MATHEMATICS IN THE

MODERN WORLD
Chapter 1: Nature of Mathematics
Section 1.1 Patterns and Numbers in Nature and the World

Engr. Mai Sasa

PATTERNS
In this discussion, we will be looking at patterns and regularities in
the world, and how MATHEMATICS comes into play, both in
nature and in human endeavor.
Definition
Patterns are regular, repeated or recurring forms or designs.

Example

layout of floor tiles

designs of buildings
the way we tie our shoelaces

Studying patterns helps us in identifying relationships and finding

local connections to form generalizations and make predictions.
PATTERNS
1. Which of the figures can be used to
continue the series given below?
PATTERNS
2. Which of the figures, you think
best fits the series below?

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PATTERNS
3. Which of the figures can be used to
continue the series given below?

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PATTERNS

4. Which number should come next in this series?

10, 17, 26, 37, ?

A. 46
B. 52
C. 50
D. 56

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PATTERNS
5. Which number should replace the question mark "?"

A. 4
B. 5
C. 6
D. 7
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PATTERNS

1 The base figure rotates at an angle of 45◦ in the

counterclockwise direction. Hence choice C is the perfect
match.
2 The base figure rotates at an angle of 90◦ in the clockwise
direction. Hence choice A is the best fit.
3 In the given series, a figure is followed by the combination of
itself and its vertical inversion. Thus D. is the right choice.
4 Beginning with 3, each number in the series is a square of the
succeeding no. plus 1.
5 For each row the sum of the first two columns is equal to the
multiple of the last two columns.

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SYMMETRY

Definition
Symmetry indicates that you can draw an imaginary line across an
object and the resulting parts are mirror images of each other.

Example

butterfly
Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man
starfish

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SYMMETRY

Figure 1

The butterfly is symmetric about the axis indicated by the black line.
Note that the left and right portions are exactly the same. This type
of symmetry is called bilateral symmetry.
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SYMMETRY

Figure 2

Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man shows the proportion and

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

Figure 3

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Ch ap te r 1: Nature of Mathematics
SYMMETRY

Note that if you rotate the starfish in Figure 3 by 72◦ , you can still
achieve the same appearance as the original position. This is known
as the rotational symmetry. The smallest measure of angle that a
figure can be rotated while still preserving the original position is
called the angle of rotation. A more common way of describing
rotational symmetry is by order of rotation.

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ORDER OF ROTATION

A figure has a rotational symmetry of order n (n- fold rotational

1
symmetry) if of a complete turn leaves the figure unchanged. To
n
compute for the angle of rotation, we use the formula
360◦
Angle of rotation =
n

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Ch ap te r 1: Nature of Mathematics
ORDER OF ROTATION

Example

Figure 4

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ORDER OF ROTATION

As seen in Figure 4, the pattern on the snowflake repeat six times,

indicating that there is a 6-fold symmetry. Using the formula, the
angle of rotation is 60◦.

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HONEYCOMB

Figure 5

Do you wonder why bees used hexagon in making honeycomb and

not any other polygons? The reason is that more area will be
covered using hexagon compared to other polygons. The following
computation proves this.

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PACKING PROBLEM

Definition
Packing problem involve finding the optimum method of filling up
a given space such as a cubic or spherical container.

Claim: If hexagonal structure is used, then more area will be

covered.

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PACKING PROBLEM
Proof.
Suppose you have circles of radius 1 cm, each of which will then
have an area of π cm2. We are then going to fill a plane with these
circles using square packing and hexagonal packing.

Figure 6

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PACKING PROBLEM

Proof (Cont.)
For square packing, each square will have an area of 4 cm2. Note
from Figure 6 that for each square, it can only fit one circle. The
percentage of square’s area covered by circles will be

area of the circles π cm2

× 100% = × 100% ≈ 78.54%
area of the square 4 cm2

For hexagonal packing, we can think of each hexagon as composed

of six equilateral triangles with side equal to 2 cm.

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PACKING PROBLEM
Proof (Cont.)

Figure 7

The area of each triangle is given by

√ √ √
3 3
A= × side2 = × (2 cm)2 = 3 cm2
4 4

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PACKING PROBLEM

Proof (Cont.)
√
Thus, the area of the hexagon is 6 3 cm2. Looking at Figure 7,
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 total area as
3 π cm2. The percentage of the hexagon’s area covered by circles
will be

area of the circles 3 π cm2

× 100% = √ × 100% ≈ 90.69%
area of the hexagon 6 3 cm2

Comparing the two percentages, we can clearly see that using the
hexagons will cover a larger area than when usingsquares.

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OTHER MATHEMATICS IN NATURE AND THE WORLD
Examples

Figure 8 Hyena’s Spot and Tiger Stripes

According to Alan Turing, a British Mathematician, the for-
mation of hyena’s spot and tiger stripes is governed by a set of
equations. What Turing proposed was that there are two chemi-
cals interacting inside the embryo of an animal. He did not know
what these chemicals were, so he named them morphogens and
proposed that they reacted with each other and

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OTHER MATHEMATICS IN NATURE AND THE WORLD

Examples
diffused through the embryo according to a system of
"reaction-diffusion equations."
Fibonacci numbers on flowers and nautilus shell (play videos)
Mathematics used to model population growth with the
formula
A = Pe rt
where A is the size of the population after it grows, P is the
initial number of people, r is the rate of growth, t is time and e
is the Euler’s constant with an approximately value of 2.718.

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OTHER MATHEMATICS IN NATURE AND THE WORLD
Example
The exponential growth model A = 30e0.02t describes the
population of a city in the Philippines in thousands, t years after
1995.
1 What was the population of the city in 1995?
Solution: Since our exponential growth model describes the
population t years after 1995, we consider 1995 as t = 0 and
then solve for A. Thus, A = 30 and the city population in
1995 is 30,000.
2 What will be the population in 2017?
Solution: We need to find A for the year 2017. To find t, we
subtract 2017 and 1995 to get t = 22. Hence, A = 46.5813
and the city population in 2017 is approximately 46,581.
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REFERENCES

• Mathematics in the World book from RBSI

• https://www.iqtestexperts.com/pattern-recognition-
sample.php
• https://www.iqtestexperts.com/maths-sample.php
• http://www.mathscareers.org.uk/article/how-the-tiger-got-its- stripes/

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