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This Unit's

Homework Page

History Lecture

Science Lecture

Lab

Parents' Notes

Unit 7: The Greeks and Mathematics

Preparation

• History Web Lecture: The history web lecture presents some background to the lives and contributions of Pythagoras, Apollonius, and Euclid, but most of the detailed reading is at the linked websites. Be sure to encourage students to start reading the lecture in time to complete the linked readings as well!
• Science Web Lecture: The science web lecture covers some mathematical ideas that we often take for granted in doing science: periodicity and proportion, and applies the concepts briefly to sound and music. Students need to realize that the idea that nature follows laws has some repercussions: we have to know what kinds of laws or patterns of activity to look for, and have a way to record them when we find them. Pythagoras proposed the idea that mathematics can be used to accurately describe nature, but he later lost this claim when subsequent philosophers (namely Aristotle) countered that physical entities could not be described by perfect abstractions.
• Homework: The Mastery Exercise is relatively short: students are asked to identify the major contributions of the three mathematicians we studied, and use some of the Pythagorean relationships. The main point of this lesson is to help students realize some of the relationships they take for granted, and think about them more explicitly.
• Discussion: We will be looking at the implications of mathematical concepts for investigating science.

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