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Back in France, the young Descartes soon came to the conclusion that the Toy t
o philosophy,
with all its uncertainties and ambiguity, was to build it on the indisputable facts of mat
hematics. To
pursue his rather heretical ideas further, though, he moved from the restrictions of Cat
holic France
to the more liberal environment of the Netherlands, where he spent most of his adult li
fe, and
where he worked on his dream of merging algebra and geometry.
In 1637, he published his ground-breaking philosophical and mathematical
treatise "Discours
de la mthode" (the Discourse on Method), and one of its appendices in particular, "
La
Gomtrie", is now considered a landmark in the history of mathematics. Following on
from early
movements towards the use of symbolic expressions in mathematics by Diophantus, A
l-Khwarizmi
and Franois Vite, "La Gomtrie" introduced what has become known as the standar
d algebraic
notation, using lowercase a, b and c for known quantities and x, y and z for unknown q
uantities. It
was perhaps the first book to look like a modern mathematics textbook, full of a's and
b's, x2's, etc.
It was in "La Gomtrie" that Descartes first proposed that each point in two di
mensions can
be described by two numbers on a plane, one giving the points horizontal location an
d the other the
vertical location, which have come to be known as Cartesian coordinates. He used per
pendicular
lines (or axes), crossing at a point called the origin, to measure the horizontal (x) and
vertical (y)
locations, both positive and negative, thus effectively dividing the plane up into four q
uadrants.
Any equation can be represented on the plane by plotting on it the solution set
of the
equation. For example, the simple equation y = x yields a straight line linking together
the points
(0,0), (1,1), (2,2), (3,3), etc. The equation y = 2x yields a straight line linking together
the points (0,0),
(1,2), (2,4), (3,6), etc. More complex equations involving x2, x3, etc, plot various types
of curves on
the plane.
As a point moves along a curve, then, its coordinates change, but an equation c
an be written
to describe the change in the value of the coordinates at any point in the figure. Using
this novel
approach, it soon became clear that an equation like x2 + y2 = 4, for example, describ
es a circle; y2 -
16x a curve called a parabola; x2a2 + y2b2 = 1 an ellipse; x2a2 - y2b2 = 1 a hyperbola;
etc.
Although analytic geometry was far and away Descartes most important contri
bution to
mathematics, he also: developed a rule of signs technique for determining the numb
er of positive
or negative real roots of a polynomial; "invented" (or at least popularized) the superscr
ipt notation
4
for showing powers or exponents (e.g. 2 to show 2 x 2 x 2 x 2); and re-discovered
Thabit ibn Qurra's
general formula for amicable numbers, as well as the amicable pair 9,363,584 and 9,4
37,056 (which
had also been discovered by another Islamic mathematician, Yazdi, almost a century e
arlier).
For all his importance in the development of modern mathematics, though, Des
cartes is
perhaps best known today as a philosopher who espoused rationalism and dualism. Hi
s philosophy
consisted of a method of doubting everything, then rebuilding knowledge from the gro
und, and he is
particularly known for the often-quoted statement Cogito ergo sum(I think,
therefore I am).
He also had an influential rle in the development of modern physics, a rle whi
ch has been,
until quite recently, generally under-appreciated and under-investigated. He provided
the first
distinctly modern formulation of laws of nature and a conservation principle of motion,
made
numerous advances in optics and the study of the reflection and refraction of light, an
d constructed
what would become the most popular theory of planetary motion of the late 17th Cent
ury. His
commitment to the scientific method was met with strident opposition by the church o
fficials of the
day.
His revolutionary ideas made him a centre of controversy in his day, and he die
d in 1650 far
from home in Stockholm, Sweden. 13 years later, his works were placed on the Catholi
c Church's
"Index of Prohibited Books".
PART 1.2
Number of players : 2
Items required
a) A4 Paper
b) 2 dice with different color (ie. White and Red)
c) 2 Marker Pen (Red and Blue)
Gameplay :
1. Draw or print the grids as follows on A4 paper
2. Player A will throw the 2 dice (White dice denotes x coordinates while red dice
denotes y
coordinates)
3. If playe A get 2 for the white dice and 5 for red dice, thus the coordinate w
ill be (2,5).
Player A have to mark X on the A4 paper according to the coordinate.
4. Next player B will throw the dices.
5. If player B get the (3,4) coordinates, player B need to mark on the A4 pape
r according to
the coordinate
6. If any one of the player able to form 3 points horizontally or vertically, the player
will get 1
score.
Player A received 1 points for joining
3 coordinates together vertically
7. Players who score the highest points will be declared as the winner
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