GROUP 1

NATURE OF
MATHEMATICS
 The emergence of
digital technology has
sparked a monumental
rise in the rate at which
we consume and
produce data
 Before the
Internet, it could
take hours to get
several volumes
of resources from
the library for a
research paper.

Today, a few minutes

(or seconds, depending on the
speed of your connection)
using your mobile device’s
browser could get you the
same information, or even
more.
 A few decades
ago, it took hours
for photyographs
to be printed and
shared.

Now, it only takes

a matter of seconds for
your perfect selfie to be
uploaded and viewed by
your relatives and
friends on the other
side of the world.
As rational creatures, we tend to identify
and follow patterns, whether consciously or
subconsciously. Recognizing patterns feels
natural, like our brain is hardwired to
recognize them.
 Early humans recognized the repeating
interval of day and night, the cycle of the moon,
the rising and falling of tides, and the changing of
the seasons. Awareness of these patterns allowed
humans to survive.

In this chapter, we will be looking at

patterns and regularities in the world, and how
mathematics comes into play, both in nature and
in human endeavors.
 Patterns and Numberts in
Nature and the World
PATTERNS are regular, repeated, or reoccuring
forms or designs. We see patterns in
everyday from the layout of floor tiles,
designs of skycrapers, to the way we tie our
shoelaces.
Let’s take a look in this pattern:

What is the next face

in the sequence?
Answer:
What is the next figure in the pattern below?

A B
What is the next figure in the given pattern?

?
What Number Comes Next?

1, 3, 5, 7, 9, ________
Solution:
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, ________
Looking at the given numbers, the sequence is
increasing, with each term being two more
than the previous term: 3 = 1 +2 ; 7 = 5 + 2; 9 +
7 + 2. Therefore, the next term should be 11 =
9 + 2.
Check your Progress:

What number comes next in

1, 4, 9, 16, 25, _______

 SYMMETRY

 indicates that you can draw an imagiunary

line croos an object and the resulting parts
are mirror images of each other.
 The figure above is symmetric about the axis
indicated by the dotted line. Note that the left
and right portions are exactly the same. This type
of symmetry, known as line or bilateral
symmetry, is evident in most animals, including
humans.
 LEONARDO DA VINCI’S
VITRUVIAN MAN

 Showing the proportion and symmetry of the

human body
There are other types of symmetry depending on
the number of sides or faces that are symmetrical.

Spiderwort with Starfish has a five-

three-fold symmetry fold symmetry
 Note that if you rotate the spiderwort and
starfish above by several degrees, you can still
achieve the same appearance as the original
position. This is known as rotational
symmetry.
 The smallest angle that a figure can be
rotated while still preserving the original
formation is called the angle of rotation.
 a more common way of describing rotational
symmetry is by order of rotation.
 ORDER OF ROTATION
A figure has a rotational symmetry of order n(n –
fold rotational symmetry) if 1/n of a complete
turn leaves the figure unchanged. To compute for
the angle of rotation, we use the following
formula: 0
Angle of rotation = 360
For the Spiderwort: n
n= 3
360 0
Angle of rotation = 3
Angle of rotation = 120 0
 For the Spiderwort:
n= 3
360 0
Angle of rotation = 3
Angle of rotation = 120 0
For the Starfish:
n= 5
360 0
Angle of rotation = 5
Angle of rotation = 72 0
 Consider the image of the
snowflake

It can be observed that the patterns on a snowflakes

repeat six times, indicating that there is a six-fold
symmetry. To determine the angle of rotation, we
simply divide 3600 by 6 to get 60 0 .
 Honeycomb

People have long wondered how bees, despite

their very small size, are able to produce such
arrangement while humans would generally
need the use of a ruler and compass to
accomplish the same feat.
 SQUARE PACKING

 Square packing in a square is a packing problem

where the objective is to determine how many
squares of side one can be packed into a square of
side. space for non-integer is an open question.
There are plenty of spots that are exposed.
 HEXAGONAL PACKING

 layers of spheres are packed so that spheres

in alternating layers overlie one another.
More area are covered.
 Translating this idea to three-dimensional space,
we can conclude that hexagonal formations are
more optimal in making use of the available
space.
 This are referred to as packing problems.
 Packing problems involve finding the optimum
method of filling up a given space such as cubic
or spherical container.
Let us illustrate this
mathematically:

 Suppose you have circles of radius 1 cm, each of

which will then have an area of ∏ cm 2. We are
then going to fill a plane with these circles using
square packing and hexagonal packing.
For Square packing, each square will have an
area of 4cm 2 . Note from the figure that for
each square, it can fit only one circle (4
quarters). The percentage of the square’s area
covered by circles will be:
Area of the circle
X 100% = ∏ cm 2 X 100% = 78.54%
Area of the square 4 cm 2
 HEXAGONAL PACKING

For hexagonal packing, we can think of each hexagon

as composed of six equilateral triangles with side
equal to 2 cm. the area of each triangle is given by:

side  3 2cm   3 4cm  3

2 2 2

A= 4

4

4
 3cm 2
This gives the area of the hexagon as 6 3cm 2.
Looking at the figure, there are 3 circles that
could fit inside one hexagon (the whole circle in
the middle, and 6 one-thirds of a circle), which
gives the total area as 3∏ cm 2 . The percentage of
the hexagon’s area covered by circles will be:
Area of the circles 2
X 100% = 3∏ cm X 100% = 90.69%
Area of the hexagon 6 3cm 2