 Linear Regression and Correlation

1. Identify patterns in nature and regularities in the world .

2. Articulate the importance of mathematics in one’s life .
3. Argue about the nature of mathematics, what it is, how it is
expressed, represented, and used.
4. Express appreciation for mathematics as a human endeavor.
Introduction
This chapter features the relationship of mathematics and nature, the meaning of mathematics and
the relationship among mathematics, science, and technology. It aims to show to the students that
mathematics is not a subject to be feared off but a subject to be appreciated because of the role it
plays in our lives.

1.1 Mathematics in Nature

If one would pay close attention to his surroundings, he would find mathematics in several object in
nature. Here are some examples of natural objects showing math in it:

1. Cactus (Opuntia Stricta or prickly Pear)

Opuntia stricta or cactus is an example of fractal symmetry pattern. Each individual

component of this plant has the same pattern as the whole plant. This Fractal is a
non-regular geometric shape that has the same degree of non-regularity on all scales.
Fractals can be thought of as never-ending patterns as shown in the Opuntia stricta plant.

2. Human Ear

Curves in the ear of any human being are concrete representations of curvature in nature. In
mathematics, the curvature measures how fast a curve is changing direction at a given point.
It is believed that the curvature of the outer ear allows human to judge the direction from
which sound is coming.

3. Branches of tree

As the tree grows, its branches increase in number as well. As the trunk grows it splits into
two branches. The two branches in turn will split to more than two branches till a full grown
tree is formed. The branching pattern of forming and splitting exhibited by growing trees is
an illustration of the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers
where a number is found by adding up the two numbers before it.

4. Banana leaf

The structure of the banana leaf exhibits bilateral symmetry as human and animals do. In
addition, parallel lines are very apparent in its structure. These parallel lines are the lamina
veins that do not branch out and tear up easily. Perpendicularity is also shown in its
structure. The lamina veins are perpendicular to the midrib, which divides the blades into
two lamina halves.
 5. The Bay View

The view of the bay as the sun sets provides a lot of math related concepts. The water marks
on the shore illustrate a continuous function. It is a real-valued function whose graph does
not have any breaks or holes. The image of the brilliantly orange sky on the water is a
product of reflection, a kind of transformation produced by flipping a shape or object over
the line of reflection.

1.2 Meaning of Mathematics

The word “Mathematics” came from the two Greek words “Manthanei” which means
learning and “Techne”, which means an art or technique. Thus, mathematics means the art
of learning related to disciplines or faculties.

Aristotle defined mathematics as “the science of quantity” and this definition prevailed till
the end of the 18th Century.

At the start of the 19th century, study of mathematics expanded to abstract topics such as
group theory and projected geometry, which were not definitely related to quantity and
measurements.

In the twentieth century, philosophers of mathematics were divided into various schools,
distinguished by their pictures of mathematical epistemology. Three schools emerged:
formalism, intuitionism and logicism. Formalist identifies mathematics with its rules for
operating them. The intuitionists view mathematics as an activity of ‘constructs’. The
logicists regards that all mathematics is symbolic logic.

Mathematics is considered as a science of patterns and relationship because it explores

possible relationships among abstractions without concern for whether those abstractions
have counterpart in the real world. This is the primary concern of the pure mathematicians.
They continue on working with patterns to come up with new relations and theories.

Mathematics is also considered an applied science because the algorithms, and systems
discovered or created by mathematicians were used to develop a new system for coding
numerical information applied to computers or other forms of digital technologies.

1.3 Relationship Among Mathematics, Science and Technology

The abstractness of mathematics makes it universal. The applications of mathematics proved
to be very useful to science and technology. A very strong alliance exists among mathematics,
science and technology due to the following reasons:

1. Science provides problems to investigate to mathematics and the latter provides solutions to
those problems.
2. Both mathematics and science study patterns and relationships.

3. Mathematics expressed relationships of variables in terms of symbolic language of

mathematics. In Physics for instance all Newton’s Laws have a symbolic representation in
terms of mathematical equations. Because of this, mathematics is regarded as the language
of science.

4. Both mathematics and science share common belief as follows: “understandable order; an
interplay of imagination and rigorous logic; ideals of honesty and openness; the critical
importance of peer criticism; the value placed on being the first to make a key discovery;
being international in scope; and even, with the development of powerful electronic
computers, being able to use technology to open up new fields of investigation.”

5. Mathematics of logical chains and connections were used in designing computer hardware
and programming techniques.

6. Mathematics described complex systems, which can be simulated by computer.

 Mathematics in Nature

Video clip viewing :

Create a reflection about the video “Nature by Numbers” by Cristobal Villa at

https://vimeo.com/9953368 .
.
 Exercise 1.2
Meaning of Mathematics

Math Defined!
List down five different definitions of or views about mathematics. Based on the five definitions or
views that you have listed, create your own definition of mathematics.
 Relationship among Mathematics,

Science, and Technology

Artwork
1. Materials
a. Pencil
b. Crayons
c. Bond paper

2. Procedure
a. Create and illustration showing the relationship of mathematics to other fields of study
b. Explain the illustration that you have created.