PREHISTORIC MATHEMATICS

What is the term often used to refer to the region of Mesopotamia, specifically Sumer, where many innovations such as writing, the wheel, and agriculture originated?

• Land of the Pharaohs
• Garden of Eden
• Cradle of Civilization
• Birthplace of Gods

What is cuneiform script?

• A form of painting
• An early form of mathematics
• A writing system using wedge-shaped characters
• A type of pottery

Which civilization developed the earliest known writing system?

• Egyptian
• Greek
• Babylonian
• Sumerian

What was the primary purpose of the clay cone and clay ball used in early Sumerian mathematics?

• Decoration
• Recording lunar phases
• Representing numbers
• Predicting earthquakes

What was the basis of the Sumerian and Babylonian number system?

• Base 10
• Base 12
• Base 60
• Base 100

Why were symbols assigned to groups of objects in Sumerian mathematics?

• To confuse outsiders
• To make numbers look decorative
• To simplify descriptions of larger numbers
• To create puzzles

What mathematical concept did the Babylonians develop that the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans did not have?

• Geometry
• Algebra
• Place-value system
• Zero

Why is the number 60 significant in Babylonian mathematics?

• It's a mystical number
• It's the smallest prime number
• It has many divisors
• It's the highest achievable number

What ancient concept, related to right-angled triangles, is suggested to have been known by Babylonians before the Greek Pythagoras?

• The formula for calculating area
• The concept of algebra
• The value of pi (π)
• The Pythagorean theorem

What geometric shapes did the Babylonians use in their buildings and games?

• Spheres
• Pyramids
• Rectangles and triangles
• Cubes