THINKING

QUANTITATIVELY
Goals:

1.To integrate quantitative reasoning with
logical reasoning by investigating the
concept of numbers; and

2.To develop methods for interpreting large
and small numbers.


This section includes a discussion of:

The history of numbers
How numbers are used
The modern system of numbers

No single, formal definition of the concept of
numbers exists. The term numbers is used to
describe many different ideas.

The concept of numbers has evolved over
time, is ever-evolving and is not a fixed idea.
It developed in parallel with methods for
writing numerals which are symbols that
represent numbers.
Numbers were originally used for simple
counting.

One of the earliest questions was "How many?"
Humans have been answering this question for
thousands of years.

However, thousands of years ago, there were no
numbers to represent 2 or 3.
Numeral systems relied on tallies with fingers
or toes, piles of stones, or notches cut on a
bone or a piece of wood.
But these systems are inadequate for large
numbers.
To simplify the process of counting, counts are
grouped by 2s, 3s, then eventually, by 5s,
10s, and 20s.
In 3000 B.C., the
Egyptians and
Babylonians
independently
introduced the first
numeral system to go
beyond tallying.


456 + 265
=
=
Modern numerals trace directly to the work of Hindu
mathematicians in India in the first few centuries A.D.
In A.D. 800, Hindu numerals became part of the Arab
culture when major Hindu works on astronomy were
translated into Arabic.
The Arabs then led the development of mathematics
during the next several centuries. The written shapes
of the Hindu numerals slowly changed over time. As a
result, modern numerals are called Hindu-Arabic
numerals.
These numerals took their current form when great
works of Arab mathematicians were translated into
Latin in about A.D. 1200.
1. Counting. Cardinal numbers
answer the question how
many?.
2. Ordering. Ordinal numbers
indicate the order of members
in a set.
3. Labeling. Nominal numbers
are used as labels or names.
Many other systems of numerals came into use. The
Roman numerals, developed in 500 B.C., were used
in ancient Greece and Rome, and became dominant
in Europe for more than 1,000 years.
It is an additive numeral system, in which values are
determined by adding the values of individual
symbols. The position of the symbol does not affect
its value.
It does not have a symbol for zero.
Subtraction was introduced only in the 16th or
17th century, but by then Hindu-Arabic numerals
were far more common.
They were less useful because: (1) writing large
numbers is extremely difficult, and (2) they offer
no convenient way to represent fractions.
They are still used for decorative or artistic
purposes, or to denote book chapters.


The Hindu-Arabic system is a decimal, or base-10,
place-value system. Decimal (from Lat. decimus
meaning tenth). The value of a numeral
depends on its place or position.

The symbols 0,1,2,,9 are called digits (from Lat.
digitus which means finger)
Place-value systems require a symbol for zero,
which is crucial in the development of the
modern number system.
Zero became a meaningful number only in A.D.
600 when Hindu mathematicians introduced it.
The Mayan civilization in America however
independently developed the idea of zero as
much as 500 years earlier.

The Babylonians in 2000 B.C. invented the method
of writing fractions, which was nearly identical to
the modern method of writing decimal fractions.
However, the Babylonian system was based on
powers of 60 instead of powers of 10.
The method of writing fractions with a numerator
and denominator was probably developed by
Hindu mathematicians.
The binary system is a place-value system
that uses only two symbols, 0 and 1, called
bits or binary digits.
It is easy to convert base-2 numeral to base-
10 numeral and vice-versa.
A numeral in any base can be represented in
any other base.

Convert 156 to base-2 numeral.
Recall: 156 = 1*100 + 5*10 + 6*1
= 1*10
2
+ 5*10
1
+ 6*10
0
We wish to find n and a
i
for i = 0,,n such that
156 = a
n
*2
n
+ a
n-1
*2
n-1
+ + a
1
*2
1
+ a
0
*2
0
where each a
i
is either 0 or 1.

