MATH 380 Assignment #1

1. In your own words, what is a number? Note that everything from positive integers to things like quaternions and infinite cardinals are often taken to be numbers. [5]

2. Determine how high the top of the Bata Library flagpole is above the visitors' parking lot (just west of Bata). Give a complete description of the method you employed. Aside from a calculator or computer to do your arithmetic, you may not use any other tools that would not have been available in, say, ancient Egypt, nor may you just ask for or look up the answer. (Please observe all applicable laws and regulations in the course of your work\dots) [10]

3. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the Egyptians invented geometry in order to solve surveying problems. How likely is it that he was correct? [5]

4. Exercise 2.10 [5]

5. Exercise 2.13 [5]

6. Exercise 3.4 [5]

7. Exercise 3.5 [5]

Department of Mathematics

Trent University