GE 4 - Mathematics In The Modern World

Course Overview:

This course exposes you, the students, to the various dimensions of mathematics. It
defies the old concept of mathematics which presents the subject as numbers and formulas to
be mastered. Mathematics in the modern world is concerned with the appreciation of its
practical, aesthetic, intellectual and the application of mathematical tools in daily life. It begins
with an introduction to the nature of mathematics as an exploration of patterns in nature and
environment. It then proceeds to show mathematics as an application of the inductive and
deductive types of reasoning and the application of mathematical tools in daily life. You are
encouraged to go beyond the typical understanding of mathematics as merely a set of formulas
but as a source of aesthetics in patterns of nature governed by logic and reasoning.

The course is divided into four modules with corresponding lessons as follows:

Module 1 Module 2

Mathematics in our Mathematical Language

World and Symbols

Module 3
Module 4
Problem Solving and
Reasoning Data Management
At the end of the course, you are expected to:

 Discuss and argue about the nature of mathematics, what it is, how it is expressed,
represented and used.
 Use different types of reasoning to justify statements and arguments made about
mathematics and mathematical concepts
 Discuss the language and symbols of mathematics
 Use a variety of statistical tools to process and manage numerical data
 Use mathematics in other areas such as finance, health and medicine, etc.

You are expected to read, understand and digest everything that is presented in this course
pack and answer all the tasks that are required of you.

Good luck and get ready, NOW…

 Module 1

The Nature of Mathematics

Module Overview

This module allows you to explore the nature of mathematics, identify patterns and regularities
in the world. Mathematics is a useful way to think about nature and our world,

After accomplishing this module, you are expected to:

 Identify patterns in nature and regularities in the world

 Argue about the nature of mathematics, what it is, how it is expressed, represented and
used.
 Articulate the importance of mathematics in one's life
 Express appreciation for mathematics as a human endeavor.

To achieve the objectives for this module, three lessons are explored to give you ample
resources for discussion, and later on reflection.

Lesson 1: Mathematics of our World

Lesson 2: Mathematics in our World

Lesson 3: Mathematics of Sequence

Stay focus and get ready for lesson 1.

Good Luck!
 Lesson 1

The Mathematics of our World

Learning Outcomes:

 Gain insights on mathematics of the modern world

 Revisit the mathematical landscape
 Realize the importance of mathematics as a utility
 Gain awareness of the role of mathematics in our environment

Introduction:

In his book, "Nature's Numbers", Ian Stewart describes some of nature’s multitude of patterns:
the regular movements of the stars in the night sky; the sixfold symmetry of snowflakes; the
stripes of tigers and zebras; the recurring patterns of sand dunes; rainbows; the spiral of a
snail’s shell; why nearly all flowers have petals arranged in one of the following numbers 5, 8,
13, 21, 34, 55, 89; the regular patterns or ‘rhythms’ made by animals scuttling, walking, flying
and swimming. He sees nature as full of clues and information which can lead us to deeper and
deeper appreciation of the patterns and harmonies all around us.

Activity: Activating Prior Knowledge ( you don't need to write your answers to the questions
below. Keep your answers in mind and see if your perception about math remains the same
after reading the inputs/presentation)
Based on your own experiences,

1. What is mathematics?

2. Where do you think mathematics is?

3. What role does mathematics play in our world?

Analysis:

1. Many patterns and occurrences exist in nature, in our world, in our life. Mathematics helps
make sense of these patterns and occurrences. Cite one example of these patterns ( either in
nature, in our world or in your life) and occurrences and explain how mathematics helps make
sense of this pattern.

2. Mathematics is a tool to quantify, organize and control our world, predict phenomena and
make life easier for us. Cite one example to illustrate.

