In search of the definition of mathematics I read many things but did not seek the answer I was in search of, instead I became more confused. Mathematics is something humans have created, just like literacy, it is now essential to our everyday world and we use mathematics without even know that we are doing so. mathematics is a very difficult thing to define but I think mathematics is anything you want it to be, in class we wrote dozens of words in hope to define the ambiguous term: mathematics. One word that stuck with me was that mathematics is an art, this is a very accurate way to think of mathematics for me because I can realte to art. Just as people connect with are differently, the same applies to how people connct with mathematics differently. Everything is art, the way we dress, the designs our footprints make in the snow, the art of cooking, the art of mechanics and I could go on forever, but if mathematics is a form of art than anything goes! We can all interpret its definition and the way we connect with it differently and therefore mathemtics becomes a personal connection and no two people will experience it in the same way.
Wednesday 22 January 2014
What is Mathematics Anyway?
When I ponder about the question, what is mathematics? a lot of things run thought my mind. Mathematics is a way of thinking; it is using logics and calculations to solve a problem and I cannot imagine our world without mathematics. We use mathematics in our everyday lives to understand and solve problems, when we go to the grocery store we use math to estimate the amount of money the bill will be and by knowing that we can only spent a certain amount we can better manage our money. Mathematics is in the kitchen when we are baking and cooking, to follow a recipe we use measurements to know how much of each ingredient to use. Mathematics is a way of communicating, through money, through time, through measurements, and the list goes on but we learn at a young age that there are set units that represent time or money or distance and so on and that these units are the same for everyone and by using them to represent a certain amount we can more efficiently communicate what something is so that everyone can understand it in the same way. For example, one hour represents sixty minutes and one minute represents sixty seconds and one hour is communicated as the same amount of time to one person as it is to another, therefore by saying "I will be leaving in one hour" the person receiving this message communicates one hour to be the same amount of allotted time as the person who is sending the message. Mathematics can define many things in our world and without mathematics we would be very uncertain and misunderstood because mathematics is a tool to understanding each other.
In search of the definition of mathematics I read many things but did not seek the answer I was in search of, instead I became more confused. Mathematics is something humans have created, just like literacy, it is now essential to our everyday world and we use mathematics without even know that we are doing so. mathematics is a very difficult thing to define but I think mathematics is anything you want it to be, in class we wrote dozens of words in hope to define the ambiguous term: mathematics. One word that stuck with me was that mathematics is an art, this is a very accurate way to think of mathematics for me because I can realte to art. Just as people connect with are differently, the same applies to how people connct with mathematics differently. Everything is art, the way we dress, the designs our footprints make in the snow, the art of cooking, the art of mechanics and I could go on forever, but if mathematics is a form of art than anything goes! We can all interpret its definition and the way we connect with it differently and therefore mathemtics becomes a personal connection and no two people will experience it in the same way.
In search of the definition of mathematics I read many things but did not seek the answer I was in search of, instead I became more confused. Mathematics is something humans have created, just like literacy, it is now essential to our everyday world and we use mathematics without even know that we are doing so. mathematics is a very difficult thing to define but I think mathematics is anything you want it to be, in class we wrote dozens of words in hope to define the ambiguous term: mathematics. One word that stuck with me was that mathematics is an art, this is a very accurate way to think of mathematics for me because I can realte to art. Just as people connect with are differently, the same applies to how people connct with mathematics differently. Everything is art, the way we dress, the designs our footprints make in the snow, the art of cooking, the art of mechanics and I could go on forever, but if mathematics is a form of art than anything goes! We can all interpret its definition and the way we connect with it differently and therefore mathemtics becomes a personal connection and no two people will experience it in the same way.
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