Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Unlocking the World of Mathematics

          A branch of science that deals with quantities, properties and magnitude; a phase of challenge and difficulty; and a discipline that I am not confident of-- this is Mathematics. I am really having a hard time with this kind of subject. Seeing numbers and solving equations do not suit me well. All these years, I could say that I am not really good with dealing such things because it is already imprinted in my mind that it is very complicated to understand. But when I saw the video entitled, The Story of Maths, The Language of the Universe, some of my views towards this subject have changed. Right now, I could understand why some people, including me, cannot appreciate the world of Mathematics. It does not involve memorization but rather an in depth understanding on the subject matter because it revolves in theorems, proving and most specially, patterns.

    In my opinion, the reason why people have a difficulty on this is that they do not know the origin of how this matter came to be and as a result, they cannot connect the relationships and struggled to fill in the gap. Another thing is that it is like learning a different language. When we were still young, we were told to speak and learn the same means of communication that they have and as we grow old, we tend to adapt their system of communication through our experiences and through exposure. Furthermore, we were absorbed and conformed into it. The video also entails us the same thing. Mathematics is a different language. It must be understood from its very nature to fully comprehend and learn it. It needs exposure and practice to be able to achieve its purpose.

            Mathematics existed simultaneously as humanity dominated the earth. The video helped me visualized the ancient civilations and the kind of culture that people had that shaped their society with the aid of Mathematics because for them, it emerged to fulfill these two purposes, first is in order to make sense on what is going on and second, to respond to the needs of the people. History really tells it all. From its awakening down to the sophisticated subject that we know today, indeed, Math is evolving through time with the help of our mathematicians. I really appreciate Math more after seeing the video and it was very amazing to know that from the simplest to complex everyday living, math is always been involved in it. And as it progresses, new discoveries and inventions have been made by man leading to more and more knowledge. From the simple counting Mathematics to the analytical one, Math has a lot more to offer and is continually exploring and dominating the world.
           

3 comments:

  1. The video was a great help for us non-math majors. Well constructed summary, great job girl!

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  2. More than just a science that deals with quantities, properties, and magnitude. In my honest opinion, I believe that Mathematics is much like a philosophical creation made by mankind to quench human's thirst for knowledge and to satisfy curiosity. But I would say Math is "evolving", it's too big of a word. 'Cause I don't see "evolution" near Mathematics. Based on history, Mathematics started by means of measurement. Lengths of this and that and whatnot. But in the evolution of human society though, it did make a great difference. What I mean is, Mathematics did not change humans. The humans of the past are the same as the humans of the present. But what it changed is how us, humans of the present discern things. So what I'm saying is we, the humans, did not change Mathematics, but Mathematics changed us. A great blog by the way, it really intrigues the mind of the reader.

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  3. Well done! Really changed my views on this matter. The influence was there, moreover, the structure on your constructive was consistently laid down. The scientific consensus on studying math is that, it is dynamic and these changes could better help us to become competent enough in the next few years!

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