Introduction to Mathematics

On the last lesson we had an introduction to the though subject which is mathematics. We discovered patterns, learned why people started using mathematics in first place and how mathematics is just like music. 

I think you can call mathematic "art" as you have to discover hidden meanings behind few weird symbols and uncommon formulas that are nearly impossible to understand for an average mortal human being just like me. 

Except for reading the text about the history of mathematics we spent the most of our time discussing whether mathematics can be called beautiful. There was this question "Can we say that mathematics is beautiful if we do not understand it?". