Walt Whitman Junior High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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ALGEBRA--TO BE OR NOT TO BE I'm sure that at one time or other everyone of us has been called to the blackboard to solve an algebraic formula, and I'm equally sure that at least six out of ten of us have stepped to the board all poised and confi- dent only to be embarrassed. Contrary to popular opinion, the dismissal bell doesn't ring in the nick of time and the ground doesn't open up and swallow the embarrassed student. He finds himself staring at his teacher who smiles dangerously as she comments on his extraordinary dilemma. Meanwhile his class- mates express their deepest sym- pathy with shouts of glee. As he drags himself to his seat, he feels an overwhelming urge to get his hand on the evil genius who started this madness. He discovers first that al- gebra is not of recent vintage. In fact, he learns that it dates back more than 1700 years. It actually had its origin in an- cient Bgypt. A man by the name of Ahmes was responsible for it. However, it appears as if Ahmes actually had his Hproblemsn which put him in the same category as our Efortunate student . Later the Greeks contributed to the present day distress of American teenagers by using spe- cial symbols for unknown quan- tities. However, it is the Arabs to whom we owe our everlasting reproach. It was the Arabs who began the use of plus and minus signs. In fact, by the 800's they were doing fractions much as we do them today. They also introduced the zero and the word NA1gebraH. After Omar Khayam's book on the advances in algebra up to his time, the dark curtain of the Middle Ages descended. During that time algebra was completely forgotten. Howeven it wasn't altogether forgotten, for with the coming of the Renaissance, algebra was rediscovered. An Italian by the name of Niccolo Tartaglia at that time introduced the formula for solving the general cubic equation in one unknown. From the time of Tartag1ia's work in 1530, algebra has been directed toward more practical and operational problems. It is still the challenge to teenagers whose opinions vary from NI definitely am intrigued by algebrau to nwhat is it all about?U Neal Strauss RTO we I O X' 50474. vfiif A , x 'o'- sees-- x I' a f -fx I rin- . Z u .N . ' 1 ' I' xxlx I 1 ' .12 XXX , -fl! 1, 'Q Q is hiv X Q X li-'! H 1 1 ' E , X 'gl , .iii U N e , -lr f si u 2 -le- cw-'M 11

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MATH IN THE SPACE AGE Mathematical problems which would take Scientists years to figure out are solved in minutes by electronic computers. These machines are manufactured by the International Business Machines Corporation, originally established by Dr. Herman Hollerith in 1911. The electronic era for the I.B.M Corporation began during World War II when it volunteered its services and skills. The company went to work on the computers for the automatic sighting and aiming of aircraft, anti-aircraft, and naval guns. During the war, elec- tronics became a leading industry. In 1948 I.B.M. introduced the S.S.E.C. CSelective Sequence Elect- ronic Calculatorj that could do thousands of calculations in sec- onds. It was the company's first large-scale computer to count electronic impulses as well as the first computer to employ selective sequences and the first electronic one to employ a stored program. In 1950 the Los Alamos atomic energy laboratory presented it with HProblem Hippon calling for nine million mathematical opera- tions. The machine worked for 150 hours to produce the answer. It would have taken a mathematician 1500 years to do the job. Each year man discovers many more new and extended uses for computers. Computers are used for: ll Searching equations to de- termine the best of many possible answers to a pro- blem such as the design of a rocket fin. 23 Reckoning probabilities to determine the liklihood of oil in certain kinds of underground strata. 33 Computing time and space factors such as those in- volved in the daily rout- ing of thousands of rail- way freight cars, 43 Reducing complication pro- mw xq cesses. - Q A Eff' l:llti I if The computer is a tool. It has a place in almost every form of ymsga-aa.J human activity. It holds great 0 Qaa-..n-m promise for the future. 1:3 'T I E223 Q Ricky Bernstein S --.QQNEISU 0 .. oobo 0 0 5 ,Q Qing 10 m oooooso09 U .az asm I B AX 0 casa A A R EJ OO 4uEjq:ELES1T 0'WWS

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NUST FYR. XX- ' Q if '-- .0'54',' IZ ll J! f'f 1f:f - ' 47101111 ' fl flfy f a ai Qliliill 1 12 The U. N., created in 1945 to help economically and politically distressed nations reach a peace- ful and amicable solution to their problems, is itself in the state of internal chaos. The costly and still unsolved Congo operation has very nearly bankrupted the organization. Dis- unity among the five great powers including the United States, has weakened the moral strength of the world society.