|
What is mathematics? |
|---|
|
Defining what mathematics is has apparently not been easy, but understanding the purpose and ways of math is necessary, if we are going to believe in what we are teaching and how we are teaching it. |
|
|
|
Through history, wise persons have spoken, and books have been written about this question (i.e. Courant, R. et. al., 1996; Hersh, R., 1999). Here are some interesting definitions given: |
|
Mathematics is the
alphabet with which God has written the universe. Nature's
great book is written in mathematical symbols.
|
|
Mathematics is the
queen of the sciences and arithmetic is the queen of mathematics.
|
|
Mathematics is the
rock upon which the arts and sciences of the world rest.
|
|
[Mathematics:] the
logical study of shape, arrangement, and quantity.
|
|
Let us grant that
the pursuit of mathematics is a diverse madness of the human
spirit, a refuge from the goading urgency of contingent happening.
|
|
Mathematics is a
magnificent example of the beauty, richness, complexity,
diversity, and importance of human ideas - a marvelous testament
to what the ordinary embodied human mind is capable of - when
multiplied by the creative efforts of millions over millenia.
|
|
Mathematics are all
the things we do to
understand,
predict,
and transform
the environment efficiently and reliably, using accuracy
(exactness) and precision
(reliable procedures) to help us use resources with the best
balance of
safety, speed, and economy.
|
|
|