The Story of Math: Episode 1, Part I “The Egyptians”

1. What discipline led the way to certain knowledge about the physical world?

2. Name a reason why ancestors studied math.

3. Why is it important to understand patterns?

4. When did the Egyptian New Year start?

5. Why did people need to count?

6. What was the Egyptian unit of measurement and why was it used?

7. Why would a farmer receive a rebate?

8. What was the drawback of the Egyptian number system?

9. What ancient system of counting does our computing system use?

10. How did Egyptians use fractions to show a geometric series?

11. What is Pi and how did the Egyptians approximate it?

12. What is the Golden Ratio?

13. What did the Egyptians use to form perfect right triangles in their construction?

14. What formula did the Moscow Papyrus show and why is this significant?



Journal Entry: How does math affect your everyday decisions? DUE ________________

You have watched the first part of “The History of Math” and have seen how the ancient Egyptians used math practically to solve everyday problems. Now it is time for you to think about how you have used math.

Whether we are trying to figure the best payment plan for our new Droid cell phone, figure out how much paint and screen to buy to fix the beach house porch, or chemical ratios used to mix into the back yard pool; math is inextricably used in our everyday life. It’s even hardwired into our brains like when we look both ways when crossing a busy city street calculating mentally the speed and direction of oncoming traffic so we know when it is safe to cross.

Type a one page narrative in the first person about three or four specific examples of how you have used math in your life. You may have used it for a summer job at the supermarket, a building project with your parents or church, or a service project with your school or the scouts. Describe what specific kinds of math you used to solve the examples you will state.


Here are the steps we will use for this writing project.

Part I: Brain storm - Come up with several good ideas that you may use to explain how you used math.

Part II: Topic intro - State why math is important in everyday and set up some of the practical examples you will describe.

Part III: Heart of your journal - Describe in the first person the examples of how you used math and how it made your task easier.

Part IV: Write a conclusion statement or paragraph summing up your experiences.

Part V: Reread, proof for grammar and spelling.

Part VI: Share with a peer to get suggestion on how to make it read more easily.

Part VII: Rewrite.

Part VIII: Submit.