MATHEMATICS IN THE MODERN WORLD

Leyva Mae Gajardo – Azuelo

NAME: ______________________________ SCHEDULE: _________________________

MODULE 1
MATHEMATICS IN OUR WORLD
INTRODUCTION
Mathematics could be a valuable way to think around nature and our world. The nature of mathematics underscores
the exploration of patterns (in nature and the environment). Mathematics exists everywhere, and it is applied in the most
useful phenomenon. Even looking by just at the regular part of the house, the room, and the street, mathematics is there.
This is one subject thought as the only objective language that people in the modern understand each other.
The beginning of mathematics can be followed by the history and importance of patterns and numbers. It deals with
ideas translated to objects and concepts created by humans. They are invented to link the meaning of the pattern, which
results in experiences associated with the counting, sequences, and regularities.
Mathematics is a fundamental portion of lifestyle, formal and casual. It is used in technology, business, medicine,
natural and data sciences, machine learning, and construction. It helps organize patterns and regulations in the world,
predict the behavior of nature and phenomenon in the world, control nature and occurrences in our world for our end.
Mathematics has various applications within the world, making it irreplaceable.

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the module, the students are expected to value scientific facts using mathematics in the things they
see by justifying the patterns and numbers in nature and the world as part of everyday life.

CONTENTS OF THE MODULE

This module contains the following lessons:
Lesson 1: Patterns in Nature and the Regularities in the world
Lesson 2: Mathematical Statements and Applications

DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO USE THE MODULE PROPERLY

In order to benefit profoundly from this module, please be guided by all the key points presented below.
This module contains two (2) lessons. Each lesson is explained substantially. Read the explanations thoroughly so
that you could understand the lesson fully.
1. On the first page of the lesson, you will find the specific learning outcomes (SLOs) of each lesson. SLOs are
knowledge and skills you are expected to acquire at the end of the lesson. Read them heartily.
2. You must answer the Learning Activities/Exercises (LAEs). The LAEs are designed to help you acquire the
SLOs.
3. Feel free to chat, call, text or send an email message to e if you have questions, reactions, or reflections about
the contents or activities in the module.
4. The Practice Task/Assessment and the Assignment shall be checked by me.

LESSON 1 – Patterns in Nature and the Regularities in the World

Specific Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, you must be able to:

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

2. Articulate the importance of mathematics in one’s life; and
3. Discuss the role of mathematics in some disciplines.
Motivation / Prompting Questions

1. How can math be so universal?

2. Why is the flying formation of the Canadian geese in V-pattern?
3. Why did bees use hexagonal structure in constructing their beehives?

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DISCUSSION
Patterns and counting are correlative. Counting happens when there is a pattern. When there is counting, there is
logic. Most people say that mathematics is the science behind patterns. Mathematics exists everywhere, as patterns do in
nature. Not only do patterns take many forms within the range of school mathematics, but they are also a unifying
mechanism.
In this world, a regularity (Collins 2008), is the fact that the same thing always happens in the same circumstances.
At the same time, a pattern is a discernible regularity in the world or a man-made design. As such, the elements of a
pattern repeat predictably. Patterns in nature are visible regularities of form found in the natural world. These patterns recur
in different contexts and can sometimes be modeled mathematically.

Some Examples of Patterns in Nature

Symmetry means an agreement in dimensions, due proportion, and arrangement. In
everyday language, it refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance.
In mathematics, “symmetry” means that an object is invariant to any of
various transformations, including reflection, rotation, or scaling.
A spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving
farther away as it revolves around the point. Cutaway of a nautilus shell shows the chambers
arranged in an approximately logarithmic spiral.
A meander is a series of regular sinuous curves, bends, loops, turns, or windings in the channel of a river,
stream, or other watercourses.

A wave is a disturbance that transfers energy through matter or space, with little or
no associated mass transport. Surface waves in water show water ripples.

Foam is a substance formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid. A bath sponge and the head
on a glass of beer are examples of foams. In most foam, the volume of gas is large, with thin films of
liquid or solid separating the regions of gas. Soap foams are also known as suds.

A tessellation of a flat surface is the tiling of a plane using one or more

geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellations can
be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of geometries.

A fracture or crack is the separation of an object or material into two or

more pieces under the action of stress. A solid fracture usually occurs due
to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid.

