Assignment 5 - Alex Kowalewski
There is something special about the mathematics and it's beauty. And part of it's beauty is that it is difficult to see. There is a certain sense of satisfaction that comes along with solving a problem, or understanding a complex theorem for the first time. For me, much of the beauty lies in the critical thinking and problem solving one has to use to arrive at these points. In my eyes, math is more than just numbers, variables, and formulas. It is a process of dissecting a problem and thinking about it critically. But this is also what causes many people to form a negative opinion on math to begin with. There isn't much you can just memorize and move on, it's is a constant growth of understanding and thinking.
This is part of what makes math the "least sexy" of the sciences, as some may see it. But really it is the foundation of almost all scientific research. My old landlord was a math major, he is now a professional pilot. He and I used to have many conversations about how what he learned is used everyday to fly planes. One of my good friends is a PhD student in exercise science. Her and I talk about statistics all the time, since it is something she uses everyday, even though that's not what her background is. People get caught up saying "I'm never going to know how to find the volume of a sphere when I grow up", which is probably true, but they then give up on math. But what they don't understand is that it is the ability to think critically, so they can solve a problem involving the volume of a sphere that is important. This is why mathematicians can be successful in other fields, and why mathematics appears in so many different places. It is our way of solving problems.
So to get more people to see the light of math, it needs to be discussed in a way that takes away the "boring" parts. The average person doesn't want to hear about the quadratic equation, but predicting hurricanes always gets people talking. Making sure to show the underlying use of math in these situations is important to creating a more positive outlook on math. Teaching children that math is more than just the geometry they learn in middle school is necessary to help them think critically in any subject. And hopefully get them to have an appreciation for math that they carry on, because if they want to do something big in the world, they more than likely will be using some sort of math and critical thinking.
This is part of what makes math the "least sexy" of the sciences, as some may see it. But really it is the foundation of almost all scientific research. My old landlord was a math major, he is now a professional pilot. He and I used to have many conversations about how what he learned is used everyday to fly planes. One of my good friends is a PhD student in exercise science. Her and I talk about statistics all the time, since it is something she uses everyday, even though that's not what her background is. People get caught up saying "I'm never going to know how to find the volume of a sphere when I grow up", which is probably true, but they then give up on math. But what they don't understand is that it is the ability to think critically, so they can solve a problem involving the volume of a sphere that is important. This is why mathematicians can be successful in other fields, and why mathematics appears in so many different places. It is our way of solving problems.
So to get more people to see the light of math, it needs to be discussed in a way that takes away the "boring" parts. The average person doesn't want to hear about the quadratic equation, but predicting hurricanes always gets people talking. Making sure to show the underlying use of math in these situations is important to creating a more positive outlook on math. Teaching children that math is more than just the geometry they learn in middle school is necessary to help them think critically in any subject. And hopefully get them to have an appreciation for math that they carry on, because if they want to do something big in the world, they more than likely will be using some sort of math and critical thinking.
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