GK Quiz on the History of Mathematics

22 December is commemorated annually to mark the birth anniversary of legendary Indian Mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan. While the day recognizes and celebrates his works we have made a quiz for you to find out how much you know about the history of mathematics. 

Take this quiz and test your knowledge of mathematicians all across the globe!

Q1. Who is believed to be the first mathematician?

a) Archimedes

b) Thales of Miletus

c) Leonardo DaVinci

d) David Copperfield 

Answer: Thales of Miletus 

EXPLANATION: 

The Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher 

Thales of Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. One of the Seven Sages of Greece. He was regarded as the first philosopher in the Greek by Aristotle and is often referred to as the Father of Science.

Q2. Who defined zero?

a) Brad Pitt

b) Archimedes

c) Brahmagupta

d) John von Neumann 

Answer: Brahmagupta

EXPLANATION:  Brahmagupta was an Indian mathematician who defined zero.

 Q3. Who discovered the right triangle?

a) Pythagoras

b) Ancient Egyptians

c) Miley Cyrus

d) Michelangelo 

Answer:  Pythagoras 

EXPLANATION: Pythagoras was a philosopher and was credited with numerous mathematical and scientific findings, constituting the Pythagorean theorem. 

Q4. Who is considered the "father of mathematics"?

a) Carl Friedrich Gauss

b) Isaac Newton

c) Evariste Galois

d) Archimedes 

Answer: Archimedes 

EXPLANATION: The Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily, Archimedes of Syracuse was a leading scientist in classical antiquity. He was considered the greatest mathematician of ancient history, and one of the greatest of all time,

Q5. Who invented numbers?

a) Brahmagupta

b) Archimedes

c) Euclid

d) Fibonacci 

Answer: Brahmagupta

EXPLANATION: 

 The Arabic numeral system is usually credited to two mathematicians from ancient India named Brahmagupta from the 6th century B.C. and Aryabhata from the 5th century B.C.

Q6. Who invented coordinate geometry?

a) Nicole Oresme

b) Euler

c) Galileo

d) Copernicus 

Answer:  René Descartes

EXPLANATION:

The coordinate system we commonly use is called the Cartesian system, after the French mathematician René Descartes (1596-1650), who developed it in the 17th century.

Q7. What were some of Leonardo DaVinci's interests (must apply to both)?

a) Botany, Cartography

b) Art, Cars

c) Cooking, Archery

d) Engineering, Theater

Answer: Botany, Cartography

EXPLANATION: Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci born on 15 April 1452 was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was also an active painter, draftsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect.

Q8. Who is the only woman in history to win the Fields Medal?

a) Ada Lovelace

b) Julia Robinson

c) Maryam Mirzakhani

d) Marjorie Lee Browne

 Answer: Maryam Mirzakhani

EXPLANATION: Iranian mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University Maryam Mirzakhani was a researcher in the topics included Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, ergodic theory, and symplectic geometry.

Q9. How many zeros are in 1 septuagintillion?

a) 635

b) 213

c) 452

d) 157

 Answer: 213

EXPLANATION: Septuagintillion is used in the short scale for 10213 and the long scale for 10420. 

Q10. Who developed the theory of probability? 

a) Wallis & Descartes

b) Bernoulli & Desargues

c) Cavalieri & Newton

d) Pascal & Fermat

 Answer:  Pascal & Fermat

EXPLANATION: Human activities involving quantitative analysis of data probability theory are used as a mathematical foundation for statistics.

Q11. What are the first ten digits of Pi?

a) 3.142573494

b) 3.141592653

c) 3.141596283

d) 3.276351926

 Answer: 3.141592653

EXPLANATION: 

The number π spelt out as 'pi' is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, approximately equal to 3.14159. The number π appears in many formulas across mathematics and physics.