Mathematics on Posters

What is Algebra?

Algebraic thinking is not just arithmetic replacing numbers with letters. Algebraic thinking is a different way of thinking. "Algebra is thinking logically about numbers rather than computing with numbers. In algebra you are a second step of abstraction removed from the everyday world: those x's and y's usually denote numbers in general, not particular numbers. In algebra you use analytic, qualitative reasoning about numbers, whereas in arithmetic you use numerical, quantitative reasoning with numbers. To do algebra, for all but the most basic examples, you have to stop thinking arithmetically and learn to think algebraically." from Devlin's Angle by Keith Devlin

The first poster I made was an Algebra poster and, although it took me quite a while to make it, I really enjoyed the process. The first poster was the hardest to make as I made it in Adobe Photoshop Image documents. I was new to this type of document so I had to learn how to use it first. Now I use Microsoft Office Publisher Documents and it is a lot easier. Once I am happy with the final product I save it as a .gif file.

What is Probability?

Probability theory was inspired by games of chance in seventeenth century France and inaugurated by the Fermat-Pascal correspondence, which culminated in the Port-Royal Logic (Arnauld, 1662). Its axiomatization had to wait nearly another three centuries. The locus classicus of the mathematical theory of probability is Kolmogorov (1933), who found his inspiration in measure theory. His axiomatization has become orthodoxy.

from Probability, Branden Fitelson, Alan Hájek, and Ned Hall, In The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Science, eds. Jessica Pfeiffer, Sherri Rausch, and Sahotra Sarkar, Routledge.

In other words, Probability is the branch of Mathematics that deals with patterns that occur in random events. The American Heritage Dictionary defines Probability Theory as the branch of Mathematics that studies the likelihood of occurrence of random events in order to predict the behavior of defined systems.

What is Trigonometry?

Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics involving the study of triangles, the relationships between their sides, and has applications in fields such as engineering, surveying, navigation, optics, and electronics. The ability to use and manipulate trigonometric functions is necessary in other branches of mathematics, including calculus, vectors and complex numbers as well as the study of periodic events such as the tides of the ocean.