Activity

The switches

Characters:

Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia

Theme: Strategies for deducing reasonable conclusions from a mathematical model.

Competencies

Competence in Linguistic Communication

Mathematical competence in science, technology and engineering

Personal, social and learning to learn competence

Competence in cultural awareness and expressions

Subjects and year by Educational System

Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Algebraic sense

Spain > Mathematics > 2nd ESO > Socio-affective sense

Enunciation

<img title="Women's Legacy logo" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/images/LogoWL.svg" /><hr /><img title="Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia' Portrait" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/2634/Elena_Lucrezia_Cormaro_Piscopia.png" alt="" width="100" height="122" />
&nbsp;Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, a 17th-century Venetian philosopher and mathematician, was the first woman to obtain a PhD. At this time, Italian society was passionate about debates on philosophy and mathematics, considered inseparable branches of knowledge. Mathematical logic problems are a clear example.
We propose to you the following mathematical logic problem:
We find ourselves on the other side of the door of a hermetically sealed room. Next to the door there are three switches: two of them are inoperative, while the third one turns on the only light in the room. We must find out which switch works by opening the door only once, bearing in mind that, once opened, we cannot touch the switches.

Observations and context

- Elena Cornaro Piscopia was an esteemed member of various academies throughout Europe and received visits from scholars from all over the world. She liked to debate and lecture on theology and compose music. Even today, she is widely cited by scholars and writers.

- Although she mastered almost all branches of knowledge, at the University of Padua she taught mathematics to students from all over Europe.

- In her time, Italy was more advanced than the rest of Europe and there were already women studying science and mathematics at the University, but access to doctorates was still forbidden to them. When she was not allowed to study for a doctorate in Theology, since she ran into the intransigence of the Church that could not conceive of a woman teaching monks, she decided to prepare for a doctorate in Philosophy.

- Predecessors of Piscopia are Theano of Crotone (c. 546 - c. 450 BC) and Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 370 - c. 416 AD), who were also mathematicians and philosophers; Sophia Brahe (1555-1643), astronomer, horticulturist, alchemist and genealogist.

- Her contemporaries were renowned astronomers, such as Elisabeth Hevelius (1647-1693); Jeanne Dumée (1660-1706); Margaret Flamsteed (1670-1730); Maria Margarethe Winckelmann Kirch (1670-1720) or Maria Clara Eimmart (1776-1707); and important scientists, such as Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), naturalist, entomologist and scientific illustrator, and the mathematician Marie Crous.

Description

A problem in which by a comprehensive reading of the statement, identifying the elements that condition the answer and applying our experience in the real world and logic, we must find a strategy to solve the problem.

Answer

Documents

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