The language of math
One might have noticed that some of us humans have a tendency to complicate the simplest issues. I recall in graduate school being told by a doctoral student that I if I wanted my papers or articles to be taken serious I should always use some Latin phases. I remarked that I had not had the luxury of studying Latin as a child. He replied that it was not important to know Latin. One simply had make it seem as if one did. He also did not know Latin but always inserted Latin phrases in his academic papers. This was before goggle which now makes it very easy to insert a phase in any language and appear to very learned; as if being learned could be equated with being wise.
I was thinking about this subject when a friend told me his son got an A in English and an F in math. This is sadly not uncommon. Few of us learn that math is simply a language to talk about or describe a relationship between two or more objects or people.
If one looks up the definition of math in the Oxford dictionary one finds: “The abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concept (pure mathematics), or as applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering (applied mathematics).”
While this definition may be technically correct and how the subject is taught in school, it sounds very abstract and complicated. It does not suggest that:
One could cite many positive and negative examples of relationships between us humans, the molecules which make up a substance, the moon to the earth, or how x helpings of sugar molecules plays with the balance within the human body.
Using symbols which are called numbers are in some ways equivalent to using emoji to communicate thoughts or feelings about relationships. The bottom line is that those who learn from a teacher that math is a language to talk about relationships tend to love the language of math and to be able to use it in their everyday lives. Many of us will never learn or care to learn to use math to describe multi-level scientific relationships but we can appreciate and enjoy using the language of math to understand and describe how part of various substances, objects and people relate to each other.
Written September 7, 2018
One might have noticed that some of us humans have a tendency to complicate the simplest issues. I recall in graduate school being told by a doctoral student that I if I wanted my papers or articles to be taken serious I should always use some Latin phases. I remarked that I had not had the luxury of studying Latin as a child. He replied that it was not important to know Latin. One simply had make it seem as if one did. He also did not know Latin but always inserted Latin phrases in his academic papers. This was before goggle which now makes it very easy to insert a phase in any language and appear to very learned; as if being learned could be equated with being wise.
I was thinking about this subject when a friend told me his son got an A in English and an F in math. This is sadly not uncommon. Few of us learn that math is simply a language to talk about or describe a relationship between two or more objects or people.
If one looks up the definition of math in the Oxford dictionary one finds: “The abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concept (pure mathematics), or as applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering (applied mathematics).”
While this definition may be technically correct and how the subject is taught in school, it sounds very abstract and complicated. It does not suggest that:
- One healthy persons plus one unhealthy person equals two unhealthy people: 1 + -1 = -2.
- One cup of coffee not bought times 30 days at $1.50.00 a cup (gas station coffee) equals $45.00 times 12 equals $450.00 equals freedom to quit sending lender on vacation as a result of paying high interest.
- One slave times 10000 days equals pain, community dissonance equals anger, resentment, hopelessness equals death equals second amendment “rights” arguments equals hate equals justifications equals more hate.
- One social construct of sexism, racism, or other isms plus x number of people equals hurt, violence, hate and the absence of community.
One could cite many positive and negative examples of relationships between us humans, the molecules which make up a substance, the moon to the earth, or how x helpings of sugar molecules plays with the balance within the human body.
Using symbols which are called numbers are in some ways equivalent to using emoji to communicate thoughts or feelings about relationships. The bottom line is that those who learn from a teacher that math is a language to talk about relationships tend to love the language of math and to be able to use it in their everyday lives. Many of us will never learn or care to learn to use math to describe multi-level scientific relationships but we can appreciate and enjoy using the language of math to understand and describe how part of various substances, objects and people relate to each other.
Written September 7, 2018
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