1. I am best remembered for my work in number theory. The proof of my last theorem wasn’t finished until nearly
three hundred thirty years after my death.
2. One of my famous quotes is “If I have seen farther, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”
3. I incorporated a magic square in my painting “Melancholia.” The magic square also contains the 1514, the year I
created the painting.
4. I am a young French mathematician who knew I was about to be killed in a duel. Legend says that I stayed up all
night trying to write down all the math I had created, but never published. Much of my great work has been lost.
5. I worked on mathematics during the third century and am best known for my work on number theory. I wrote a
book entitled “Arithmetica.”
6. I wrote a book entitled “The Elements” on which high school geometry is based. I am sometimes known as “The
Father of Geometry.”
7. I was an ancient mathematician who asked that my grave be marked with a sphere inscribed in a cylinder.
8. I am the man who popularized the use of the tall ‘S’ as a symbol for the integral in calculus.
9. In 1820, I designed a “difference engine” to calculate and print multiplication tables. The engine failed only
because parts of could not be maintained precisely enough.
10. I am best remembered for a certain sequence of numbers. The sequence can be found in nature, architecture,
and even great paintings.
11. I was a Greek woman who enjoyed studying mathematics. I was killed by a mob possibly at the instigation of
Cyril of Alexandria. I was the first known female mathematician.
12. I became very bitter in my later years over a controversy with Leibniz over which of us discovered calculus first. I
believed he stole my ideas and published them.
13. I loved working with levers and am quoted as saying “Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth.”
14. I am an American president who developed an original proof for the Pythagorean Theorem while I was serving in
the U.S. House of Representatives.
15. I am a French mathematician who was asked by Queen Christina to come to Sweden to tutor her in math. All my
life I slept late – in fact, some say I made a great discovery while watching a fly go across the ceiling.
16. About 200 BC, I described the graceful curves that could be made by a plane surface intersecting the lateral
surface of a cone. The series of books that contain my descriptions is called Conics.
17. I founded a philosophical and religious school. My followers and I believed that everything in the universe could
be reduced to some numerical relationship.
18. I was the teacher of Isaac Newton. I resigned a very prestigious position in the mathematics department at the
University of Cambridge in favor of my student.
19. I did serve as a cavalryman, but had to resign because of nearsightedness. I solved important calculus problems.
20. We are a famous Swiss family who dominated the fields of math & science in the 17th and 18th centuries. Our
family included many famous and distinguished mathematicians including Jacob, Johann, and Nicolaus.
1. I am best remembered for my work in number theory. The proof of my last theorem wasn’t finished until
nearly three hundred thirty years after my death. (Fermat)
2. One of my famous quotes is “If I have seen farther, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”
(Newton)
3. I incorporated a magic square in my painting “Melencolia.” The magic square also contains the 1514, the
year I created the painting. (Durer)
4. I am a young French mathematician who knew I was about to be killed in a duel. Legend says that I stayed
up all night trying to write down all the math I had created, but never published. Much of my great work has
been lost. (Galois)
5. I worked on mathematics during the third century and am best known for my work on number theory. I
wrote a book entitled “Arithmetica.” (Diophantus)
6. I wrote a book entitled “The Elements” on which high school geometry is based. I am sometimes known as
“The Father of Geometry.” (Euclid)
7. I was an ancient mathematician who asked that my grave be marked with a sphere inscribed in a cylinder.
(Archimedes)
8. I am the man who popularized the use of the tall ‘S’ as a symbol for the integral in calculus. (Leibniz)
9. In 1820, I designed a “difference engine” to calculate and print multiplication tables. The engine failed only
because parts of could not be maintained precisely enough. (Babbage)
10. I am best remembered for a certain sequence of numbers. The sequence can be found in nature,
architecture, and even great paintings. (Fibonacci)
11. I was a Greek woman who enjoyed studying mathematics. I was killed by a mob possibly at the instigation of
Cyril of Alexandria. I was the first known female mathematicia. (Hypatia)
12. I became very bitter in my later years over a controversy with Leibniz over which of us discovered calculus
first. I believed he stole my ideas and published them. (Newton)
13. I loved working with levers and am quoted as saying “Give me a place to stand and I will move the Earth.”
(Archimedes)
14. I am an American president who developed an original proof for the Pythagorean Theorem while I was
serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. (James Garfield)
15. I am a French mathematician who was asked by Queen Christina to come to Sweden to tutor her in math. All
my life I slept late – in fact, some say I made a great discovery while watching a fly go across the ceiling.
(Descartes)
16. About 200 BC, I described the graceful curves that could be made by a plane surface intersecting the lateral
surface of a cone. The series of books that contain my descriptions is called Conics. (Apollonius)
17. I founded a philosophical and religious school. My followers and I believed that everything in the universe
could be reduced to some numerical relationship. (Pythagoras)
18. I was the teacher of Isaac Newton. I resigned a very prestigious position in the mathematics department at
the University of Cambridge in favor of my student. (Isaac Barrow)
19. I did serve as a cavalryman, but had to resign because of nearsightedness. I solved important calculus
problems. (L’Hopital)
20. We are a famous Swiss family who dominated the fields of math & science in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Our family included many famous and distinguished mathematicians including Jacob, Johann, and Nicolaus.
