A dialogue where students discuss multiplication.
Check out this dialogue between two calculus students (based on a true story):
- Devyn
- Hey Riley, I was reading about the history of mathematics.
- Riley
- Really? Tell me about it!
- Devyn
- Apparently, back in the day, mathematicians worried about writing
things like: \[ 3\times 4 + 5 \]
- Riley
- Why? What’s the matter here?
- Devyn
- Well, they thought of \(3\times 4\) as an area. But \(5\) was thought of as a length. Apparently they worried whether it made sense to add “areas” and “lengths.”
- Riley
- Hmmm. We don’t seem to worry about that now. I wonder why?