Stripes are made by a series of bands or strips, often of the same width and
color along the length.

A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex

patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple
process over and over in an on-going feedback loop. Fractal patterns are too familiar since
nature is full of fractals. For instance: trees, rivers, hurricanes, etc.

Affine Transformation – These are the processes of rotation,

reflection, and scaling. Many plant forms utilize these processes to generate their structure. In the
case of Broccoli and Cauliflower heads, it can readily be seen that there is a type of pattern, which
also shows some spiraling in Broccoli.

The following pictures show patterns and regularities in nature.

Sunflower Snail shell

Hyena’s spots Snowflakes Tiger stripes

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The Mathematics of Beehive
Bees are very interesting creatures. They travel far and wide and can always return
home without being lost. They direct other bees of their find using trigonometric dances and
bring all of them to where the nectar is.
Inside their hives are hexagonal capsules to store the honey they produce from the
nectar they gather. These hexagons are regular in shape with all
angles equal and all sides equal. So why Hexagonal?
Honeycombs One of the reasons can be answered mathematically. Let
us start with areas. The area of a regular hexagon can be computed
using its apothem. An apothem is the perpendicular distance from the center of the hexagon to
any of the sides. Using the apothem, the area A is computed as follows:

Area = (1 / 2)(length of side) x (apothem)x(6)) and the formula for the apothem a, is as follows:
𝑠 𝜋(𝑛 − 2)
𝑎 = tan⁡ ( )
2 2𝑛
Where, n is the number of sides, s – the measure of each side. Thus for s = 2, n = 6,
𝑠 𝜋(6 − 2)
𝑎 = tan ( )
2 2𝑛
𝜋
𝑎 = tan⁡ ( )
3
= √3
For instance. If each of the sides of the regular hexagon measure 2 inches then the area of the regular hexagon is
1
𝐴 = ( )(2)(⁡√3)(6)
2
= 𝟏𝟎. 𝟑𝟗 square inches
Since the side is 2 inches, the regular hexagon perimeter is (6)(2) =12 inches. If you construct a square out of 12 inches
perimeter, then the area is only 9 square inches since a square has four sides, and each side measures 3 inches. And if
you construct a triangle out of 12 inches material, the maximum area it can enclose is only 6.93 square inches.

A = 9.00 A = 10.39
A = 6.93 A = 9.91

Triangle Square Pentagon Hexagon

Advantage of Hexagonal structure

1. Can cover a large area
2. Strong structure
3. Hexagons tesselate
If we adjoin hexagons together, they cover an area without any space between them. Heptagons and other-order regular
polygons do not possess this property.

Fibonacci Sequence
In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following integer sequence, called the Fibonacci
sequence, and characterized by the fact that every number after the first two is the sum of the two preceding ones: 1, 1, 2,
3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, …
The sequence 𝐹𝑛 of Fibonacci numbers is defined by the recurrence relation:
𝑭𝒏 = 𝑭𝒏−𝟏 + 𝑭𝒏−𝟐 with seed values
𝐹1 = 1, 𝐹2 = 1 𝐹1 = 1, 𝐹3 = 2

