LISTENING - Ron Eglash is talking about his project


http://www.ted.com/talks/



1)      Do you understand these words?



iteration       mission       scale       altar      mound    recursion      crinkle




2)      Listen and answer the questions.


 1. What did Georg Cantor discover? What were the consequences for him?
 2. What did von Koch do?
 3. What did Benoit Mandelbrot realize?
 4. Why should we look at our hand?
 5. What did Ron get a scholarship for?
 6. In what situation did Ron use the phrase “I am a mathematician and I would like to stand on
your roof.” ?
 7. What is special about the royal palace?
 8. What do the rings in a village in southern Zambia represent?








3)Listen for the second time and decide whether the statements are true or false.


1.      Cantor realized that he had a set whose number of elements was equal to infinity.

2.      When he was released from a hospital, he lost his faith in God.

3.      We can use whatever seed shape we like to start with.

4.      Mathematicians of the 19^th century did not understand the concept of iteration and
infinity.

5.      Ron mentions lungs, kidney, ferns, and acacia trees to demonstrate fractals in nature.

6.      The chief was very surprised when Ron wanted to see his village.

7.      Termites do not create conscious fractals when building their mounds.

8.      The tiny village inside the larger village is for very old people.