The mathematical arts, also called the quadrivium and liberal arts of quantity or number, are arithmetic, geometry, harmony, and astronomy. Nicomachus tells us that arithmetic comes first, since “…the others logically presuppose it.” And “The universe seems to have been created using numbers. It is fitting, therefore, that numbers are harmoniously fitted together.” So understanding […]
What are the Mathematics? Read More »
The first three liberal arts focus on language and literature. We spend the vast majority of our years learning to read, write, and speak. Then come with the quadrivium. The mathematical arts as it were, arithmetic, geometry, harmony, and astronomy. Nicomachus tells us that the last three arts, geometry, harmony, and astronomy flow out of
The Mathematical Arts Read More »
A couple of weeks ago I reminded you that patterns allow us to predict outcomes in the world around us. Whether the outcome is as simple as the total cost of buying multiple items at a store or as complicated as calculating the height that a ball reached when thrown, we can use mathematical models
Cyclical Functions & Life Read More »
Logic has surfaced in all of my math classes this past week. I know that technically there is a logic class at Scio, albeit not live, so it shouldn’t surprise me, but I’m still pleasantly surprised to find logic alive and strong in my math students. How did this happen, you may ask? Graphing. In
Logic leads to Periodic Function Predictions Read More »
It’s the fifth Monday of September, which means we resurrect a blog post from the past for your perusal. There’s a good chance that you’ve not read this and that I need to read it again. This week’s blog post is from September 2021 and explores the topic of rhetoric. While we don’t teach rhetoric
Rhetoric Revisited Read More »