The first 6 Fibonacci numbers 𝑭𝒏 for n = 0, 1, 2, …, 6 are

𝑭𝟎 𝑭𝟏 𝑭𝟐 𝑭𝟑 𝑭𝟒 𝑭𝟓 𝑭𝟔
0 1 1 2 3 5 8
Leonardo Fibonacci came up with the sequence when calculating the ideal expansion pairs of rabbits over the course of
one year. Today, its emergent patterns and ratios (phi = 1.61803…) can be seen from the microscale to the macroscale,
and right through to biological systems and inanimate objects. While the Golden Ratio doesn’t account for every structure
or pattern in the universe, it’s certainty a major player. Here are some examples:
1. Seed heads of a Sunflower
2. Pine cones
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 3. Tree branches
4. Shells
5. Spiral Galaxies and Hurricane
Importance of Mathematics in life
According to Katie Kim (2015), Math is a subject that makes students either jump for joy or rip their hair out. Before
you decide to doze off in math class, consider this list of reasons why learning math is important to you and the world.
1. Restaurant Tipping – You need to have the most basic math skills to calculate how much a 15% or 20% tip would
be.
2. Netflix film viewing – Let’s say you have approximately one hour until you have to leave to go somewhere very
important, like your job or your grandmother’s birthday party. You really want to fit in a couple Netflix episodes
before you leave, but you don’t know how many you will be able to watch. You need math to figure that out!
3. Calculating Bills – If you aren’t already, we will all be home-owners and car-owners one day. With ownership
comes the major responsibility of staying on top of mandatory payments like taxes, mortgage, and insurance.
4. Computing Test Scores – In order to finish with an A in that tough class, you need to know what to get on the next
test to keep your average up.
5. Tracking Career – If you want to be a CEO, real estate agent, a biologist, or even a rocket scientist, it is without a
doubt that numbers will be utilized.
6. Doing Exercise – Getting in shape and staying fit it means achieving your health goal! You need math to know how
many more reps to curl, or how many seconds to cut off your mile time, or how many more pounds to lose to
achieve that goal.
7. Handling Money – another aspect of growing up into a young adult is opening and managing a bank account. It is
important to be accurate in math to care for your precious savings, making sure there are no mistakes.
8. Making Countdowns – For many, this will be the most important reason on this list to know math: so you can
countdown the days until school is over and summer starts!
9. Baking and Cooling – Baking and cooking are hobbies enjoyed by many. In order to prevent unexpected results,
you have to know the difference between a quarter of a cup from a quarter of a teaspoon.
10. Surfing Internet – Ultimately, without math, how would you be reading this article online at this exact moment?
How would you be able to update your status on Facebook or post on Instragram from last night? We have math to
thank for establishing technology and the social media that consumes our lives.

Nature of Mathematics
It is important to further discuss the nature of mathematics, what it is, how it is expressed, represented and used.
For some people, and not only professional mathematicians, the essence of mathematics lies in its beauty and its
intellectual challenge.
1. Patterns and Relationships
2. Mathematics, Science and Technology
3. Mathematical Inquiry
4. Abstraction and Symbolic Representation
5. Manipulating Mathematical Statements
6. Application
The Role of Mathematics in Some Disciplines
Mathematics is offered in any college course. It is found in every curriculum because its theories and applications
are needed in any workplace. That’s why students can’t stay away from attending math classes. There has to be
mathematics in the real world. This subject always brings life to any person or professional. If ordinary people have to use
math, then much more for students to know and master it so they will succeed in class in the school.
Here are some main disciplines in which the role of Mathematics is widely accepted:
1. Mathematics in Physical Sciences
2. Mathematics in Chemistry
3. Mathematics in Biological Science
4. Mathematics in Engineering and Technology
5. Mathematics and Agriculture
6. Mathematics and Economics
7. Mathematics and Psychology
8. Mathematics and Actuarial Science, Insurance and Finance
9. Mathematics and Archaeology
10. Mathematics and Logic
11. Mathematics and Music
12. Mathematics and Arts
13. Mathematics and Philosophy
14. Mathematics in Social Networks
15. Mathematics in Political Science

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 16. Mathematics in Linguistics
17. Mathematics in Management
18. Mathematics in Computers
19. Mathematics in Geography
How can mathematics be so universal?
Mathematics is the only language shared by all human being regardless of culture, religion, or gender. Pi is still
approximately 3.14159 regardless of what country you are in. Adding up the cost of a basket full of groceries involves the
same math process regardless of whether the total is expressed in dollars, rubles, or yen. Being fast with arithmetic can
save your money when you go to the market. Mathematics is all around us. With these mathematics can be great aid in all
our activities in the world and deserves huge appreciation and therefore everyone realizes the following:
1. Mathematics helps organize patterns and regularities.
2. Mathematics helps predict the behaviour of nature and occurrences in the world for our own ends.
3. Mathematics helps control nature and occurrences in the world for our own ends
4. Mathematics has numerous applications in the world making in indispensible.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES / EXERCISES

