Activity

The orange thief

Characters:

Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia

Theme: Equations

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 > 4th(B) ESO > Algebraic sense

Spain > Mathematics > 4th(B) 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" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/3912/Elena_Lucrezia_Cornaro_Piscopia.png" alt="http://inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/3912/Elena_Lucrezia_Cornaro_Piscopia.png" width="78" height="95" />
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.
Read the following poem carefully:
&nbsp;
A basket of oranges was stolen
by a thief in the market
and he escaped through the orchards.
When jumping a fence,
chased by a dog,
he lost half of them plus half;
Then he tripped on a rope,
and he abandoned half of them plus half
the half plus half of them scattered.
In his lair, he kept two dozen.
You who seek wisdom,
say: how many oranges did the thief steal?
&nbsp;
<ol>
<li>Solve the following problem using your knowledge of equations.</li>
<li>You can also use logic to solve it.</li>
</ol>

Observations and context

- This problem is an example of how we can solve the same problem by different methods and obtain the right solution. However, we have prioritized resolution using equations.

- The proposed activity can be solved by two different methods: the algebraic method, with the use of equations; and the logical method, using operations with numbers and the concept of division.

- It is important to check the solution.

- 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, she taught Mathematics to students from all over Europe at the University of Padua.

- 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 the doctorate 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.

- Piscopia's predecessors 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

Solving first-degree equations from a statement. A comprehensive reading of the problem will be done to identify the key words that will be translated into mathematical language. It is necessary to organise the information, select the appropriate notation and activate previous knowledge to find the strategy for solving the problem. It is interesting to check the result.

The orange thief

Enunciation

Observations and context

Description

Answer

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