History of Math
Which two main areas of math were logically developed by the Greeks?
Who was the first person to ever write a mathematics textbook based entirely on logical deductions?
Euclid (Greek mathematician, he wrote The Elements)
What is a theorem?
A mathematical statement that has been proven true.
What is the result of dividing any real number by zero?
Undefined
Which mathematician had a cult that banned eating beans?
Pythagoras
This area of mathematics was heavily influenced by Persian and Arab mathematicians around the year 800 AD.
Algebra
What is the name of the mathematician who proved that there can't be a formula to find the solutions for a fifth grade equation?
Évariste Galois
State the Pythagorean Theorem
In a right triangle, the sum of the squares of its two legs is equal to the square of its hypotenuse.
Is zero even, odd or neither?
Even
What's the roman numeral for 0?
They didn't have one!
This area of mathematics was developed simultaneously and independently by Newton and Leibniz in the 17th century. They had a lot of beef about it. You'll study this in IB math.
Calculus
First female mathematician to ever win a Fields Medal
Maryam Mirzakhani
State the inclusion-exclusion principle for two sets.
P(A U B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A ∩ B)
What is 00?
Undefined
What is the only number in the English language spelled with all its letters in alphabetical order?
Forty
In what year was the equal sign invented?
1557
The quadratic formula is known in some countries by the name of an Indian mathematician who derived it almost 1000 years ago
Bhaskara
State the Linear Programming Theorem
In a linear programming problem, optimal solutions must occur at the vertices or edges of the feasible region.
Without doing any division, how can you tell if a number can be divided by 9 without remainder?
Add all the digits, if the result is a multiple of 9, then the original number is also divisible by 9.
How can you cut a cake into 8 pieces with only 3 cuts?
Two cuts top to bottom, one across.
Imaginary numbers
This Australian-American mathematician started taking college level math at age 9, won International Math Olympiads since he was 10, graduated college at age 16, and is considered one of the greatest problem solvers alive. He's now a math professor at UCLA.
Terence Tao
State one (any) math conjecture that is believed to be true but has not been proven yet.
Examples vary.
i2026
One of the earliest mathematicians who studied probability (Cardano) did so for a very personal reason... what was it?
He was a compulsive gambler.