International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences

Volume 1, Issue 2, ISSN (Online): 2349–5219

Recent Trends in Mathematics and Potential

Contribution to other Disciplines
Manoj Dubey Basant Kumar Singh
Research Scholar, AISECT University, Bhopal Principal, AISECT University, Bhopal
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Abstract – The intention of this paper is to study the recent applied sciences. Towards the end of the 20th Century,
trends in present-day mathematics and role of mathematics mathematicians were making a re-think on the need to
in other disciplines. The paper is in five parts. Section one is bridge the division lines within mathematics, to open up
Introduction. Section two is dealing with trends of more for other disciplines and to support the line of inter-
application areas of mathematics at the wake of the twentieth
discipline research. The current cry is that this interaction
century, Section three looks at the changes in mathematics
application as a result of the modern approach to will be further stabilized in the 21st Century. In the drive
mathematics and discoveries in other fields, section four to seek generality, 20th century mathematics became more
addresses the current thinking of collaborative and inter diverse, more structured and more complex.
discipline mathematics and the section five gives some
examples of application areas where mathematics is III. TRENDS IN MATHEMATICS TODAY
emerging as a vital component with great opportunities for
inter discipline research.
In this section, I will discuss broad trends in
Keywords – Trend in Mathematics, Mathematical Research mathematics today. These are as follows:
Activity, Inter-Discipline Mathematics, New Areas of A. Variety of applications
Application. The increased variety of application shows itself in two
ways. On the one hand, areas of science have become
I. INTRODUCTION "infected". This is clearly true of the social sciences, but is
also a feature of present-day theoretical biology. Another
Math is present in day to day life and is being used even contributing factor to the increased variety of applications
when people don't realize they are using mathematical is that areas of mathematics, so far regarded as
reasoning. Almost all areas of human activity make more impregnable pure, are now being applied. Algebraic
and more use of mathematics. They use all branches of geometry is being applied to control theory and the study
mathematics, not just traditional applied mathematics. of large-scale systems; combinatorics and graph theory are
Mathematical activity like research, applications, applied to economics; the theory of fiber bundles is
education, exposition, has changed a lot in the last some applied to physics; algebraic invariant theory is applied to
years. Some of these changes, like the use of computers, the study of error-correcting codes. Thus the distinction
are very perceptible and they are being applied in between pure and applied mathematics is seen now not to
mathematical education fairly broadly. Many new forms be based on content but on the attitude and motivation of
of mathematical activity like algorithms and programming, the mathematician. I would go further and argue that there
modeling, conjecturing, expository writing and lecturing, should not be a sharp distinction between the methods of
are acquisition significance. I will say some more about pure and applied mathematics. Certainly such a distinction
the new trends in mathematics, and discuss the question of should not consist of a greater attention to rigidity in the
their influence on mathematical education. pure community, for the applied mathematician needs to
understand very well the domain of validity of the
II. TRENDS OF 20TH CENTURY methods being employed, and to be able to analyses how
stable the results are and the extent to which the methods
The 20th century made a rethink on the foundations of may be modified to suit new situations. Animpartial
mathematics, it was marked out by a new approach to distinction between "pure" and "applied" mathematics,
mathematics. In International Congress of would seem to be one between "inapplicable" and
Mathematicians, David Hilbert's (1862-1943) vision was "applicable" mathematics. We wish to study a "real world"
to analyses axioms of each subject and state results in their problem; we form a scientific model of the problem and
full generality. This vision became concrete in the 1930's then construct a mathematical model to reason about the
through the development of the axiomatic approach to scientific or conceptual model. First, the concept of
algebra. Parallel trends took place in functional analysis applicable mathematics needs to be broad enough to
with Banach Spaces. This extent to other subfields of include parts of mathematics applicable to some area of
mathematics like partial differential equations, harmonic mathematics which has already been applied; and, second,
analysis and algebraic topology. that the methods of pure and applied mathematics have
The 20th century approach to mathematics resulted in a much more in common than would be supposed by anyone
more developed mathematical language, new powerful listening to some of their more vociferous advocates. For
mathematical tools, and inspired new application areas our purposes now, the modules for mathematics education
that have resulted in remarkable discoveries in other to be drawn from looking at this trend in mathematics are
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 International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences
Volume 1, Issue 2, ISSN (Online): 2349–5219