Now, 156 = 128 + 16 + 8 + 4
= 1*128 + 0*64 + 0*32 + 1*16 + 1*8
+ 1*4 + 0*2 + 0*1
= 1*2
7
+ 0*2
6
+ 0*2
5
+ 1*2
4
+ 1*2
3

+ 1*2
2
+ 0*2
1 +
+ 0*2
0

Thus, 156 = 10011100
2


Convert 1011
2
to base 10.
1011
2
= 1*2
3
+ 0*2
2
+ 1*2
1
+ 1*2
0
= 8 + 0 + 2 + 1
= 13
The Babylonian system is a base-60 system.
Vestiges of this remain in time keeping, and in
angle measurement.
22*(60)
2
+ 11*(60)
1
+ 23*(60)
0

= 79,200 + 660 + 23 = 79883
The Mayans used base-20 system.
1 times 160,000 = 160,000
10 times 8,000 = 80,000
2 times 400 = 800
14 times 20 = 80
3 times 1 = 3
The Natural Numbers
We build the modern number system beginning with
numbers used for counting.
Counting numbers, or natural numbers, comprise the
set {1,2,3,4,}.
Natural numbers are further categorized, according to
their factors or divisors, as either prime or composite.

Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic: Every composite
number can be uniquely expressed as a product of
prime numbers. (Prime Factorization)
Example: 1476 = (2)(738)
= (2)(2)(369)
= (2)(2)(3)(123)
= (2)(2)(3)(3)(41)
Negative numbers came out of subtracting natural
numbers.
Examples of uses of negative numbers:
1. In commerce, where debts and losses are
represented by negative numbers.
2. In temperature and elevation measurements
The set of all numbers that result from adding or
subtracting natural numbers is called the set of
integers.
The integers include the natural numbers, also called
positive integers, zero, and the negatives of all
natural numbers, or negative integers.

The set of whole numbers is composed of zero and
the positive integers.
Properties of Integers:
1. Every integer, except 0, has a sign which indicates
whether it is positive (+) or negative (-). 0 is neither
positive nor negative.
2. Every integer n has a magnitude (or absolute value),
denoted |n| which indicates how far it lies from 0 on the
number line.


|-5| = 5, |5| = 5
0 1 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5
2 3 4 5
The set of all possible outcomes of dividing integers
(except dividing by 0) is called the rational numbers.
Rational (from the word ratio which refers to the
division of two numbers)
The set of rational numbers is the set of all numbers
that can be expressed in the form x/y where both x
and y are integers and y = 0.
The set of integers is a subset of the set of rational
numbers.
At one time in ancient Greece, all numbers
were believed to be rational numbers.
A secret society of followers of Pythagoras
(500 B.C.) believed that numbers had special
and mystical meanings.
1 was considered divine.
Even numbers were considered feminine.
Odd numbers besides 1 were considered masculine.
The number 5, sum of the first feminine and
masculine numbers, represented marriage.
7 represented the seven planets known to the
Greeks; the belief that 7 was a lucky number
probably came from them.

The motto of the Pythagoreans: All is number.
Their sacred belief was that all numbers were either
whole, by which they meant the natural numbers
(they did not recognize zero or negative numbers), or
fractions made by the division of whole numbers.
But using the Pythagorean Theorem, they realized that
a right triangle with two sides of length 1 has a third
side of length equal to the square root of 2 , which
they could not express as a fraction.
Eventually they proved that the square root of 2 cannot
be expressed by dividing two whole numbers, that is, it
is an irrational number.
They attempted to keep this as a secret because their
fundamental beliefs may be challenged, and even killed
one of their members, Hippasus, for telling others of
their discovery.

1
1
c
1
2
+ 1
2
= c
2
The combination of the rational and irrational
numbers is called the real numbers.
Another way to describe real numbers is as
the rational numbers and everything in
between.
Each point on the number line has a
corresponding real number, and vice versa.

