What is Mathematis, Really, Really?

What is Mathematics, Really? By Reuben Hersh – Book Review

      Reuben Hersh wrote this book out of his love for mathematics and his gratitude towards its creators. He once read a book by Richard Courant and Herbert Robbins entitled, What is Mathematics? He was unsatisfied because the question was not answered, all the more reason why he decided to make this book.

            The book started with Hersh’s conversation with twelve year old girl named, Laura. They had an innocent talk about numbers, large numbers to be exact. The little girl said a lot about ‘gazillion’ so Hersh asked as to why she knew a lot about it. The girl then said, “Isn’t it the philosophy of math?” Hersh then replied, “That’s the beginning of it.” From there, Hersh started to explain mathematics through philosophy. He also stated some facts, misunderstandings, his viewpoints and a lot more (which I haven’t read because the words were so technical). He also showed history about the philosophy of math. He stated that he had a different approach or viewpoint in showing what math really is and he called it, “Humanist”. You can really see how he loves math through his way of writing. He backed up everything with facts, proofs and explanations. I think he wanted to share his knowledge and love for math that he encourages people to know what mathematics is really and to know more about its nature so we, too, can be more interested in it.

            While reading the preface, I was thinking “wow, this guy is so in love with math. If it were me, I think I would not have bothered to dig deeper and just be satisfied on how math is presented to me. What’s wrong with him?” He was very passionate in explaining what math is through showing it from the “viewpoint of philosophy”, which I had a hard time in understanding.

            The book allows you to somehow reflect about mathematics. There’s more to math than what we, students, are taught especially when we are not math majors. We tend to accept what’s shown or taught to us while we have no idea about its background and how it came to be. We sometimes just accept the information without detailed evidence. We (or I) have never appreciated the people who created or discovered math and yet here we (or I) are (am) using it. We live easier and more comfortably now, and we have the creators of math to be thankful for. I admire Hersh for taking his time to share his love for math. I have never seen/read about someone who is truly passionate and truly appreciates math. I thought people only love it because they are good at it and they have high marks in that field.