(Bernoulli)
Apollonius
Archimedes
Charles Babbage
Daniel Bernoulli
René Descartes
Diophantus
Albrecht Dürer
Euclid
Pierre Fermat
Leonardo Pisano
Évariste Galois
James Garfield
Hypatia
Gottfried Leibniz
Guillaume de L'Hopital
Isaac Newton
Pythagoras
Leonhard Euler
John Nash
Galileo Galilei
Aristotle
Leonhard Euler
Blaise Pascal
Mary Lucy Cartwright
Eratosthenes
Ada Lovelace
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Grace Hopper
Ptolemy
Albert Einstein
Florence Nightingale
Katherine Johnson
Benjamin Banneker
Famous Mathematician Webquest
Where did math come from?
Who invented math?
What do famous Mathematicians have to do with the math we learn today?
This webquest is going to help answer questions like these.� By researching and learning about
a famous mathematician you will have a better understanding of the beginnings of math and how
it affects the math you learn today.
Task
You need to select a mathematician from the following list. If you would like to choose a
mathematician not on this list, please check with me first.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Sir Isaac Newton
Archimedes
Leonhard Euler
Hypatia
Johm Nash
Pythagoras
Leonardo Pisanot Fibonacci
Galileo Galilei
Euclid of Alexandria
Aristotle
Leonhard Euler
Blaise Pascal
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Grace Hopper
Ptolemy
Rene Descartes
Charles Babbage
Albert Einstein
o
o
o
o
o
Florence Nightingale
Mary Lucy Cartwright
Eratosthenes
Ada Lovelace
Pierre De Fermat
2.
You must research your famous mathematician.
3.
You must make a power point presentation. Include pictures to improve your power
point presentation. The Power point presentation must have 6 slides divided into these 6
parts:
Part 1 – Title Page
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Title
Mathematician’s name
Your name
My name
Dates of birth and death
Part 2 – Childhood
1.
2.
3.
4.
Where and when your mathematician was born
Information about your mathematician as a child and about her/his family
Her/his early education (Before college)
How her/his childhood may have affected her/his math career
Part 3 - Education
1.
2.
3.
Where did your mathematician get her/his education as a young adult and also
into adulthood
What was her/his education like
How did her/his education affect her/his math career
Part 4 – Adult Life
1.
2.
3.
How did your mathematician’s adult life include math
What were some of her/his accomplishments in math
Was your mathematician famous for anything outside of the world of math
Part 5 – How The World Has Been Affected
1.
2.
3.
How did your mathematician’s accomplishments affect other mathematicians
Did she/he have any famous inventions or math formulas
How did her/his work in math affect us today
Part 6 – Cited Works
Follow the process below to complete this assignment.
1.
Use the internet to research your mathematician. Once you find a mathematician to
research, make sure you can find enough information to complete this assignment.
Important information to look for









Dates of birth and death
Place of birth and where your mathematician was raised
Education
Accomplishments that make this mathematician famous
How this mathematician’s work affected other mathematicians
How this mathematician’s work affects things today
Did your mathematician have any famous inventions
Famous quotes by your mathematician
Anything else you find relevant, interesting, or important about your mathematician
These are some good sites to use, but feel free to explore more sites on your own.
Evaluation
Your evaluation will be based on your power point presentation. See attached rubric.
Rubric
Beginning
1
Developing
2
Had very little
information
An attempt was
made, but only
some information
was given
Had some
information
A fair amount of
information was
given and accurate
Had most of the
information
Most of the
information was
accurate and
was given
Had all of the
information
Accurate
information was
given
Education
An attempt was
made, but only
some information
was given
A fair amount of
information was
given and accurate
Most of the
information was
accurate and
was given
Accurate
information was
given
Adult Life
An attempt was
made, but only
some information
was given
A fair amount of
information was
given and accurate
Most of the
information was
accurate and
was given
Accurate
information was
given
How the
world was
affected
An attempt was
made, but only
some information
was given
Had very little
properly cited
works
Some pictures and
animation were
used and the look
of the power
point presentation
was poor
A fair amount of
information was
given and accurate
Most of the
information was
accurate and
was given
Had most of the
properly cited
works
Pictures and
animation were
used and the
look of the
power point
presentation was
good
Accurate
information was
given
Title Page
Childhood
Works
Cited
Use of
pictures
and
animation
Had some properly
cited works
Some pictures and
animation were
used and the look
of the power point
presentation was
fair
Accomplis Exemplary
hed
4
3
Score
Had all of the
properly cited
works
Pictures and
animation were
used and the
look of the
power point
presentation
was excellent
Conclusion
Now that you have researched a mathematician you should not only have a better understanding
of your mathematician, but you should also have a better understanding of where the math that
we learn today came from. You will get to hear about many more mathematicians when we view
your classmate’s presentations. Remember the skills you used in this webquest for future
research projects and as you get older and take different math classes think about how they
are influenced by the mathematicians you learned about in this project.