Finding a real number that is a square root of a
negative number is impossible. Thus another type of
non-real numbers, called imaginary numbers, was
invented to solve this problem.
Imaginary numbers are numbers that represent the
square root of negative numbers.
A special number called i (for imaginary) is defined to
be the number whose square is negative 1, that is
i
2
= 1
Since i
2
* i = 1 , then i
3
= i
2
* i = 1 * i = i
and i
4
= i
3
* i = i * i = i
2
= ( 1 ) = 1
Imaginary numbers cannot be shown on a real
number line because they are not real numbers.
The complex numbers are numbers that include all
the real numbers and all the imaginary numbers.
A complex number is in the form a + bi, where a
and b are real numbers and i
2
= 1.
Examples:
i i i +
2
1
, 3 , 7 , 2 3
Complex Numbers

Real Numbers Imaginary Numbers

Irrational Rational

Integers Other fractions

Negative 0 Positive

Prime 1 Composite
It is difficult to generate the sequence of prime
numbers.
Basic question: How many primes are there? Euclid
(c. 300 B.C.) proved that there are infinitely many
primes.
Erathosthenes, Greek mathematician who lived in
the third century B.C., devised a systematic method
for generating primes, called the Sieve of
Erathosthenes.

Given a list of natural numbers from 1 to n.
Cross out 1 because it is neither prime nor composite.
The next number 2 is prime; cross out all subsequent multiples of 2
because they are composite. (We call 2 a sieve number because it helps
us sift through or remove other numbers in the list.)
The next number 3 is prime; then cross out all subsequent multiples of 3.
Move to the next number that has not been crossed out. Use 5 as a sieve
number and cross out all multiples of 5 that have not been crossed out
yet.
Continue this process until we reach the end of the list.
The numbers that remain after all the crossings out are the primes on
the list.
1 16 31 46 61 76 91
2 17 32 47 62 77 92
3 18 33 48 63 78 93
4 19 34 49 64 79 94
5 20 35 50 65 80 95
6 21 36 51 66 81 96
7 22 37 52 67 82 97
8 23 38 53 68 83 98
9 24 39 54 69 84 99
10 25 40 55 70 85 100
11 26 41 56 71 86 101
12 27 42 57 72 87 102
13 28 43 58 73 88 103
14 29 44 59 74 89 104
15 30 45 60 75 90 105
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
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x
x
x
x
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x
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x
x
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x
x
x
In principle, the sieve of Erathosthenes could be used
on a list of numbers of any length.
The method, however, is extremely tedious.
Kulik, a 19th century Austrian astronomer, spent 20
years using this method to find all primes between 1
and 100 million!
Moreover, the library to which he gave his
manuscripts lost the sections containing the primes
between 12,642,000 and 22,852,800.
A formula to produce primes could generate
lists with much less effort.
Mathematicians have searched in vain for such
a formula for more than 2,000 years!
A few formulas work over a limited range of
numbers before failing.
Example: the expression n
2
n + 41
successfully produces primes for small values
of n. This formula fails after n = 41, that is, it
generates only 41 primes before it produces a
composite number. In addition, the formula
misses all primes less then 41.
Other formulas also fail. Mathematicians
believe that a suitable formula does not exist.
In cryptography, wherein messages are written in code to
protect privacy and maintain security.
A security system can use large composite numbers as a
lock. The two primes multiplied to make the composite
represent the keys.
Because there is no efficient way to find the prime
factorization, the lock can be opened only by people who
hold the keys.
Research seeks efficient methods of factoring large
numbers, and computers are getting faster. But as larger
and larger primes are found, more inviolable locks can be
designed.
Why the Search for Large Primes?
To continue a long standing tradition Euclid wanted to
characterize perfect numbers.
A number p is perfect if it is the sum of all its divisors,
except p itself.
6 = 1 + 2 + 3
28 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 7 + 14
the next two are 496 and 8128
p = 2
n-1
(2
n
1) where 2
n
1 is prime (Mersenne)
French monk Marin Mersenne (1588-1648) stated in the
preface to his Cogitata Physica-Mathematica (1644) that
the numbers 2
n
1 were prime for n = 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 17, 19,
31, 67, 127 and 257 and not prime for all numbers less than
257.
Finally, by 1947 Mersenne's range, n < 258, had been
completely checked and it was determined that the correct
list is: n = 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 17, 19, 31, 61, 89, 107 and 127.

