MATHEMATICS IN

THE MODERN
WORLD
SIR ROBBY DIAZ
 Vincentian Prayer

Live Jesus forever in our hearts. Oh my God, I believe in You.

Strengthen my faith, I hope in You. Confirm my hope, I love
You. Make me love You more and more. I am sorry for my sins,
increase my sorrow Jesus meek and humble of heart, Make our
hearts like Yours

O Mary conceived without sin,

Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Sts. Vincent and Louise, Pray for Us.

Hmna. Fausta Labrador Intercede for Us.
Lesson 1: Nature of
Mathematics
◦ In a book Nature’s Number Stewart he said that mathematics is a
formal system of thought that weas gradually developed in the
human mind and evolved in the human culture.
◦ in the long course of human history, our ancestors at a certain point
were endowed with insight to realize the existence of “form” in their
surroundings.
◦ From their realization, a system of thought further advanced their
knowledge into understanding 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, as a tool, is immensely useful, practical, and powerful. It is not about
crunching numbers, formulas, and symbols but rather, it is all about forming new ways
to see problems so we can understand them by combining insights with imagination.
◦ Mathematics is our sense to decipher patterns, relationships, and logical connections.
◦ Mathematics, being a broad and deep discipline, deals with the logic of shape,
quantity, and arrangement.
◦ it is now being understood as 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 is Everywhere
◦ We use mathematics in their 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.
◦
◦ Even the cosmic perspective, the
patterns in the firmament are always
presented as a mystery waiting to be
uncovered by us-the sentient being. In
order to unearthed this mystery, we are
challenged to investigate and deeply
examine its structure and rules to the
infinitesimal level.
◦ The intertwined governing powers of
cosmic mystery can only be decoded by
seriously observing and studying their
regularities, and patiently waiting for the
signature of some kind interference. It is
only by observing the abundance of
patterns scattered everywhere that this
irregularities will beg to be noticed.
 Essential Role of
Mathematics
◦ Mathematics has countless hidden uses and applications. It is not only
something that delights our mind but it also allows us to learn and
understand the natural order of the world.
◦ When it comes to discovering and unveiling the truth behind the inherent
secrets and occurrences of the universe, nothing visual, verbal, or aural
come close to matching the accuracy, economy, power and elegance of
mathematics.
◦ Mathematics helps us to take the complex processes that is naturally
occurring in the world around us and it represents them by utilizing logic to
make things more organized and more efficient.
 Essential Role of
Mathematics
◦Mathematics also facilitate not only to weather, but also to control
the weather ---- be it social, natural, statistical, political, or medical.
◦Applied mathematics, which once only used for solving problems in
physics, and it is also becoming a useful tool in biological sciences:
for instance, the spread of various diseases can now be predicted and
controlled.
◦Scientists and researchers use applied mathematics in doing or
performing researches to solve social, scientific, medical, or even
political crises.
 Mathematical Landscape
◦The human mind and culture developed a conceptual landscape for
mathematical thoughts and ideas to flourish and propagate.
◦There is a region in the human mind that is capable of constructing
and discerning the deepest insights being perceived from the natural
world.
◦The mathematical landscape exists- wherein concepts of numbers,
symbols, equations, operations calculations, abstractions, and proofs
are the inhabitants as well as the constructs of the impenetrable
vastness of its unchartered territories.
 Mathematical Landscape
◦ In this landscape, a number is not simply a mathematical tree of counting. Also,
infinite variables can be encapsulate to finite. Even those something that is hard to
express in decimal form can be expressed in terms of fractions.
◦ With this landscape, the mathematician's instinct and curiosity entice to explore
further the vast tranquil lakes of functions and impassable crevasse of the
unchartered territories of abstract algebra. For to claim ownership is to understand
the ebb and flow of prime numbers. To predict the behavior of its Fibonacci weather,
to be amazed with awe and wonder the patternless chaos of fractal clouds, and to
rediscover that after all, the numbers in mathematics is not a "thing" but a process.
Conventionally, we are just simply made ourselves comfortable on the
“thingification” of those processes and we forgot that 1+1 is not a noun but a verb.
 Mathematical Landscape
◦ In this landscape, a number is not simply a mathematical tree of counting. Also,
infinite variables can be encapsulate to finite. Even those something that is hard to
