Timeline of Mathematics Scavenger Hunt

Introduction

The Timeline of Mathematics at mathigon.org/timeline is a wonderful place to explore some of the greatest mathematicians and some of the biggest mathematical discoveries in history. In this scavenger hunt, students search the timeline for a variety of mathematicians and artifacts.

Student Document

The document below has 40 items for students to find on the timeline. The items are listed in chronological order. Some options include:

• Invite students to work in small groups and see how many items them can find as a group.
• Use this as an ongoing assignment that students can work on over a certain period of time.
• Identify certain questions students should answer.
• Initially, only share a few pages with students. Share additional pages over the course of the school year.
• Make a copy of the document and edit the document.

Students will be viewing the timeline on a device, so it may be best for them to have a paper copy of the scavenger hunt.

Teacher Notes and Answer Key

Themes

Some names of well-known topics in mathematics aren't actually named for the first mathematicians to explore that idea. The timeline entries below appear in the scavenger hunt and provide examples of this idea.

• YBC 7289
• Plimpton 322 (Babylonian Tablet)
• Pingala
• Jia Xian
• Siyuan Yujian
• Nicole Oresme

Continue the Activity

As a follow-up activity, encourage students to make up a scavenger hunt entry for a mathematician or artifact not included in this activity.

Suggestions

Do you have suggestions to improve this activity? Please email them to teachers@mathigon.org.