twofold; first, the distinction between pure and applied some universities in the developed countries have inter-
mathematics should not be emphasized in the teaching of disciplinary programmers where mathematics students and
mathematics, and, second, opportunities to present students from other sciences work jointly on projects. The
applications should be taken wherever appropriate within aim is to prepare graduates for the new approaches and
the mathematics curriculum. practices in their fields and careers.
B. New unification of Mathematics Table I: Topics In and Out
Before a decade, the most characteristic feature was the
vertical development of autonomous disciplines, some of
which were of very recent origin. Thus the community of
mathematicians was partitioned into sub communities
united by a common and rather exclusive interest in a
fairly narrow area of mathematics (algebraic geometry,
algebraic topology, homological algebra, commutative
ring theory, real analysis, complex analysis, set theory,
etc.). Indeed, some would argue that no real community of
mathematicians existed, since specialists in distinct fields
were hardly able to communicate with each other. I do not
impose any blame to the system which prevailed in this
period. Indeed, it was historically inevitable but it does As evidenced by the discoveries of the last half of the
appear that these autonomous disciplines are now being 20th century, mathematics can enrich not only physics and
linked together in such a way that mathematics is being the other discipline of sciences, but also medicine and the
reunified. I believe that the appropriate education of a biomedical sciences and engineering. It can also play a
contemporary mathematician must be broad.The lesson to role in such practical matters as how to speed the flow of
be drawn from the trend toward a new unification of traffic on the Internet or sharpen the transmission of
mathematics must involve a similar principle. We must digitised images, how to better understand and possibly
break down artificial barriers between mathematical topics predict patterns in the stock market and even how to
throughout the student's mathematical education. enrich the entertainment world through contributions to
C. The universal presence of the computer. digital technology. Through mathematical modelling,
The third trend to which I have drawn attention is that of numerical experiments, analytical studies and other
the general availability of the computer and its role in mathematical techniques, mathematics can make huge
actually changing the face of mathematics. The computer contributions to many fields. Mathematics has to do with
plays an entirely constructive role in our lives and in the human genes, the world of finance and geometric motions.
evolution of our mathematics. The computer is changing For example, science now has a huge body of genetic
mathematics by bringing certain topics into greater information, and researchers need mathematical methods
prominence - it is even causing mathematicians to create and algorithms to search the data as well as clustering
new areas of mathematics, for examples, theory of methods and computer models to interpret the data.
computational complexity, the theory of automata, Finance is very mathematical; it has to do with derivatives,
mathematical cryptology etc. At the same time it is risk management, portfolio management and stock
relieving us of certain tedious aspects of traditional options. All these are modeled mathematically, and
mathematical activity which it executes faster and more consequently mathematicians are having a real impact on
accurately than we can. It makes it possible rapidly and how those businesses are evolving. Motion driven by the
painlessly to carry out numerical work, so that we may geometry of interfaces is omnipresent in many areas of
accompany our analysis of a given problem with the actual science from growing crystals for manufacturing
calculation of numerical examples. On the other hand, the semiconductors to tracking tumors in biomedical images.
computer renders obsolete certain mathematical The convergence of mathematics and the life sciences,
techniques which have been prominent in the curriculums which was not foreseen a generation ago, is a remarkable
till now. opportunity for application.

