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Two Videos On Mathematics

The document summarizes two videos about mathematics: [1] The first video argues whether mathematics is discovered or invented, presenting arguments on both sides. It concludes that while math can be considered fictional, it is also fundamental to explaining the natural world through physics. [2] The second video discusses how math has hidden abilities to understand and model the world, like transforming a number into music or patterns. It inspires changing perspectives to learn something new, and how different views can still reach the same conclusion, as in math.

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24 views2 pages

Two Videos On Mathematics

The document summarizes two videos about mathematics: [1] The first video argues whether mathematics is discovered or invented, presenting arguments on both sides. It concludes that while math can be considered fictional, it is also fundamental to explaining the natural world through physics. [2] The second video discusses how math has hidden abilities to understand and model the world, like transforming a number into music or patterns. It inspires changing perspectives to learn something new, and how different views can still reach the same conclusion, as in math.

Uploaded by

Анна Волокита
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Two videos on mathematics

The first one: “Is math discovered or invented?” – Jeff Dekovsky

This video argues whether mathematics is an artificial construction or a universal truth, human product
or natural, possibly divine, creation.
To be honest, after the first time I watched this video, my mathematically-trained-and-educated brain
started blowing up and shouting: “It’s not possible! This is not fair! How dare you? Life revolves around
math, not the opposite! We are made to live for it!” and other very emotional, somewhat naïve and perhaps
even cheeky things. But! Our best-in-the-world Teacher of history taught us: put emotions away and start
thinking critically, like a lawyer. That’s what I did. And it led me to these thoughts:

Arguments for the statement that math is an artificial construction:


Even though in the video there are a lot of quotes and theses like “God created natural numbers,
everything else is the work of men” by Leopold Kronecker or “Math is an invented logic exercise, a
language of chaos” there is no evidence for these statements, like we can’t prove that god exists,
unfortunately (or fortunately?). Thus, in this case we must go deeper:
- As a person who has been studying math for my whole life, I can tell you that this science creates
many theories or problems that don’t make sense at all. They are unuseful, unreasonable and only 2
or 3 people on Earth can understand them. For example: The prime number theorem, which
describes the asymptotic distribution of the prime numbers among the positive integers. It formalizes
the intuitive idea that primes become less common as they become larger by precisely quantifying
the rate at which this occurs. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? But what I want to tell you is – first,
prime numbers are an absolute fiction, they don’t exist in nature and only humans invented a
definition for them and the principles by which they work. And we can’t disagree with that. On the
other hand, creating problems and challenging ourselves it’s also a part of our nature, because this is
the only way how humanity can develop and evolve.
- In general, even the concept of numbers is rather artificial: we can take one apple, we can take
another and together get one apple + another apple, and the number "two" (and not only that) was
rather introduced additionally for the convenience of counting. That is, it is a thing that man has
adapted to himself, to his needs, and in this way, mathematics can certainly be considered fictitious.
But if you think about it this way, everything in this world is artificial and not real.

Arguments against the statement that math is an artificial construction:


- In nature, there are many examples in nature repeated in completely different places, but with the
same concept, which can only be explained in mathematical terms. For instance: spiral aloe, nautilus
shell, seed heads and even human faces –all these things obey the Fibonacci sequence and Golden
Ratio rule. Isn’t it amazing? For me this fact means that we are surrounded by numbers everywhere,
we live in them, but just don’t always pay attention to them. Look around you and you will notice a
lot of wonderful things that work thanks to math and can be explained by this not-always-easy, but
beautiful science.
- Also, one of the main arguments for me talking about the origins of mathematics is physics, as
strange as it may sound. Let me explain: physics is a science that originally explains how things
around us work and why something happens in that specific way, not the other one. It’s a very useful
and important science, which is not artificial (if it was that would mean that we are artificial). But
there is one remarkable fact: almost all rules and laws in physics couldn’t be worked out without an
application of math (especially, calculus). To explain gravity we need integrals, the way planets
move – geometry. That makes math a fundamental science. The one which helps us everywhere.

According to what I’ve said above, I can reasonably state that my opinion in question: “Is math discovered or
invented?” clearly adopts a position that mathematics is unambiguously non-fiction. Although I can certainly accept
that math can be considered an invention or universal truth depending on each person’s perceptions of life and the
world. There is evidence for both theories (which were given earlier) and each person is free to decide which one to
choose or believe in.
The second one: “Math is the hidden secret to understanding the world” – Roger Antonsen

Although the video is more about the amazing abilities of maths and numbers in particular, and how they
can be applied and what unexpected results can be achieved (e.g. the number 4/3 can be turned into amazing
sounds or geometric patterns through transformations), I drew conclusions from it not only in terms of
maths, but in something more important, in my opinion.
I thought the video said two very important things: "If you take another point of view you learn something
new" and "Two different perspectives or perceptions can be equal". It made me think that you shouldn't be
afraid to do something new (especially something you've always been afraid or shunned), because it will be
a new and rewarding experience for you anyway. It also made me realise that you have to accept different
ways of doing things and listen to other points of view and not reject them immediately, even if you don't
agree with them. Maybe the person will help you to look at the situation from a different angle with their
thoughts and you will see something new. Or it may turn out that even though you were talking about
completely different things, they still led you to the same conclusion. I think that's one of the beauties of life
- being able to see and hear. To be open to new things.
And the beautiful thing was that the professor described such seemingly basic things using mathematics: two
completely different-looking mathematical expressions turn out to be equal. And as it turns out, there are not
only mathematical rules in this, but also life principles. You just have to be able to discern them correctly.
I think that this is the beauty not only of life, but also of mathematics - the ability to explain things in a
completely different scientific language, while still retelling life's lessons. “Maths is about finding patterns,
representing these patterns with a language”
All we have to do is to “Try to change our perspective” and we’ll see how the world changes.

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