Why the Search for Large Primes?
To collect rare and beautiful items
Euclid initiated the study of Mersennes in 300 BC and
since then there are less than 50 Mersenne primes
discovered
In math, there is a definite notion of beauty, for
example elegant proofs are regarded to be short but
concise and clear. And Mersenne primes have one of
the simplest forms for primes: 2
n
1
Why the Search for Large Primes?
For the by-products of the quest
It is difficult to search for primes so new knowledge,
new technologies were eventually developed to search
for these primes such as number theory theorems
(quadratic reciprocity, Fermat Little Theorem)
Note that 2
127
1 already has 39 digits, so better
algorithms, better computers were created to find
bigger primes.
Why the Search for Large Primes?
For the money
The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that it
was giving $100,000 for the first to come up with a ten-
million digit prime, $150,000 for the first hundred-
million digit prime and $250,000 for the first billion
digit prime.
GIMPS is a collaborative project of volunteers who use freely
available computer software to search for Mersenne prime
numbers.
In 23 August 2008, the 45
th
Mersenne prime 2
43,112,609
1
with 12,978,189 digits, was discovered at the University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA)s Department of Mathematics,
where Edson Smith was responsible for installing and
maintaining the GIMPS software on their computers,
allowing GIMPS to win the $100,000.
GIMPS gave $50,000 to the UCLA Department of
Mathematics, $25,000 was donated to a math-related
charity selected by GIMPS founder George Woltman & the
remaining $25,000 was paid to Odd Magnar Strindmo for his
discovery of M47, Hans-Michael Elvenich for M46, the
University of Central Missouri (M44 and M43), Dr. Martin
Nowak (M42), Josh Findley (M41), Michael Shafer and his
selected charity (M40) and Michael Cameron (M39).

After the 23rd Mersenne prime was found at the
University of Illinois, the mathematics department was
so proud that the chair of their department, Dr. Bateman,
had their postage meter changed to stamp "2
11213
-1 is
prime" on each envelope.

The 25th and 26th Mersenne primes were found by high-
school students Laura Nickel and Landon Curt Noll, who,
though they had little understanding of the mathematics
involved, used Lucas' simple test on the local university's
mainframe (CSUH's CDC 174) to find the next two
primes. Their discovery of the first prime made the national
television news and the front page of the New York
times. They went their separate ways after finding the first
prime, but Noll kept the program running to find the
second--so Noll claims complete ownership. Noll searched
later, and though he never found another Mersenne prime,
he is one of a team that holds the record for the largest
non-Mersenne prime. He currently works for Silicon
Graphics. (http://primes.utm.edu/mersenne/index.html)
Infinity may be the most astonishing aspect of
the concept of numbers.
Georg Cantor (1845-1918) began a serious
study of infinity over a century ago. His results
shocked the mathematical world at that time.
Cardinality is another term for the number of
elements of a set.

One way is by counting the elements of each set and
see whether the count is the same for both sets.

Another way is to determine if there is a one-to-one
correspondence between the members of the two
sets.

{r, e, a, d, y}

{I, m, n, o, p}
The set of natural numbers and the set of even integers
have the same cardinality.
1 2 3 4 5 6

2 4 6 8 10 12 ...
Similarly, there are as many natural numbers as odd
numbers, and as many natural numbers as multiples of 3,
etc.
Galileo in 1638 considered these as unexplainable
paradoxes and chose not to work with infinity further.

After 250 years, Cantor took these paradoxes as starting
points for further work and invented a new arithmetic,
called transfinite arithmetic, that applies to infinity.
The cardinality of the natural numbers is symbolized by

o
(pronounced aleph naught or aleph null).

We have the following results:

o
+ 1=
o
and
o
+
o
=
o

The infinite array above contains all positive rational numbers. We have the
one-to-one correspondence:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ...


1/1 1/2 2/1 3/1 2/2 1/3 1/4 2/3 ...
1 2 3 4 5
1 1/1 1/2 1/3 1/4 1/5
2 2/1 2/2 2/3 2/4 2/5
3 3/1 3/2 3/3 3/4 3/5
4 4/1 4/2 4/3 4/4 4/5
5 5/1 5/2 5/3 5/4 5/5
.
Thus, there are as many natural numbers as
there are rational numbers!
And we have the result:


o
x
o
=
o
and (
o
)
2
=
o


Similarly, (
o
)
3
=
o
and so on.


Cantor showed that some infinite sets have cardinality
greater than
o
.