Abstraction:

The Nature of Mathematics

In his book Nature's Numbers Ian Stewart described mathematics as a formal system of thought
that was gradually developed in the human mind and evolved in the human culture. Thus, in
the long course of human history, our ancestors at a certain point were endowed with insight
to realize the existence of “form” in their surroundings. From their realization, a system of
thought further advanced their knowledge into understanding measures. They were able to
gradually develop the science of measures and gained the ability to count, gauge, assess,
quantify, and size almost everything

From our ancestor’s realization of measures, they were able to notice and recognize some
rudiment hints about patterns. Thus, the concept of recognizing shapes made its course
towards classifying contour and finally using those designs to build human culture: an
important ingredient for a civilization to flourish. From then, man realized that the natural
world is embedded in a magnanimously mathematical realm of patterns----and that natural
order efficiently utilizes all mathematical patterns to its advantage. As a result, we made use of
mathematics as a brilliant way to understand the nature by comprehending the structure of its
underlying patterns and regularities. Mathematics is present in everything we do; it is all
around us and it is the building block of our daily activities. It has been at the forefront of each
and every period of our development, and as our civilized societies advanced, our needs of
mathematics pioneering arose on the frontier of our course as we prepare our human species
to traverse the cosmic shore.
Mathematics is a Tool

Mathematics, as a tool, is immensely useful, practical, and powerful. It is not about crunching
numbers, formulas, and symbols but rather, it is all about forming new ways to see problems so
we can understand them by combining insights with imagination. It also allows us to perceive
realities in different contexts that would otherwise be intangible to us. It can be likened to our
sense of sight and touch. Mathematics is our sense to decipher patterns, relationships, and
logical connections. It is our whole new way to see and understand the modern world.

Mathematics, being a broad and deep discipline, deals with the logic of shape, quantity, and
arrangement. Once, it was perceived merely a collective thoughts dealing with counting
numbers, but it is now being understood as a universal language dealing with symbols, arts,
equations, geometric shapes and patterns. It is asserting that mathematics is a powerful tool in
decision-making and it is a way of life.

Nocon and Nocon portrays the function of mathematics as an art, study of patterns, language,
process of thinking and a set of problem solving tools. It provides answers to existing
questions and presents solutions to occurring problems. It has the power to unveil the reasons
behind occurrences and it offers explanations. Moreover, mathematics, as a study of patterns,
allows people to observe, hypothesize, experiment, discover, and recreate. On the other hand,
mathematics is an art and a process of thinking. For it involves reasoning, which can be
inductive or deductive, and it applies methods of proof both in fashion that is conventional and
unconventional.
Mathematics is Everywhere

We use mathematics in our daily tasks and activities. It is our important tool in the field of
sciences, humanities, literature, medicine, and even in music and arts; it is in the rhythm of our
daily activities, operational in our communities, and a default system of our culture. There is
mathematics wherever we go. It helps us cook delicious meals by exacting our ability to
measure and moderately control of heat. It also helps us to shop wisely, read maps, use the
computer, remodel a home with constrained budget with utmost economy.

Even the cosmic perspective, the patterns in the firmament are always presented as a mystery
waiting to be uncovered by us-the sentient being. In order to unearthed this mystery, we are
challenged to investigate and deeply examine its structure and rules to the infinitesimal level.
The intertwined governing powers of cosmic mystery can only be decoded by seriously
observing and studying their regularities, and patiently waiting for the signature of some kind
interference. It is only by observing the abundance of patterns scattered everywhere that this
irregularities will beg to be noticed. Some of them are boldly exposed in a simple and obvious
manner while others are hidden in ways that is impossible to perceive by easy to discern. While
our ancestors were able to discover the presence of mathematics in everything, it took the
descendants, us, a long time to gradually notice the impact of these patterns in the persistence
of our species to rightfully exist.