IV. INTER-DISCIPLINE MATHEMATICS AND V. EXAMPLES OF FIELDS WHERE

POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO OTHER FIELDS MATHEMATICS IS EMERGING VITAL
Currently, efforts are being undertaken to facilitate Research areas are many and exciting. They include:
collaborative research across traditional academic fields 1) Mathematics for materials
and to help train a new generation of interdisciplinary 2) Security issues (mathematics for Information and
mathematicians and scientists. Disciplines that hardly used Communication, Mathematics for sensors, mobile
mathematics in their curricula are now demanding communication as well as network security and
substantial doses of knowledge and skills in mathematics. protection).
For example, Curricula for the social sciences 3) Demands in software reliability where mathematics is
programmers now include sophisticated mathematics over needed for computer language, architecture, etc.
and above the traditional descriptive statistics. Curricula of 4) Requirements for automated decision making
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 International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences
Volume 1, Issue 2, ISSN (Online): 2349–5219

(probability, stochastic analysis, mathematics of powerful tool in many industries. This technology is a
sensing, pattern analysis, and spectral analysis) and potential area for research mathematicians. The future of
5) Future systems (lighter vehicles, smaller satellites, the World Wide Web will depend on the development of
ICBM Interceptors, Hit before being Hit, secured many new mathematical ideas and algorithms, and
wireless communication systems, super-efficient mathematicians will have to develop ever more secure
energy/power sources, modeling and simulations, cryptographic schemes and thus new developments from
robotics and automation. number theory, discrete mathematics, algebraic geometry,
During the last 50 years, developments in mathematics, and dynamical systems, as well as other fields.
in computing and communication technologies have made D. Mathematics in Medical Field
it possible for most of the breath taking discoveries in A doctor, nurse, X-ray technician, pharmacist and all
basic sciences, for the remarkable innovations and others in the medical field also should keep the knowledge
inventions in engineering sciences and technology and for of mathematics. A doctor is likely to mentionprescriptions
the great achievements and breakthroughs in economics according to the habit and weight of a patient. In the
and life sciences. These have led to the emergency of medical report of diagnostic centers, many test result are
many new areas of mathematics and enabled areas that taken into account of percentage and ratio. He must know
were inactive to explode. the normal parameters as well as percentage and ratio of
The examples are from the disciplines of materials different cells for his patient.
sciences, study of composites, digital technology and The functions of the nurse are mentioned here; reading
health care field. Below are summaries of the examples: the pulse, counting the number of beats for a few seconds,
A. Mathematics in Materials Sciences prepare patient’s chart record for many factors. So,
Materials sciences is concerned with the synthesis and understanding the basic math is essential for a nurse. Math
manufacture of new materials, the modification of is certainly a large part of a pharmacy. Pills must be
materials, the understanding and prediction of material counted, formulas must be calculated, all math functions
properties, and the evolution and control of these that require proper administration by a pharmacist.
properties over a time period. Until recently, materials
science was primarily an empirical study in metallurgy, VI. CONCLUSION
ceramics, and plastics. Today it is a vast growing body of
knowledge based on physical sciences, engineering, and Every branch of mathematics has a potential for
mathematics. For example, mathematical models are applicability in other fields of mathematics and other
emerging quite reliable in the synthesis and manufacture disciplines. All these, have posed a big challenge on the
of polymers. Some of these models are based on statistics mathematics curricula at all levels of the education
or statistical mechanics and others are based on a diffusion systems, teacher preparation and pedagogy. The 21st
equation in finite or infinite dimensional spaces. Simpler Century mathematics thinking is to further strengthen
but more phenomenological models of polymers are based efforts to bridge the division lines within mathematics, to
on Continuum Mechanics with added terms to account for open up more for other disciplines and to foster the line of
‘memory.’ Stability and singularity of solutions are inter-discipline research.
important issues for materials scientists.
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 International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences
Volume 1, Issue 2, ISSN (Online): 2349–5219

AUTHOR’S PROFILE

Manoj Dubey
Pursuing Ph.D. in Mathematics from AISECT
University, Bhopal. Completed M.Sc. and M.Phil in
Mathematics from DAVV, Indore. 17 years’
experience as an assistant professor in many
institutes.
Author of many books on mathematics and computer
Research Areas: History of mathematics, Jain Mathematics, Recreational
Mathematics, Algebra.

Dr. Basant Kumar Singh

He is M.SC., Ph.D.in Mathematics. Presently working as principal in
AISECT University, Bhopal, (M.P).

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