Final Reflection


For the past 12 weeks, I feel that I managed to learn a lot about the history of mathematics. As someone who did not take many math courses during undergrad, many of the topics covered in the class were unknown to me, and I was glad to discover the origins and inspirations behind some of the concepts. In the future, as I begin my journey as a teacher, these ideas can also be brought into my future classrooms.

Throughout the semester, there were many interesting ideas that fascinated me, such as the Babylonian numbering system and algebra, the Pythagorean triples, as well as connecting numbers with personalities. I also enjoyed the presentation given by Sara de Rose and was impressed by her research on the significance of the number 7 through the demonstration with musical scales.

The connections shared between math and arts can also be introduced to my future students as a gateway to explore a more 'different' side of math, especially as some students could struggle to engage with math if it was a standalone subject. I really enjoyed working on the math art project, as it gave me an opportunity to really understand a topic and apply my knowledge in music composition in the process. This is the type of project that I would definitely consider for my future classes as well.

Since I will most likely be teaching students from different parts of the world, I think it would important to incorporate both Western and non-Western perspectives of math into my teaching, and the readings from this class would be useful resources for that.




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