express in decimal form can be expressed in terms of fractions.
◦ With this landscape, the mathematician's instinct and curiosity entice to explore
further the vast tranquil lakes of functions and impassable crevasse of the
unchartered territories of abstract algebra. For to claim ownership is to understand
the ebb and flow of prime numbers. To predict the behavior of its Fibonacci weather,
to be amazed with awe and wonder the patternless chaos of fractal clouds, and to
rediscover that after all, the numbers in mathematics is not a "thing" but a process.
Conventionally, we are just simply made ourselves comfortable on the
“thingification” of those processes and we forgot that 1+1 is not a noun but a verb.
 How Mathematics is Done
◦ Math is a way of thinking, and it is undeniably important to see how that thinking
is going to be developed rather than just merely see face value of the results. For
some people, few math theorems can bring up as much remembered pain and
anxiety. For others, this discipline is so complex and they have to understand the
confusing symbols, the difficult procedures, and the dreaded graphs and charts.
For most, mathematics is just nothing but something to survive, rather than to
learn.
◦ To the untrained eye, doing mathematics is quite difficult and challenging. It is
ambiguous, for it follows a set of patterns, formulas, and sequences that make it
more demanding to do and to learn. It is abstract and complex ---- and for these
reasons, a lot of people adopt the belief that they are not math people.
 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.
◦ Doing and performing mathematics is not that simple. 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
◦ The relationship of the mathematical landscape in the human mind with the natural world
is so strange that in the long run, the good math provides utilization and usefulness in the
order of things. Perhaps, for most people, they simply need to know the basics of the
mathematical operations in order to survive daily tasks; but for the human society to
survive and for the human species to persistently exist, humanity needs, beyond
rudiment of mathematics.
◦ To safeguard our existence, we already have delegated the functions of mathematics
across all disciplines. There is mathematics we call pure and applied, as there are
scientists we call social and natural. There is mathematics for engineers to build,
mathematics for commerce and finance, mathematics for weather forecasting,
mathematics that is related to health, and mathematics to harness energy for utilization.
To simply put it, everyone uses mathematics in different degrees and levels.
 The Importance of Knowing
and Learning Mathematics
◦ Why do we want to observe and describe patterns and regularities? Why do we
want to understand the physical phenomena governing our world? Why do we
want to dig out rules and structures that lie behind patterns of the natural order?
◦ It is because those rules and structures explain what is going on. It is because
they are beneficial in generating conclusions and in predicting events. It is
because they provide clues. The clues that make us realize that interference in
the motion of heavenly bodies can predict lunar eclipse, solar eclipse as well as
comets’ appearances. That the position of the sun and the moon relative to the
earth can predict high tide and low tide events affecting human activities. And
that human activities need clues for the human culture to meaningfully work.
 Lesson 2: The Mathematics
in Our World
◦The mathematics in our world is rooted in patterns. Patterns are all
around us. Finding and understanding patterns give us great power to
play like god. With patterns, we can discover and understand new
things; we learn to predict and ultimately control the future for our
own advantage.
Different Kinds of Pattern
◦Patterns of Visuals
◦Patterns of Flow
◦Patterns of Movement
◦Patterns of Rhythm
◦Patterns of Texture
◦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
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.
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 which
consists of a series of shapes that are typically
repeated. These are regularities in the natural world
that are repeated in a predictable manner.
Geometrical patterns are usually visible on cacti and
succulents.
Patterns Found in Nature
◦Common patterns appear in nature, just like what we
see when we look closely at plants, flowers, animals,
and even at our bodies. These common patterns are
all incorporated in many natural things.
Waves and Dunes
◦ A wave is any form of disturbance that carries
energy as it moves. Waves are of different kinds:
mechanical waves which propagate through a
medium ---- air or water, making it oscillate as
waves pass by.
◦ Wind waves, on the other hand, are surface waves
that create the chaotic patterns of the sea.
Similarly, water waves are created by energy
passing through water causing it to move in a
circular motion. Likewise, ripple patterns and
dunes are formed by sand wind as they pass over
the sand
 Spots and Stripes

