Mathematics in Our World PDF

MATHEMATICS IN
OUR WORLD
OBJECTIVES: The students must be able to:
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Image or icon Image or icon

FOCUS OF THE TOPIC
LEARN NEW THINGS ABOUT MATHEMATICS

FOCUS OF THE TOPIC
ASK NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT MATHEMATICS

FOCUS OF THE TOPIC
WHAT MATHEMATICIANS DO
WHAT IS Image or icon Image or icon Image or icon
MATH?
WHAT IS Image or icon Image or icon Image or icon
MATH?
PATTERNS AND NUMBERS IN NATURE AND THE WORLD
SNOWFLAKES
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SNOWFLAKES
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KOCH SNOWFLAKES Image

HONEYCOMBS
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HONEYCOMBS
TIGER STRIPES
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TIGER STRIPES
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WORLD’S POPULATION
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WEATHER PREDICTION
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FIBONACCI NUMBERS
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APPLICATION OF FIBONACCI NUMBERS
SUNFLOWER Image

SNAIL’S SHELL
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FLOWER PETALS
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Many patterns and occurrences exist in

nature, in our world, in our life. Mathematics
helps make sense of these patterns and
occurrences.
Human culture has developed a formal system

of thought for recognizing, classifying, and
making sense of patterns.
THIS IS MATHEMATICS.
Musical
symbols
represent
musical
ideas.
Mathematical
symbols
represent
mathematical
ideas.
We live in a (physical) world full of

mathematical patterns,
but mathematics resides in the abstract.

WHICH ONE IS
DIFFERENT?
WHICH ONE IS
DIFFERENT?
WHICH ONE IS
DIFFERENT?
HALLMARKS OF MATHEMATICS
Abstraction
Symbolic Methods
Conditional reasoning and deduction
Proof Image
Rigor
Aesthetics
High (and often unexpected) applicability to the
real world
Extremely long historical development
HALLMARKS OF MATHEMATICS
Mathematics provides us the tools to make

sense of the physical/perceptual world.
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WHAT IS REALITY? HOW DO I KNOW WHAT IS REAL?
This is one of the most fundamental questions

of philosophy.
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HOW DO I KNOW WHAT IS REAL?
Use the senses!

But a warning: SENSES CAN DECEIVE!
We need to use our mind (intellect, reason,

intuition, and mathematics) to uncover the
ideal world.
Mathematics resides in this ideal world.

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT IS REAL?
EXERCISE
WHAT IS A 4-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT?
CAN WE CREATE IT IN OUR MINDS?

TWO VIEWS ON MATHEMATICS
1. Platonism
• Mathematical objects are real.
• Mathematicians discover Mathematics.
2. Formalism
• Mathematical objects are creations of
the mind.
• Mathematicians create Mathematics.
PLATONISM (MATHEMATICAL OBJECTS ARE REAL.)
Math is part of objective reality, it exists out

there, independent of human experience.
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“God wrote the universe in the

language of Mathematics.”
- Galileo Galelei Image
“If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate

nature, it is necessary to understand the
language that she speaks in.”
- Richard Feynman,
Nobel Laureate, Physics
FORMALISM (MATHEMATICS IS CREATED.)
1910 – Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead

started from scratch to build mathematics from
the ground up using the elements of logic.
Page 362 of Whitehead and Russel’s Principia

Mathematica, they proved enough that
“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only

truth, but supreme beauty--a beauty cold and
austere, like that of sculpture, …, without the
gorgeous trappings of painting or music, yet
sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection
such as only the greatest art can show. The true
spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense of being
more than Man, which is the touchstone of the
highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics
as surely as in poetry.” – Bertrand Russell
“Just like chess, mathematics can be built

from a finite set of “axioms” and rules of
deductive reasoning.” – David Hilbert
The goal of the formalists:

• To find the axioms that would lead
to every possible true mathematical
statements, and
• To rid mathematics of all
contradictions
1931: Gödel finds hole in the center of

Mathematics.
“It is bound to fail. It is impossible to
establish that Mathematics is free
from contradiction.”
MATH AND THE REAL WORLD
This equation allows us to communicate

through cell phones.
Mathematical models of the heart help

in the design and implementation of
artificial valves.
The mystery of how

flocks of birds fly in
the same direction
without collisions can
be explained by
mathematical
equations.
NETWORKS
The human brain is a

neutral network.
NETWORKS
The Tokyo subway
system is a tangle of
lines. Graph theory,
network and queuing
theory help in the
design of a safe and
efficient schedule for
the trains.
WHY ARE
MANHOLES
ROUND?
WHY IS A 3-
LEGGED
CHAIR MORE
STABLE THAN
A 4-LEGGED
CHAIR?
WHY ARE
WHEELS
ROUND?
WHY DO WE
HAVE TYPHOONS
ALL THE TIME?
WHAT’S SO
INTRIGUING
ABOUT THE
MONA LISA?
HOW MANY
COLORS WILL
YOU NEED TO
COLOR THE MAP
OF JAPAN?
REFERENCE:
WHAT IS MATHEMATICS, REALLY? –

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE AND PRACTICE OF
MATH
JOSE MARIA P. BALMACEDA, PHD

FIDEL R. NEMENZO, D.SC.
INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES - DILIMAN

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MATHEMATICS IN

Image or icon Image or icon

Image or icon Image or icon

LEARN NEW THINGS ABOUT MATHEMATICS

ASK NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT MATHEMATICS

KOCH SNOWFLAKES Image

APPLICATION OF FIBONACCI NUMBERS

APPLICATION OF FIBONACCI NUMBERS

APPLICATION OF FIBONACCI NUMBERS

Many patterns and occurrences exist in

Human culture has developed a formal system

We live in a (physical) world full of

but mathematics resides in the abstract.

Mathematics provides us the tools to make

This is one of the most fundamental questions

Use the senses!

We need to use our mind (intellect, reason,

Mathematics resides in this ideal world.

WHAT IS A 4-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT?

CAN WE CREATE IT IN OUR MINDS?

Math is part of objective reality, it exists out

“God wrote the universe in the

“If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate

1910 – Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead

Page 362 of Whitehead and Russel’s Principia

“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only

“Just like chess, mathematics can be built

The goal of the formalists:

1931: Gödel finds hole in the center of

This equation allows us to communicate

Mathematical models of the heart help

The mystery of how

The human brain is a

WHAT IS MATHEMATICS, REALLY? –

JOSE MARIA P. BALMACEDA, PHD

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