Despite
its significance and widespread use, Mathematics has been reputed for being
hard. This is why many people cannot appreciate math until it is needed. But
how can one learn math if not all of us knows what is it about? “What is
Mathematics, Really?” is a book whose title says it all, in Hersh's
introductory words.
So
basically, just what is this thing called math? Like any other subjects,
mathematics is defined by certain philosophies highly sided by mathematicians
themselves. Some of these are contrasting with each other and have already been
debated for years. The true nature of this subject desperately demands for a
clear explanation. Thus, this is the main point that the book was written for.
Reuben
Hersh attempts to answer the question from the timeless book, “What is
Mathematics?” by Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins. It was a
wonderful book according to him, but the authors have failed to provide real
answers. Instead, they just gave the readers a description about math. Now in
his book, he gathered and examined the theories and principles that are basis
to the philosophy of mathematics: Constructivism, Formalism and the ever famous
Platonism. Only to find out these do not actually explain what the subject is.
As a substitute, he proposes that the true philosophy for the nature of
mathematics is humanism.
We
have been using math since the ancient times, even though it was not an
established discipline back then; just ideas that would provide solution for
practical problems of daily lives. Throughout ages and across cultures,
mathematics has developed until what it has become today. It’s attached to
every system in our society, from education to economy. Thus, we must
understand math as part of everyday human activity that has evolved
historically, in all societies and cultures and not just an object as seen by
thinkers who do math.
The
succeeding chapters turned out to be a collection of statements of philosophers
about math. It was more like a survey, excellently researched and informative.
However, the book loses its focus in constructing the argument that it had
previously. Several of the paragraphs seem redundant and have been stretched. As
for my review, I’m not sure if he has proved or attested anything in this book;
or has he solved the underlying question which is the book’s primary objective.
But, it is a great material to open our minds and think about the
subject. Plus I find many of his
conclusions are agreeable, even though he took shortcuts to get there.
Indeed, people is having a hard time with Mathematics because they dont know what it really is. They view Math as, it is reputed, a hard one that's why their mind cant cooperate with it. Sometimes, it's all in the mind aside from knowing its philosophy. :)
ReplyDeleteDespite of the fact that Mathematics is REALLY hard in some aspect, I do know that it had helped us to developed into a world we are living today as we commonly call it " The Modern Time".
ReplyDeleteReading math books written by different authors will help readers to understand and differentiate mathematics since authors use their own ways to explain mathematics. If a person is interested in reading these books, we can say that he/she will be able to fully understand mathematics even if it is written and expressed by different authors in different ways.
ReplyDeleteThough MATH is capitally defined as M-ental A-buse T-o H-umans, in reality it is an essential recipe to life development. Without math, how can we build structures? Survey lands? Buy food? and many more?? Because basically life is attached to numbers in contrast of what others think. let's just love math and its philosophies/theories ^^
ReplyDeleteMathematics is very useful to us. In fact, we use it everyday. People just can't see it that's why they hate it. People are scared of what they don't understand.
ReplyDeleteMathematics is very significant since it is widely used in different fields of science and the economy. It is just sad that many people hate it but they need to accept the fact that they cannot avoid it forever because Math is already part of our lives, our world, and our system. With the importance of Math in different fields of study, I think it is safe to say that it is the root of all knowledge.
ReplyDeleteYes math really complicated and people hardly understand it but through this book somehow our minds opened to new and deeper understanding about math. Its really great and you work also.
ReplyDelete"How will I use "x" in selling banana cue?", most of the people asks when they're tired in learning algebra or calculus. This implies that people nowadays took for granted the use of mathematics in our daily lives. Thus, there must be an eye-opener for them and this book is a great help. Thank you for the good book review. :)
ReplyDeleteMathematics is the abstract of all processes taking place in the world. That is why people seemed hard for themselves to understand the meaning behind Mathematics.
ReplyDeleteMathematics is a useful imaginative material in the real world though it is quite hard to understand and to comprehend the principles and philosophies, After all, it governs our everyday lives. Nice work! ;)
ReplyDeleteSrly, math for me is like a self struggling question like, I am pretty or I am just narcissistic then the rest will follow. I dont hate math and I dont like it. its just thats it. Im neutral about it. sometimes I miss solving problems, equations and when im into it and i cant seem to find the CORRECT answers thats when i started to curse math and all its proponents. But I think Math is important. like love we may not see its importance but we can feel it. (if we are not that dumb.)
ReplyDelete