◦We can see patterns like spots on the skin of a giraffe. On the
other hand, stripes are visible on the skin of a zebra. Patterns like
spots and stripes that are commonly present in different
organisms are results of a reaction-diffusion system (Turing, 1952)
Spirals The spiral patterns exist on the
scale of the cosmos to the
minuscule forms of microscopic
animals on earth. The Milky Way
that contains our Solar System is a
barred spiral galaxy with a band of
bright stars emerging from the
center running across the middle of
it. Spiral patterns are also common
and noticeable among plants and
some animals. Spirals appear in
many plants such as pinecones,
pineapples, and sunflowers. On the
other hand, animals like ram and
kudu also have spiral patterns on
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.
◦There are many kinds of symmetry, and the most important ones
are reflections, rotations, and translations. These kinds of
symmetries are less formally called flips, turns, and slides.
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 symmetry of an
object is recognized by the
number of distinct orientations
in which it looks the same for
each rotation.
 Translations
◦This is another type of
symmetry.
◦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
Symmetries in Nature
◦Human Body
◦Animal Movement
◦Sunflower
◦Snowflakes
◦Honeycombs/Beehive
◦Starfish
Human Body
◦The human body is one of
the pieces of evidence that
there is symmetry in nature.
◦Our body exhibits bilateral
symmetry.
◦ It can be divided into two
identical halves.
Animal Movement
◦The symmetry of motion is
present in animal
movements.
◦When animals move, we can
see that their movements
also exhibit symmetry.
Sunflower
◦ One of the most interesting things
about a sunflower is that it contains
both radial and bilateral symmetry.
◦ What appears to be "petals" in the
outer ring are actually small flowers
also known as ray florets.
◦ These small flowers are bilaterally
symmetrical. On the other hand, the
dark inner ring of the sunflower is a
cluster of radially symmetrical disk
florets.
Snowflakes
◦Snowflakes have six-fold radial
symmetry.
◦The ice crystals that make-up the
snowflakes are symmetrical or
patterned.
◦The intricate shape of a single arm of
a snowflake is very much similar to
the other arms. This only proves that
symmetry is present in a snowflake.
Honeycombs/Beehive
◦Honeycombs or beehives are
examples of wallpaper symmetry.
◦This kind of symmetry is created
when a pattern is repeated until it
covers a plane.
◦Beehives are made of walls with
each side having the same size
enclosed with small hexagonal
cells. Inside these cells, honey and
pollen are stored and bees are
raised.
Starfish
◦Starfish have a radial
fivefold symmetry.
◦Each arm portion of the
starfish is identical to
each of the other
regions.
Fibonacci in Nature
◦ By learning about nature, it becomes gradually evident that the nature is
essentially mathematical, and this is one of the reasons why explaining nature
is dependent on mathematics. Mathematics has the power to unveil the
inherent beauty of the natural world.
◦ 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.
Lesson 3: Fibonacci
Sequence
◦ As we have discussed in the preceding lesson, human mind is capable of
identifying and organizing patterns. We were also to realized that there are
structures and patterns in nature that we don’t usually draw attention to.
Likewise, we arrived at a position that in nature, some things follow
mathematical sequences and one of them follow the Fibonacci sequence.
Sequence
◦Refers to an ordered list of numbers called
terms, that may have repeated values.
◦The arrangement of these terms is set by a
definite rule.
Arithmetic sequence.
◦It is a sequence of numbers that follows a definite pattern.
◦To determine if the series of numbers follow an arithmetic
sequence, check the difference between two consecutive
terms.
◦If common difference is observed, then definitely arithmetic
sequence governed the pattern.
Geometric sequence
◦If in the arithmetic sequence we need to check for the
common difference, in geometric sequence we need to look for
the common ratio.
Harmonic Sequence
◦In the sequence, the reciprocal of the terms behaved in a
manner like arithmetic sequence.
◦Consider the example below and notice an interesting pattern
in the series.
◦ With this pattern, the reciprocal appears like arithmetic
sequence.
 Fibonacci Sequence
◦ This specific sequence was named after an
Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano Bigollo
(1170 - 1250).
◦ He discovered the sequence while he was
studying rabbits.
◦ The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers
governed by some unusual arithmetic rule.
◦ The sequence is organized in a way a number
can be obtained by adding the two previous
numbers.
 Fibonacci Sequence
location of the term was conventionally tagged as Fib(𝑛).
◦To explore a little bit more about the Fibonacci sequence, the

method, the Fib(𝑛) is actually referring to the the 𝑛th term of the
◦This means that Fib(1)=1, Fib(2)=1, Fib(3)=2 and Fib(4)=3. In this

sequence. It is also possible to make some sort of addition in this

sequence.
◦ For instance: Fib (2) + Fib (6) = _?__
Fibonacci Sequence

Where:
stands for the Fibonacci number we’re looking for
N stands for the position of the number in the Fibonacci
sequence
Φ stands for the value of the golden ratio
Find the following:

◦Fib(18)
◦Fib(8) + Fib(12)
Golden rectangle
◦Is made up of squares whose sizes,
surprisingly is also behaving similar to the
Fibonacci sequence.
 CLOSING PRAYER
We thank you a hundredfold for the love and care that
you have given us. May we return to you your good
works by multiplying it with love and respect, adding
more faith, subtracting worldly behavior and evil
works, and dividing your given talents to others, so we
can sum them all and be united as one in your family.
In this we pray, Amen.

O Mary conceived without sin,

Pray for us who have recourse to thee.
Sts. Vincent and Louise, Pray for Us.
Hmna. Fausta Labrador Intercede for Us.

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