A. Performance task.
1. Start counting leaves and petals of your plants in your house. Write the results on this form:
Plant Name or Description: _____________
a. Do the leaves grow in spirals? (Yes / No) __________. What is the pattern of the leaves?
b. Are there flowers? (Yes / No). What is the arrangement of the petals?
2. Look at the outer skin of a pineapple. How many designs are in the outer skin of pineapple? Is there a pattern?
(Yes / No). Justify your answer.
B. From the ten (10) reasons why mathematics is important, state five (5) additional reasons with clear description of
application. State disadvantage if person a does not know and understand mathematics.
Reasons Setbacks
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
C. Do you think the subject Mathematics in which you are enrolled is important? Yes / No? Why? Cite five (5)
situations.
PRACTICE TASK / ASSESSMENT
A. Cite the mathematical application that you commonly do in each of the following stations and state your
appreciation.
Stations Application of and Appreciation for Mathematics
1. Market
2. Bus/Jeepney
3. Church
4. Club Meeting
5. Clinic
6. Court
7. Laboratory
8. Birthday Party
9. Watching games
10. Police station

B. Polygons and the Divine Ratio

1. Which one has a bigger area with the same perimeter of 24 cm, a regular octagon, or a regular hexagon? If the
area of a regular octagon is bigger, why did the bees choose to construct their hives in hexagonal form rather that
octagonal form?
2. Why do you think is the reason why spiers build their webs in a polygonal shape rather that rectangular?

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 LESSON 2 – Mathematical Language and Symbols

Specific Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, you must be able to:
1. Discuss the language, symbols, and conventions of mathematics;
2. Explain the nature of mathematics as a language;
3. Perform operations on mathematical expressions correctly, its basic concepts and logic; and
4. Appreciate that mathematics is a useful language.

Motivation / Prompting Questions

Which of the following are statements?
a. Where were you yesterday?
b. The rain in Spain.
c. Happy New Year!
d. Four is an even number.

DISCUSSION

The Language, Symbols, Syntax and Rules of Mathematics

The language of mathematics is the system used by mathematicians communicates mathematical ideas among
themselves. This language consists of a substrate of some natural language (for example English) using technical terms
and grammatical conventions that are peculiar to mathematical discourse supplemented by a highly specialized symbolic
notation for mathematical formulas.
Mathematics as a language has symbols to express a formula of to represent a constant. It has syntax to make
the expression well-formed to make the characters and symbols clear and valid that do not violate the rules. A
mathematical concept is independent of the symbol chosen to represent it. In short, convention dictates the meaning.
The language of mathematics makes it easy to express the kinds of symbols, syntax and rules that mathematicians like to
do and characterized by the following:
a. Precise – able to make very fine distinctions
b. Concise – able to say things briefly
c. Powerful – able to express complex thoughts with relative ease
Writing Mathematical Language as an Expression or a Sentence
In mathematics, an expression or mathematical expression is a finite combination of symbols that is well-formed
according to rules that depend on the context.
The most common expression types are number, sets, and functions. Numbers have lots of different names: for
example, the expressions:
5 2+3 10/2 (6-2) +1 1+1+1+1+1,
All look different, but are all just different names for the same number. The basic syntax for entering mathematical formulas
or expressions in the system enables you to quickly enter expressions using 2-D notation. The most common mistake is to
forget parenthesis “( )”. For example, the expression: 1 / (x + 1) is different from 1 / x + 1 which the system interprets as (1 /
x) + 1.

English language and Mathematical language are very contrasting. With respect to truth, there are mathematical
statements that are always true even if some part of the statements is false. For instance, if a mathematical statement starts
with something false, the truth value of the statement is always true no matter what the conclusion is. This is not acceptable
in ordinary normal conversations, but this is okay to mathematicians. For instance, the following is a true mathematical
statement:
“If a carabao can fly then Dumaguete City is not the capital of Philippines.”
Is a true statement in logic and mathematics.
There is also statement in the English language whose truth value is always true by the one speaking by could be
false to the one listening. For instance, the statement, like, “My mother is beautiful.” This may only be true to the one saying
the statement.
Mathematical verbs and nouns
Mathematics also has convention for verbs and nouns. Verbs in mathematics are usually relations like equals ‘=’,
order relation ‘<’ and ‘>’, congruence ‘≡’, etc.
When mathematical objects like numbers, matrices, set, vectors, functions, etc. are properly joined together by well-
defined operations, the result is called a mathematical expression. Examples of mathematical expressions are as follows:
1. 4(𝑥 + 6) - Four times the quantity of a number plus six.
2. 𝑥 + 5
2
- A number squared plus five.
Truth of a Mathematical Sentence
The truth value of a mathematical sentence depends solely on how it relates with axioms which the sentence was
inferred from or how it relates with previous definitions and proven theorems. The statement:
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 “If 2 parallel lines are cut by a transversal, then alternate interior angles are congruent.”
The truth of this statement depends on the postulates in plane geometry6, definitions, and previously proven theorems.
The following then are true statements:
1. x – x = 0
2. 2x + x = 3x
3. 4 + 5 = 9
Logic and Mathematical Statements
The truth value of the new statement produces out of connecting two simple statements depends on the rules in
elementary logic.
1. Conjunction (∧ ). For the ‘and’ connective, statement, ‘p and q’, is true if both p and q are true.
Truth table for Conjunctions
p q p∧q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F F

