SomeClues/mathematics.html at main · mandysidana/SomeClues · GitHub

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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>What is Mathematics?</title>
  </head>

  <body>
    <h1><a href="/SomeClues">SomeClues<a></h1>
    <h1>What is Mathematics?</h1>
    <p>
      Mathematics is not what more than 99% of <em>"Mathematics
      Teachers"</em> teach.  Most of us have encountered
      very little actual mathematics, and what we've been taught in
			school obscures and conceals the real thing.
    </p>
    <p>
      Mathematics is not particularly about <em>numbers</em>.
    </p>
    <p>
      Mathematics is the study of <em>patterns</em>.  There are
      interesting patterns in numbers, but also in music, in language,
      in the structure and function of living things, in the movements
      of heavenly bodies and in the way we think.  There are patterns
      everywhere.
    </p>
    <p>
      Human beings are naturally good at mathematics.  Despite what
      some people say, every human being has a <em>"mathematical
      mind"</em> -- so you do too!  Every kind of intelligence is
      simply facility with patterns; it's a human speciality.
    </p>
    <p>
      Advanced mathematics concerns the patterns in the patterns.
      Some people seem to have an ability to leap to this level of
      mathematics more easily and are considered mathematically
      gifted.  Actually, anyone can operate at this level if they
      start with concrete patterns and move to more abstract levels
      gradually, as their intuition develops.
    </p>
    <p>
      Mathematics teachers usually teach mathematical methods and
      abstractions in a manner that is devoid of context and is so
      contrary to how the human mind works that for most students
      development of much mathematical intuition is inhibited.  This
      bad teaching can go so far as to create an aversion in the
      student, called <em>"mathophobia"</em> leading to the mind going
      blank and refusing to cooperate when presented with the
      mathematical symbols with which they've been humiliated.
    </p>
    <p>
      Doing advanced mathematics is an intensely pleasurable form of
      play that leads the doer to feel tremendous power and
      satisfaction.  Conventional schools are generally opposed to
      things like that.
    </p>
    <p>
      It would be good to have some more clues towards learning
      mathematics here with some useful references.
    </p>

    <hr />
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Last modified: Fri Nov 29 01:52:01 PST 2002
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