Running head: ASSIGNMENT #1 MTED5322 1

Assignment #1 MTED5322
Jose L. Bautista
The University of Texas at El Paso
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Geometric figure
The concept of geometric figure arouse from the needs of humankind, those needs were
basic and practical for the ancients. By simple observations, a man could observe certain inherent
and particular characteristics in the objects of nature that surrounded their daily lives; for
example, the shapes of the sun and moon, the level of water in a quiet lake as a flat surface, etc.
It was in this fashion that men assigned qualitative characteristics to the objects of nature around
him, in this manner giving form to the objects and cataloging them as flat, straight, curved, etc.
Therefore, human practical activities and needs served as the base for the consideration of
geometric figures. As these activities and needs became more sophisticated, so did the notions
about geometric figures and magnitudes. Thus, from the necessity to solve practical problems
and the use of our senses to observe and feel different qualities of the objects, better definitions
about certain characteristics of geometric figures like straight edges, lengths, etc. were
necessitated. Consequently, humans eventually had a better understanding of the concept of a
geometric figure in relation to its location, scale, and orientation.
How geometry gradually developed into a mathematical theory
As stated before, from human practical needs the necessity to solve them, a general rough
knowledge about geometry was conceived by people farming their lands, dividing the land for
places of dwellings, estimating the volume needed for baskets or silos to store grain, etc.
However, historians and scholars like Eudemus stated that geometry was developed by the
Egyptians and Babylonians from the solving of their daily life problems, although the Egyptians
and Babylonians did not considered geometry as an especial field of mathematics but their
knowledge was rather a set of rules deduced from experience (Aleksandrov & Kolmogorov,
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1999, p. 21). Then, the collected Egyptian and Babylonian knowledge was somehow transferred
to Greece, where those rules were further developed by philosophers of that time who made
relations, logical deductions, formulated propositions, theorems, proofs, and axioms. It was in
this manner that geometry slowly transitioned from rough answers to daily life problems, to rules
deduced from practical activities, until finally a mathematical theory.
Essential nature of geometry
The essential nature of geometry is abstraction. Geometric figures are studied abstractly
when their locations, scales, and orientations are completely removed from the description of the
objects or geometric shapes. For example, a geometric shape may be imposed on a Cartesian
plane to better understand its location in reference to other shapes, or to have a better idea of its
dimensions, but when the plane is removed, the only thing left is the geometric shape destitute of
its spatial forms; this is the abstract nature of geometry which is different to all other sciences. In
this manner, even if one is tempted to make relations making reference to lengths using specific
measurements, it would not be possible since shapes in geometry are not considered in a graded
plane and thus, no length comparisons can be made; therefore, the only possibility left is to use
logical arguments derived from human reasoning. This is the essential nature of geometry,
different from many other sciences.
Roll of abstraction in geometry
As explained before, the essential nature of geometry is abstraction due to the removal of
parameters that define location, scale, and orientation, thus only leaving the shapes geometrical
information destitute of those parameters. Therefore, in order to examine the shape, the only
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tools that could be used are those derived from the human intellect: logical arguments and
reasoning. Geometry then, considers objects from an abstract point of view (Aleksandrov &
Kolmogorov, 1999, p. 22). In contrast to this abstract way of viewing shapes destitute of other
properties but of the ones given by the shapes geometric information, other sciences like
astronomy consider the positions of actual celestial objects or bodies. This is a similar approach
used by many other sciences like geodesy, and crystallography as stated by Aleksandrov &
Kolmogorov (1999). Therefore, the roll of abstraction in geometry is extremely important for
geometry to serve its purpose.
Interrelation between geometry and arithmetic
As geometry humbly initiated as a response from daily human needs, so did arithmetic.
Both of their evolution paths are similar in their development. There is a very strong
interrelation between geometry and arithmetic simply because they apply to each other. This is to
say, for example, that in order to make a relation between two lengths using geometry, arithmetic
must come into play by assigning a definite length or number to one of them. In order to give
practical meaning to geometry, arithmetic must be involved since it deals with the study of
quantity by combining numbers. When a geologist determines the distance between two geologic
points of interest, he or she measures one step (measuring several and taking the mean), this is
the geometric application. Then, by walking towards the second point, the numbers of steps are
multiplied by the measured distance of the step to obtain the estimated distance between the two
points (calculation). Geologists also do this on maps when calculating greater distances using
scales printed on topographic maps, making use of the gradient between two points for better
accuracy, thus forming a hypotenuse of a right triangle and solving for it (calculation). Many
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other examples could be listed that show the interrelation of geometry and arithmetic. An
engineer could start an experiment by calibrating a pressure transducer using several known
weights thus forming a correlation line with the voltages produced. The voltage produced by
placing one gram on the transducer could be used as the unit of measure (application). Then,
when subjecting the transducer to a wind tunnel the pressure exerted on it could be measured by
noting the voltages produced by the varying speed of the wind, then calculating by means of
multiplication the pressures produced (calculation). On the examples just mentioned, the
applications are geometric in nature and the calculations are arithmetic.
The Pythagorean Theorem as a significant development in geometry
The Pythagorean Theorem proves that the ratio of the diagonal of a square and one of its
sides are incommensurable, or cannot be expressed by a rational number. This is of upmost
significance for the development of geometry since this idea is strongly related to that of a real
number and because it shows that from the empirical knowledge and data, abstract thinking
results can be obtained to prove premises of geometry. The concept of a real number is
considered an abstraction, because of the possibility of unlimited accuracy (Aleksandrov &
Kolmogorov, 1999, p. 31). Interestingly, this abstraction adequately reflects the general
properties of magnitudes, thus making it an invaluable tool for the use of mathematics in the
advancement of science and technology through the application of physics, chemistry, and many
other sciences.

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References
Aleksandrov, A. A., & Kolmogorov, A. A. (1999). Mathematics: Its Contents, Methods and
Meaning. Courier Dover Publications.