The Essential Roles of Mathematics

Mathematics has countless hidden uses and applications. It is not only something that delights
our mind but it also allows us to learn and understand the natural order of the world. This
discipline was and is often studied as a pure science but it also finds its place in other areas of
perpetuating knowledge. Perhaps, science would definitely agree that, when it comes to
discovering and unveiling the truth behind the inherent secrets and occurrences of the
universe, nothing visual, verbal, or aural come close to matching the accuracy, economy, power
and elegance of mathematics. Mathematics helps usto take the complex processes that is
naturally occuring in the world around us and it represents them by utilizing logic to make
things more organized and more efficient. Further, mathematics also facilitate not only to
weather, but also to control the weather ---- be it social, natural, statistical, political, or medical.
Applied mathematics, which once only used for solving problems in physics, and it is also
becoming a useful tool in biological sciences: for instance, the spread of various diseases can
now be predicted and controlled. Scientists and researchers use applied mathematics in doing
or performing researches to solve social, scientific, medical, or even political crises. It is a
common fact that mathematics plays an important role in many sciences. It is and it provides
tools for calculations. We use of calculations in other disciplines whenever we are underrating
some kind of research or experiment. The use of mathematical calculations is indispensable
method in scientifically approaching most of the problems. In a similar way, mathematics,
provides new questions to think about. Indeed, in learning and doing mathematics, there will
always be new questions to answer, new problems to solve, and new things to think about
(VistruYu PPT presentation).

The Mathematical Landscape

The human mind and culture developed a conceptual landscape for mathematical thoughts and
ideas to flourish and propagate. There is a region in the human mind that is capable of
constructing and discerning the deepest insights being perceived from the natural world. In this
region, the mathematical landscape exists- wherein concepts of numbers, symbols, equations,
operations calculations, abstractions, and proofs are the inhabitants as well as the constructs of
the impenetrable vastness of its unchartered territories. In this landscape, a number is not
simply a mathematical tree of counting. Also, infinite variables can be encapsulate to finite.
Even those something that is hard to express in decimal form can be expressed in terms of
fractions. Those things that seemed eternal ℤ can further be exploited using mathematical
operations. This landscape claimed complex numbers as the firmament and even asserted that
imaginary numbers also exist. To the low state negative numbers relentlessly enjoying
recognition as existent beings. The wind in this landscape is unpredictable that the rate of
change of the rate of change of weather is known as calculus. And beneath the surface of this
mathematical landscape are firmly-woven proofs, theorems, definitions, and axioms which are
intricately “fertilized” by reasoning, analytical, critical thinking and germicide by mathematical
logic that made them precise, exact and powerful. With this landscape, the mathematician's
instinct and curiosity entice to explore further the vast tranquil lakes of functions and
impassable crevasse of the unchartered territories of abstract algebra. For to claim ownership is
to understand the ebb and flow of prime numbers. To predict the behavior of its Fibonacci
weather, to be amazed with awe and wonder the patternless chaos of fractal clouds, and to
rediscover that after all, the numbers in mathematics is not a "thing" but a process.
Conventionally, we are just simply made ourselves comfortable on the “thingification” of those
processes and we forgot that 1+1 is not a noun but a verb.

