What I read
In "Why it matters if we become innumerate", Adrienne Bernhard (2018) says that we have to face on simple mathematics questions in daily life. The number sense helps us solve lots of daily problems. But we also need to understand complicated numeration, such as how to manage and spend money. If we don't know rules, it may have some impacts on our lives. This kind of numerations is different from school math course. In a survey, the numeration level of the country citizens may influence the unemployment, productivity and physical health. We can't completely believe the big data, the computer just counts the data, but people can judge and find differences. We need to use computers and phones wisely. Don't rely on the statistics and keep doubt.
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My response
I'm not a numbers person, usually, I think the math questions are too difficult. Since I graduated from school, I felt that math was far away from me. Sometimes, I even thought why we must learn the complicated mathematics of our younger age, we don't need this higher skill to solve problems in our lives, we just knew basic math was enough. Because buying food don't need Trigonometric function knowledge. If someone talks about mathematics, I feel a headache and want to walk away. It's me, I didn't like math in the past.I have a hobby that I like to communicate with others. Sometimes, I think my knowledge has 50 percent from communicating, if someone talks to me about an interesting topic, I will check for more information about this topic on the internet. I like traveling, so I met some people they are very different from my friends' circle. One day, I met a person of Master of Mathematics, he told me a lot of different opinions from math, he said, "we learned math since our six years old, but this is not math, math include a wide range, we just learned a little, higher math is like a philosophy problem", I am not sure about this opinion, but if he wants to arouse my curiosity about mathematics, then he succeeded. I became less annoying about mathematics. It's a good thing for me because I realized that managing my money is a big important skill in my life. I need to learn math skills to help my deposit money increase rather than rely on work salary merely. But I still use the smartphone to do the basic arithmetic problem, because I really can’t count it.
Finally, he told me something interesting. He said that ants are similar to two-dimensional creatures and this is a math question.
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My question
Do you think mathematics is important?
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Reference
- Bernhard. A. (2018, July 9). Why it matters if we become innumerate? Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20180706-why-it-matters-if-we-become-innumerate
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ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger than now, I was very interested in mathematics because I thought solving complex problems is challenging. However, when I decided to study major in Japanese in my high school and decided to study law, I gave up mathematics because at first, I found mathematics test in my school was too hard and my career path has nothing to do with mathematics, so I found that it is a waste of time trying to learn something that it is not necesary. Nevertheless, I found out that my previous decision is wrong because today, it takes much time for me to calculate something; when I went to buy things I have to bring my phone with me to calculate the cost. Therefore, if I have an oppurtunity to advise my juniors, I would recommend that you do not have to be good at mathematics but do not give up maths, otherwise you will end up like me (and I guess that you don't want to).
ReplyDeleteActually, I think lawyers would benefit from studying mathematics because it teaches rigorous thinking to make valid deductions from what is known, and might help identify bad reasoning in legal arguments.
DeleteConfession: although I like reading the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, I've never studied law, but in the justices arguments for their decisions on controversial questions that can have an enormous impact on the lives of Americans, for example their ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which legalized same sex marriage throughout the US, we see that careful reasoning from A. to B. to C. is essential. They might not be doing calculus, but the justices are employing the same sort of logical reasoning that characterizes philosophy and mathematics. This is something you might also have noticed in Stephen Law's essay on the moral status of eating meat.
I think mathematics is very important. It is fundamental to almost all scientific knowledges. You can think of math as a language of science that scientists use for communicating to each other. When scientists have a new theory and they want to prove it, without math they can prove nothing. So when you see any scientific inventions around you, they all have math as their backbones. I also appreciate mathematicians who dedicate their life to math and work hard to tackle such mind-boggling tasks behind the scene, so that we can enjoy a lot easier life these days.
ReplyDeleteThough I am not a math person, sometime I quite enjoy challenging myself to learn some math topics by myself such as linear algebra, calculus, and statistics. It always takes time to understand complex concepts, but I like the feeling when I get it.
I think Mathematics is important. Not everyone needs to understand complex mathematics used to solve physics theories, but every person should know simple math such as adding and multiplying. At least people should calculate how much they need to pay to check out of a convenient store.
ReplyDeleteBesides mathematics, sense of number, with a little logic, is also important. A lot of people possibly haven't been deceived to transfer money to criminals knowing that the amount they have to give is less than rediculously large amount they believe they would receive. Knowing a little more than simple math should also open people's eye that chances of winning lottery is so tiny that it wouldn't worth paying 80 Baht every two weeks. Haven't paid for lotteries, these people would have had more money to spend for other necessities.
I like Na's quotation from her friend that "math is like a philosophy problem." Mathematics has always been closely linked to philosophy because both emphasize logical reasoning. And one of the main branches of philosophy, logic, is also a foundation of mathematics. When I took logic classes in my philosophy course, it would have been impossible to follow some of them without at least a reasonable command of mathematical ways of thinking, and proving Gödel's theorems about the limits of provability in mathematics was done in one of my philosophy classes, not one of the maths classes I took. But I'm not sure that mathematics at that level is immediately practical — it didn't improve my ability to add, subtract or do basic arithmetic, for which I rely on calculators. But I can at least work out calculations to do.
ReplyDeleteI felt a headache when I confronted a difficult mathematics problem during my middle school,my mathematics mark were always so poor. I think the mathematics knowledge what we learned in school is not useful for our daily life. But maybe I can understand why we learn so high level of mathematics in middle school. Because a mathematics is a fundamental science, other sciences need to use ways or thinking of mathematics to solve problems that they encounter.The country should train the children and find a mathematics talent among them to support science development of country.
ReplyDeleteI think mathematics is very important to our daily life. I really agree with everyone's comments here, but I would like to raise a point that science is as important as math. Since being able to understand science and think scientifically can help you solve problems and answer many questions in your everyday life. For examples, Can listening to loud music damage your hearing? Which metal is lightweight? These questions can help you make wise decisions and stay safe.
ReplyDeleteSometime I am a number person ,sometimes am not. I like some chapter such as calculus and some chapter I don't like such as Trigonometric.I think the lesson in high school is too complicated and sometimes can not use in daily life. I think in high school just teach basic rule and logics enough. In addition, the complicated math that not use in daily life will teach in the university for people who interest.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, I think mathematics is very important to my life especially the chapter about logic, it can help you to do everything right when you have a good logic.
Yeah. It is still important especially in engineering, businessman and measurer. Maths is one part of several careers. It can forecast your information and change the world already. However, I have some disagreement in education of some country that emphasize using excessive memories such as remembering figure.
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