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Math in Ancient Civilizations
Choose a Civilization
Group Question:
How did different societies represent and use numbers.
Work in a group to discover the ways that ancient people
developed symbols and rules for working with values and
quantities. This can be broken down into 3 sections:
History-Information on the ways in which mathematics was
used in the daily lives of the people.
For example:
? Why did the society need/develop numerals ?
? How was mathematics used by the people ?
Numeration- Symbols and rules that govern the number
system.
For example:
? What symbols were used to represent numbers ?
? Was there a "zero", fractions, negatives ?
? What was the Base of the system, and why
was this base used ?
? How were greater numbers formed ?
? Was the society able to add, subtract, etc.., how?
Contributions- Theoretical, and/or physical contributions the society made to mathematics.
For example:
? Were there any people who made contributions, who were they, and what did they accomplish ?
? Were there any "machines" or theories that the
society developed, what were they and how did they
work ?
Project Parts:
Your group will present to the class your findings. Prepare a group presentation that incorporates all members of the group along with all the information.
A visual aid will be very useful.
Mathematics in Ancient Civilizations
Russell S. Byer 1998
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