SLR 511F: 10 MATHEMATICAL IDEAS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW and their everyday applications in the real world

John Clements.

SESSION #3, Sept. 29/11.

SESSION #3 looked at TOPIC #4: Numbers and their interesting quirks.

TOPIC #4: Numbers and their interesting quirks:

***Solving Equations using Algebra (particularly the QUADRATIC EQUATION ax² + bx + c = 0 ) drove the need for ever more complete number system.

e.g. the ancient Egyptians (approx 200 AD) could solve x² = 4 and the ancient Babylonians considered the problem x² - x = 870. Diophantus (" Father of Algebra " - approx. 270 AD) major treatise " Arithmetica " consisted of 13 books. He could solve ax² + bx - c = 0 where a,b,c were all positive. The first book to include the full solution did not appear until the 12th century (approx. 1120 AD).

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