How Mathematics is Done

Math is a way of thinking, and it is undeniably important to see how that thinking is going to be
developed rather than just merely see face value of the results. For some people, few math
theorems can bring up as much remembered pain and anxiety. For others, this discipline is so
complex and they have to understand the confusing symbols, the difficult procedures, and the
dreaded graphs and charts. For most, mathematics is just nothing but something to survive,
rather than to learn. To the untrained eye, doing mathematics is quite difficult and challenging.
It is ambiguous, for it follows a set of patterns, formulas, and sequences that make it more
demanding to do and to learn. It is abstract and complex ---- and for these reasons, a lot of
people adopt the belief that they are not math people. Mathematics builds upon itself. More
complex concepts are built upon simpler concepts, and if you do not have a strong grasp of the
fundamental principles, then a more complex problem is more likely going to stump you. If you
come across a mathematical problem that you cannot solve, the first thing to do is to identify
the components or the operations that it wants you to carry out, and everything follows. Doing
and performing mathematics is not that simple. It is done with curiosity, with a penchant for
seeking patterns and generalities, with a desire to know the truth, with trial and error, and
without fear of facing more questions and problems to solve. (Vistru-Yu)
 Mathematics is for Everyone
The relationship of the mathematical landscape in the human mind with the natural world is so
strange that in the long run, the good math provides utilization and usefulness in the order of
things. Perhaps, for most people, they simply need to know the basics of the mathematical
operations in order to survive daily tasks; but for the human society to survive and for the
human species to persistently exist, humanity needs, beyond rudiment of mathematics. To
safeguard our existence, we already have delegated the functions of mathematics across all
disciplines. There is mathematics we call pure and applied, as there are scientists we call social
and natural. There is mathematics for engineers to build, mathematics for commerce and
finance, mathematics for weather forecasting, mathematics that is related to health, and
mathematics to harness energy for utilization. To simply put it, everyone uses mathematics in
different degrees and levels. Everyone uses mathematics, whoever they are, wherever they are,
and whenever they need to. From mathematicians to scientists, from professionals to ordinary
people, they all use mathematics. For mathematics puts order amidst disorder. It helps us
become better persons and helps make the world a better place to live in. (Vistru-Yu).

The Importance of Knowing and Learning Mathematics

Why do we want to observe and describe patterns and regularities? Why do we want to
understand the physical phenomena governing our world? Why do we want to dig out rules
and structures that lie behind patterns of the natural order? It is because those rules and
structures explain what is going on. It is because they are beneficial in generating conclusions
and in predicting events. It is because they provide clues. The clues that make us realize that
interference in the motion of heavenly bodies can predict lunar eclipse, solar eclipse as well as
comets’ appearances. That the position of the sun and the moon relative to the earth can
predict high tide and low tide events affecting human activities. And that human activities need
clues for the human culture to meaningfully work. Mathematical training is vital to decipher the
clues provided by nature. But the role of mathematics goes clues and it goes beyond prediction.
Once we understand how the system works, our goal is to control it to make it do what we
want. We want to understand the mathematical pattern of a storm to avoid or prevent
catastrophes. We want to know the mathematical concept behind the contagion of the virus to
control its spread. We want to understand the unpredictability of cancer cells to combat it
before it even exists. Finally, we want to understand the butterfly effect as much as we are so
curious to know why the “die” of the physical world play god. “Whatever the reasons,
mathematics is a useful way to think about nature. What does it want to tell us about the
patterns we observe? There are many answers. We want to understand how they happen; to
understand why they happen, which is different; to organize the underlying patterns and
regularities in the most satisfying way; to predict how nature will behave; to control nature for
our own ends; to make practical use of what we have learned about our world. Mathematics
helps us to do all these things, and often, it is indispensable.“ [Stewart]

Application:

Based on your reading, answer each of the following questions. Write your answer as
accurately and briefly as you can.

1. What new ideas about mathematics did you learn?

2. What aspect of the lesson significantly changed your view about mathematics?

3. What is most significant contribution of mathematics to mankind?

4. Write a one page synthesis paper focusing on one of the following aspects: (a) mathematics
helps organize patterns and regularities in the world. (b) mathematics helps predict the
behavior of nature and phenomena in the world. (c) mathematics helps control nature and
occurrences in the world for our own ends,

5. Kindly include your answers to the questions in the analysis part of this lesson.

6. Submit your answers on or before Aug. 31, 2021.

Standard for Grading/Rubric

1 point - the student is able to elicit the ideas and concepts from the readings, but shows
erroneous understanding of these.

2 points - the student is able to elicit the ideas and concepts from the readings, and shows
correct understanding of these

3 points - the student not only elicits the correct ideas and concepts from the readings but also
shows evidence of internalizing these.

4 points - the student elicits the correct ideas from the readings, shows evidence of
internalizing these and contributes additional thoughts to the core idea of this lesson which is
" Mathematics is a useful way to think about nature and our world."
Good Luck!