He showed that the real numbers cannot be put into
one-to-one correspondence with the natural numbers,
and that there are more irrationals than rationals.
In fact, between any two points in the number line, the
number of irrationals is greater than the number of all
rational numbers.
The cardinality of this new, higher infinity is designated

1
.

Thus the symbol is not enough to denote all
infinite numbers because infinity has more than one
level.
Does a level of infinity exist between
o
and
1
?
The answer is unknown, but a set with such
cardinality has never been found.
The continuum hypothesis says that no set with
such cardinality exists.
Yes, as Cantor proved.
In fact, he showed that an infinite number of higher
levels of infinity exist, and their cardinality might be
designated

o
,

1
,
2
,
3
,
4
,...
But no one has ever been able to describe a set with
an infinity higher than
2
.
In ancient times, there was no way to express
extremely large or small numbers; in fact it was
unnecessary.
Today, these seemingly incomprehensible numbers
are dealt with in the real world.
Goal: learn to think quantitatively by developing
methods for interpreting such numbers.

tens or hundreds of billions of dollars of spending
and taxation
the collective impact of six billion people on the
environment
a nuclear weapon with one megaton of explosive
power
a computer with gigabytes of memory and
processing times measured in nanoseconds,
microseconds or milliseconds

Can you assess the values of these numbers?
Survival and prosperity in the modern world depend
on decisions that involve numbers that may, at first,
seem incomprehensibly large or small.
To make wise decisions, you must find ways of putting
such numbers into perspective.
Our task: to learn how to make extremely large or
small numbers comprehensible by relating them to
numbers with which we are already familiar.

Consider the following numbers:
The diameter of the Galaxy is about
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilometers
The nucleus of a hydrogen atom has a diameter of
about 0.000000000000001 meters
These numbers are difficult to read and most
people will just skip right over them. There is a
better way of expressing such numbers.

Laws of Exponents
10
3
= 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000;

10
3
x 10
5
= 1,000 x 100,000 = 100,000,000 = 10
8
;
10
5
x 10
3
= 100,000 x 0.001 = 100 = 10
2
;

001 . 0
1000
1
10
1
10
3
3
= = =

4
3
7
10 000 , 10
000 , 1
000 , 000 , 10
10
10
= = =
100 , 000 , 1 100 000 , 000 , 1 10 10
2 6
= + = +
m n m n +
= 10 10 10
m n
m
n

=10
10
10
000 , 999 , 9 000 , 1 000 , 000 , 10 10 10
3 7
= + =
4 hundred billion = 400 x 10
9
= 0.4 x 10
12
= 4 x 10
11

Numbers written with a number between 1 and 10
multiplied by a power of 10 are said to be in
scientific notation.
A number written in scientific notation can be
quickly converted to ordinary notation.
3045 = 3.045 x 10
3
; 0.000012 = 1.2 x 10
5
5.7 x 10
6
= 5,700,000; 2.26 x 10
4
= 0.000226

(4 x 10
9
) (3 x 10
12
)

= (4 x 3)(10
9
x 10
12
)
= 12 x 10
21
= 1.2 x 10
22



There is no shortcut for adding or subtracting
numbers in scientific notation.

3 4 3 7
3
7
3
7
10 0 . 5 10 5 . 0 10
2
1
10
10
4 . 8
2 . 4
10 4 . 8
10 2 . 4
= = = =

( ) ( )
6 2 6
10 0002 . 4 200 , 000 , 4 200 000 , 000 , 4 10 2 10 4 = = + = +
( ) ( )
6 4 6
10 98 . 3 000 , 980 , 3 000 , 20 000 , 000 , 4 10 2 10 4 = = =
The scientific notation simplifies writing
extremely large or small numbers.
Rounding and expressing numbers in scientific
notation allow quick approximations of the
exact answers.

( )( )
13 12
6 6
10 92 . 1 10 2 . 19
10 4 10 8 . 4 321 , 997 , 3 378 , 785 , 4
= =
=
The scientific notation makes extremely large or
small numbers deceptively easy to write.
Example:
10^26 does not look much different from 10^20,
but is a million times larger
10^80 deceptively small but is larger than the total
number of atoms in the entire universe