Is There Truth Behind Mathematics
I was in a class teaching one fateful day where my students found the teaching to be interesting. Some were still having serious problems but yet were following me.
To be sincere with you, mathematics is the subject people found so difficult. They have seen it as a subject they cannot cope with despite the fact that we always make use of it in our day to day activities. Going to buy goods in the market is mathematics. Driving along the road with your car is equally mathematics. Going to your workplace daily is mathematics. Making use of your phone is nothing but mathematics. Taking Care of your health is also mathematics. There is no aspect of life you cannot see this tough subject. Pressing your computer, taking risks in anything you are doing and the likes.
I explained all these to my students but they ganged up against me and said in unison, "Master, all these you have mentioned have nothing to do with the mathematics in the class". They are just normal things we have to do.
I was smiling when they said it. Indeed they are right because mathematics is beyond what we all expect. You cannot just wake up and jump into mathematics, but you can wake up and jump into what I just stated above. It is not a child's play and not just by playing with numbers, but by studying with numbers deeply.
I was teaching them logarithms with the use of tables. This part involves borrowing from negative values. To be sincere, it was supposed not to be possible but possible in logarithms. The number to be borrowed from was minus two (-2) called bar two. It means someone who is owing $2 and has no means of paying it. Now, another person wants to borrow from this person who cannot even eat daily. People have been troubling this man pursuing him from house to house just because of the debt he is owing. Someone who just needed $1 comes to this man's house to borrow money. Mathematics will tell you it is possible because the one owing after borrowing would be left with minis three (-$3).
Do you know the question my students asked me? They said, take yourself for example. You are a debtor who does not have a dime, now someone who needs it comes to meet you for money. Where and how will you get the money from?
I was short of words and told them, in mathematics, it is possible whereas they have asked a good question.
They concluded that mathematics is a scam…
Can we really say mathematics is a scam? It is not a scam but a way of building your ability to relate with the outsider world and with the things around.
To be sincere, what the students said was very much correct. We don't need to borrow from the one who has a lot of debts to pay.
In another case, mathematics took it to another realm. When we are subtracting the smallest from the biggest, mathematics would say it is not possible. This is just like borrowing from someone who is owing.
How do you see the truth about mathematics?...