Whenever I get asked why my favorite subject is and I say Math, one of three things happen. Either I get a 'yick' face, the person I am talking to begins to tell me all of the reasons they hate math, or the other person says they love math too and a unicorn with glasses and a bowtie appears and we ride off into the sunset, graphing calculators in hand, ready to take on the world. Needless to say, the first two are more common.
Mathematics has been given a bad rap over the years and has become the butt of many jokes and the bane of so many people’s school careers. I am not one of those people, though. I find math to be inspiring and beautiful and, if nothing else, incredibly useful. I hope that by the end of this you may believe me, and perhaps understanding that side of the field may stop you from making the 'yick' face next time someone mentions the subject. I submit to you, that although mathematics is hard it is so worth it, and not just because it helps us understand the world, but because it is a beautiful human structure and should be appreciated as such.
As Alan Smith said, “there are two kinds of people: those people that are comfortable with numbers, that can do numbers, and the people who can't,” and finding inspiration in mathematics is not reserved for those who are great at the execution of such. Even those who struggle with learning the equations and memorizing formulas can find beauty within what the numbers and mathematical reasoning can uncover. Math is a way to learn more about our world and be able to prove those things as well and has been for thousands of years. Through mathematics, we were able to prove such things as how large the Earth really is, that the universe is made up of atoms, create algorithms that we use in our everyday lives and even learn why objects have mass, and that’s awesome! Not even to mention that, with the new movie Hidden Figures that just came out, we even relied on clever mathematics, among other fields, so get a man into space and eventually to the moon! How is that not incredibly inspiring.
Mathematics is all about intuition and creative thinking. Through the use of Mathematics, we are able to answer questions and look at the world through a different light and answer questions that were never thought possible. Math allows us to push beyond the known to explore the unanswered questions in the universe and get one step closer to understanding why we are here, how we exist, and where we are going. Math is an incredible thing and is both a tool for us to explain the universe and give it a language, as well as a beautiful art form in itself. We live in a day and age where humans and machines can work together to solve the most complex problems in history and make new discoveries in life. We have the ability the think of an idea or a question and pose that question to machines and computers and work together to learn the answers. Even simple things can be answered with math. Randall Munroe, author of the book "What If," uses math and science to find answers to the questions that he is asked by his followers, and although he is not exactly a math fanatic, he appreciates that it “lets you take some things that you know, and just by moving symbols around on a piece of paper, find out something that you didn't know that's very surprising.” Math gives us the power to answer these questions with some amount of certainty, whether it is your passion or just something you know the groundwork for.
I know that one does not normally associate mathematics with empathy. After all, we are just a bunch of robots running around calculating people into a series of numbers and funny looking symbols. But did you ever think about how you use perspective in math? Roger Antonsen notes that, when you use an equal sign in math, you are viewing the same thing, but from different viewpoints or perspectives (for example; x+x=x*2). When you tell or learn something from another perspective then you get one step closer to understanding what you are observing. When you view the world from the perspective of others you create empathy by truly understanding what the world looks like from another person’s perspective. Looking at the world through the inquisitive and imaginative mind of a mathematician can help you create an incredibly deep connection between empathy and mathematics.
Math is an incredibly useful tool in our lives but is so underrated and underappreciated because the textbooks and curriculum we receive create impatient problem solving, which does not allow for a true understanding of what mathematics is and how to use math in your everyday lives and more important how to use reasoning in your life. This lack of understanding and interest continues through college and well into adulthood, leading to so many struggling with basic principles and reasoning techniques. We need to focus more of mathematics education and inspiration. Math should be about conversation and using what you know and learning how to use reason and intuition to find the answers to problems. I want people to understand that although it is hard it is worth it, and not just because it affects so much else in the world, but because it is itself a beautiful human structure and should be appreciated as such. I hope this was able to help you see how beautiful, inspiring, and awesomely helpful mathematics can be in every form and place in the world.
Please let me know in the comments how you feel about math, whether you love it or you hate it. How do you think we got to this point of math aversion and do you have any thoughts on how we can shift the stigma?
