GED 102
MATHEMATICS IN
THE MODERN WORLD
Module 1
Mathematics in our World
Prepared by:
Eleonor P. Magtibay, LPT
WHAT IS MATHEMATICS?
• Mathematics is the science of quantity. (Aristotle)
• It is the science of indirect measurement.
(Auguste Comte)
• Mathematics is a science that draws necessary
conclusions. (Benjamin Pierce)
• All mathematics is symbolic logic. (Bertrand
Russel)
Ian Stewart
From his book, Nature’s Number
Mathematics is a formal system of thought that has been
gradually developed in the human mind and evolved within
human culture. From human realization, a system of thought
further advanced their knowledge and understanding of
measures. They were able to gradually develop the science of
measures and gained the ability to count, gauge, assess,
quantify, and size almost everything.
MATHEMATICS
IS A TOOL
• Mathematics is our sense to decipher patterns,
relationships, and logical connections. It is our
whole new way to see and understand the
modern world.
• Mathematics, being a broad and deep discipline,
deals with the logic of shape, quantity, and
arrangement.
• It is a universal language dealing with symbols,
arts, equations, geometric shapes, and patterns.
• It is asserting that mathematics is a powerful tool
in decision-making, and it is a way of life.
• Mathematics, as a study of patterns, allows
people to observe, hypothesize, experiment,
discover, and recreate.
• Mathematics is an art and a process of thinking.
MATHEMATICS
IS EVERYWHERE
We use mathematics in our daily tasks and
activities
It is our important tool in the field of sciences,
humanities, literature, medicine, and even in music
and arts; it is in the rhythm of our daily activities,
operational in our communities, and a default
system of our culture.
ESSENTIAL ROLES
OF MATHEMATICS
• Discovery and unveiling the truth
• Mathematics helps us to take the complex processes
that are naturally occurring in the world around us, and
it represents them by utilizing logic to make things more
organized and more efficient.
• Mathematics also facilitates not only to weather,
but also to control the weather ---- be it social,
natural, statistical, political, or medical.
• Mathematics plays an important role in many
sciences.
• It provides tools for calculations. The use of
mathematical calculations is an indispensable
method in scientifically approaching most
problems.
• It provides new questions to think about.
HOW
MATHEMATICS IS
DONE
• Mathematics builds upon itself. More complex concepts are
built upon simpler concepts, and if you do not have a
strong grasp of the fundamental principles, then a more
complex problem is more likely going to stump you. If you
come across a mathematical problem that you cannot
solve, the first thing to do is to identify the components or
the operations that it wants you to carry out, and everything
follows.
• It is done with curiosity, with a penchant for seeking
patterns and generalities, with a desire to know the truth,
with trial and error, and without fear of facing more
questions and problems to solve.
MATHEMATICS IS FOR
EVERYONE
Mathematics helps us become better people and helps
make the world a better place to live in.
IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING
AND LEARNING
MATHEMATICS
“Whatever the reasons, mathematics is a useful way
to think about nature. What does it want to tell us
about the patterns we observe? There are many
answers. We want to understand how they happen;
to understand why they happen, which is different;
to organize the underlying patterns and regularities
in the most satisfying way; to predict how nature will
behave; to control nature for our own ends; to make
practical use of what we have learned about our
world. Mathematics helps us to do all these things,
and often, it is indispensable.“ [Stewart]
PATTERNS AND NUMBER IN
THE NATURE OF THE
WORLD
PATTERNS OF
DIFFERENT VISUAL
KINDS OF PATTERNS OF
FLOW
PATTERNS
PATTERNS OF
MOVEMENT
PATTERNS OF
DIFFERENT RHYTHM
KINDS OF PATTERNS OF
TEXTURE
PATTERNS
GEOMETRIC
PATTERNS
PATTERNS OF
VISUALS
Visual patterns are often unpredictable, never quite
repeatable, and often contain fractals. These
patterns are can be seen from the seeds and
pinecones to the branches and leaves. They are also
visible in self-similar replication of trees, ferns, and
plants throughout nature.
PATTERNS OF
FLOW
The flow of liquids provides an inexhaustible supply
of nature’s patterns. Patterns of flow are usually
found in the water, stone, and even in the growth of
trees. There is also a flow pattern present in
meandering rivers with the repetition of undulating
lines.
Fair Trade Practices
PATTERNS OF
MOVEMENT
In the human walk, the feet strike the ground in a
regular rhythm: the left-right-left-right-left rhythm.
When a horse, a four-legged creature, walks, there is
more of a complex but equally rhythmic pattern. This
prevalence of pattern in locomotion extends to the
scuttling of insects, the flights of birds, the pulsations
of jellyfish, and also the wave-like movements of fish,
worms, and snakes.
PATTERNS OF
RHYTHM
Rhythm is conceivably the most basic pattern in
nature. Our hearts and lungs follow a regular,
repeated pattern of sounds or movement whose
timing is adapted to our body’s needs. Many of
nature’s rhythms are most likely similar to a
heartbeat, while others are like breathing. The
beating of the heart, as well as breathing, has a
default pattern.
PATTERNS OF
TEXTURE
A texture is a quality of a certain object that we
sense through touch. It exists as a literal surface that
we can feel, see, and imagine. Textures are of many
kinds. It can be bristly and rough, but it can also be
smooth, cold, and hard.
GEOMETRIC
PATTERNS
A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern that
consists of a series of shapes that are typically
repeated. These are regularities in the natural world
that are repeated predictably. Geometrical
patterns are usually visible on cacti and succulents.
PATTERNS IN NATURE
Waves Dunes
PATTERNS IN NATURE
Spots Stripes
PATTERNS IN NATURE
Spiral
SYMMETRIES
In mathematics, if a figure can be folded or
divided into two with two halves which are the
same, such figure is called a symmetric figure.
Symmetry has a vital role in pattern formation. It is
used to classify and organize information about
patterns by classifying the motion or deformation
of both pattern structures and processes.
REFLECTION
SYMMETRY
sometimes called line symmetry or mirror
symmetry, captures symmetries when the
left half of a pattern is the same as the
right half.
ROTATIONS
also known as rotational symmetry,
captures symmetries when it still looks the
same after some rotation (of less than one
full turn). The degree of rotational
Iansymmetry
Stewartof an object is recognized by the
number of distinct orientations in which it
looks the same for each rotation.
TRANSLATIONS
Translational symmetry exists in patterns
that we see in nature and in man-made
objects. Translations acquire symmetries
when units are repeated and turn out
having identical figures, like the bees’
honeycomb with hexagonal tiles.
SYMMETRIES IN NATURE
Human Body Animal Movement
SYMMETRIES IN NATURE
Snowflakes Star Fish
FIBONACCI IN NATURE
In describing the amazing variety of phenomena in nature we stumble to discover the
existence of Fibonacci numbers. It turns out that the Fibonacci numbers appear from
the smallest up to the biggest objects in the natural world. This presence of Fibonacci
numbers in nature, which was once existed realm mathematician’s curiously, is
considered as one of the biggest mysteries why the some patterns in nature is
Fibonacci. But one thing is definitely made certain, and that what seemed solely
mathematical is also natural.