Jovan Choongh - Math History

I would definitely introduce these ideas as a teacher to secondary math students because of the imagination involved in attaching personalities to numbers could be inspiring to certain students. Additionally, it was interesting to read Major's perspective on social numbers and the experiences of individuals who have OLP; imagine teaching students who have never heard about synaesthesia and how individuals can make deep connections and pairing with abstractions such as letters and numbers. Perhaps, this would enable secondary math students to think of math in a perspective never taught to them before. Additionally, I think Major's discussion on personal cultural associations with a number is a sleek way to tie in history, adding a personal touch to a variety of cultural backgrounds to connect with a diverse group of students. I was shocked to learn that "in the Korean and Chinese languages, the unlucky quality of “four” is connected to the fact that it sounds like the wor...

Prior to this reading, I knew nothing about the development of medieval arithmetic and its progression from the trivium and quadrivium. Thus, it was shocking to learn that the processes of defining liberal arts and what studies should be rudimentary to one's education were discussed in medieval times over 2000 years ago; an important topic of discussion regardless of era. I was overwhelmed by the sheer fact many of these ancient Greek and Roman philosophers such as Plato and Seneca were concerned in the composition of education and what should be taught and for how long. Additionally, something that really made me stop was ancient Greece's definition of "logistics" where they wanted differentiate the arithmetic of business from the study of number, which was solely "arithmetic." Subsequently, the greeks differentiated logic from logistic, where logistic was a study for children and slaves, whereas logic was for the "free man." As I read I cont...