Fiontan O’Ceallachain
Staff Writer
What is mathematics? To me it is the poetry of reason, an expression of all things possible and infinitely impossible. It is perhaps the longest poem mankind has ever imagined – in fact it can have no ending… Only pauses for thought. This poem stretches into an infinite spectrum of ideas, from logic to form and beyond. It has dictated science and as a result society, culture, history and much more. It cannot be explained, it can only explain. It is the purest and most honest of all Mankind’s inventions.
I can have only the utmost respect for mathematics. But what has cultivated my understanding? I cannot say it was always there. Like poetry, maths must be written in a language, and like poetry its language is manipulated to express its many ideas as compactly as possible. This language is highly technical and married with very strict grammar. The more mastery one has over this language, the more awesome the beauty of mathematics becomes.
I am now in my final year of mathematics. In these four years I have read a handful of sentences from the longest poem ever written – and I am in a privileged position to have done this. Most people cannot read even a single `word’ because they cannot understand its language. Mostly, people don’t recognise the poetry but only see a cryptic collection of symbols. I believe this coupled with the taboo that “maths is hard” and requires a “mathematical intelligence” discourages people from even attempting to understand. Perhaps this persuades some to feel they are destined to be mathematically incompetent, a phenomenon which I am quite certain is true.
Before studying mathematics in third level education, there is no awareness of the ‘poetry of reason’. It is not expressed in the text books, nor by (most) teachers. So what encouraged me to ‘understand’. Consciously I saw mathematics as a set of fun puzzles, but subconsciously I was curious and I identified a very unusual mystery. Unlike many of my fellow students, I was confident that maths was easy as long as the effort was made. My interest in science and my history in puzzle based toys probably helped. For example, I still own a tungsten cube that was one of my childhood favorites. Perhaps this exercised what many identify as the ‘mathematical side of the brain’. The rhythm of mathematics must be an elemantal part of mankind’s mind and there must be many ways to hear it.
Finance, agriculture, transport, communication, entertainment, industry, architecture, government; all totally dependent on technology, technology sliced from science, science prepared in the mathematical melting pot. Society demands mathematics.
But as a society we, in part, regard mathematics with resentment – that intellectual ghost haunting ‘nerds’ and ‘geeks’ yet failing the wounded majority through school. We may also regard it with perverted respect – mathematics; a glorious understanding reserved for the fated few. In either case it seems that too many resign themselves to the impossibility of mathematics
Where might this hopelessness come from? I would believe it finds its roots under two inseparable phenomenon; mathematics’ disconnect from the real world in its teaching and the patience required to understand this most abstract subject. In addition, mathematics is painted in a sad light by the mainstream media; watch the popular English-language kids television shows, particularly those from the last five years, and you might notice a silly but dangerous stereotype of mathematics as being unreasonably difficult and its followers being socially awkward geniuses. Perhaps if patience was inspired and a connection shown with the tangible world, mathematics learning would thrive…
Albert Einstein said “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” If mathematics is the crucial ingredient of technology, is it perhaps healthier that we as a society remain as mathematically incompetent as reasonably possible?
I would have to answer with a strong no. It is ignorance that has always led mankind to appalling ends. Whether it is mathematics, science, art, history, health or all and anything else, understanding will always protect society best from its dangers. For this reason I would like to refine Einstein’s quote; It is appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our ignorance
When society believes mathematical understanding is impossible, serious change is due.
