The History of a Number

Welcome to a fascinating journey through the history of mathematics! While we often take numbers for granted, the number $1$ has a rich and complex history that spans thousands of years and multiple civilizations. In this assignment, we are going to watch "The Story of One," a documentary that traces the evolution of numbers from simple scratches on a bone to the complex binary code that powers the computer you are using right now.

Understanding the history of math helps us appreciate the elegance of the systems we use today. It wasn't always easy to perform simple calculations; imagine trying to do long division using Roman Numerals!

Key Concepts to Watch For

As you watch the video and complete your worksheet, pay close attention to the following historical milestones:

  • The Ishango Bone: One of the earliest examples of recording numbers. Early humans used simple tally marks (scratches) to keep track of items. At this stage, $1$ was just a physical mark.
  • The Sumerians and Egyptians: These civilizations transformed the number $1$ from a simple mark into a unit of measurement. The Egyptians even had distinct hieroglyphs for large numbers—the symbol for $1,000,000$ was a picture of a surprised man (or a god holding up the sky)!
  • The Greek Perspective: Pythagoras believed that numbers were the essence of the universe. He focused heavily on whole numbers (integers like $1, 2, 3...$) and felt that the number $1$ was the source of all other numbers.
  • The Roman Problem: You will see why Roman Numerals (like $I, V, X, L, C, D, M$) were excellent for recording dates or counting armies but terrible for calculation. There is no concept of place value, making algebra impossible.
  • The Great Invention: Zero ($0$): This is perhaps the most critical moment in the history of mathematics. Developed in India, the number zero allowed for the creation of the place-value system. This system uses the digits $0$ through $9$ to represent any number, no matter how large.

From Baghdad to Binary

The video will also explain how these "Hindu-Arabic" numerals traveled to the Middle East, where mathematicians like Al-Khwarizmi used them to invent Algebra. Eventually, these numbers reached Europe through figures like Fibonacci.

Finally, we look at the modern era and the work of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. He imagined a system using only two numbers: $1$ and $0$. This is known as the Binary System.

$$1 \text{ (On)} \quad \text{and} \quad 0 \text{ (Off)}$$

Today, every image, song, and message sent over the internet is essentially a massive stream of ones and zeros.

Instructions

  1. Watch the Video: Click the link below to watch "The Story of One."
  2. Complete the Worksheet: Fill out the questions on the worksheet provided in class. Focus on how the definition and use of the number $1$ changed over time.
  3. Reflection: On the back of your worksheet, write a brief paragraph explaining which civilization you think made the most important contribution to math and why.

Enjoy the history lesson, and let's appreciate how far we've come from counting scratches on a bone!