2. Disjunction (∨ ). For the ‘or’ connective, ‘p or q’ is true if either p is true, or q is true, or both are true.
Truth table for Disjunction
p q p∨q
T T T
T F T
F T T
F F F

3. Conditional (→). In a conditional statement, if the premise is true and the conclusion is false, then the whole
statement is false.
Truth table for Conditional
p q p→q
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T
Perhaps you are bothered by the fact that p →q is true in the last two lines of this table. Here’s an example to convince you
htat the table is cprrect. Suppose your professor makes the following promise:

If you pass the final exam, then you will pass the course.
Under what circumstances did she lie? These scenarios are tallied in the following table.
You pass the exam You pass the (You pass the exam) → (You pass the
course course)
T T T
T F F
F T T
F F T
4. Bi-conditional (↔ ). For bi-conditional, ‘p↔q’ is true if both p and q are t rue, or both p and q are false. If one
of the statements is true and the other is false, whichever comes first, the bi-conditional statement is false.
5. Truth table for Bi-conditional
p q p↔q
T T T
T F F
F T F
F F T

6. Negation. If p is true then ~𝑝 is false and if p is false, ~𝑝⁡is true.

Truth table for Negation
p ~𝑝
T F
F T

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Example: Make a truth table of the following statement.
(𝑝⁡ ∨ ⁡𝑞) ∧ ⁡ ~(𝑝⁡ ∧ ⁡𝑞)

p q p∨q p∧q ~(𝑝⁡ ∧ ⁡𝑞) (𝑝⁡ ∨ ⁡𝑞) ∧ ⁡ ~(𝑝⁡ ∧ ⁡𝑞)

T T
T F
F T
F F

This truth table tells us that (𝑝⁡ ∨ ⁡𝑞) ∧ ⁡ ~(𝑝⁡ ∧ ⁡𝑞) is true precisely when one but not both of P and Q are true, so it has
the meaning we intended.
Existential Universal Statements
An existential universal statement is a statement that is existential because it first part asserts that a certain
property for all things of a certain kind.
Example: There is a positive integer that is less than or equal to every positive integer.
Learning Activities / Exercises
1. Choose a quantity to be represented by a variable, then write a mathematical expression for each.
a. Lina’s age is 5 years.
b. The age of a woman 15 years ago.
c. The perimeter of a rectangle whose length is twice the width.
2. Based on the axioms for the field of real numbers, which of the following mathematical statements are true, which
ones are false, which ones are sometimes true and sometimes false:
a. The word cat begins with letter ‘k’.
b. x = 1
c. x – 1 = 0
d. x + 0 = x
e. 1 + 6 = 8
f. Y + 3 = 3 + y
Practice Task / Assessment
A. Translate the following statement into mathematical phrase:
1. The length of a rectangle is 3 feet less than 4 times its width.
2. Write an expression to represent how much a realtor will earn at a 6% commission on a house that costs x
dollars.
3. The length of a football field is 30 yards more than its width.
4. The kings scored 7 more points than the Rangers.
5. Bob and Marc share 100 pesos.
B. Construct a truth table of the following statements:
1. 𝑝 ∧ (𝑝 ∨∼ 𝑞)
2. 𝑝 → ~𝑞
References / Reading Materials
Nature’s Number by Ian Stewart
Nature: Modelling Patterns in the Natural World by John A. Adam
Mathematical excursions Ch.2 by R. Aufmann et.al.
Practical Odyssey Ch.1 by Hohnson and Mowry
Mathematics in the Modern World, REX Bookstore, Inc., Philippine Edition, 2018.
The Language of Mathematics by Carol Burns
The Language and Grammar of Mathematics
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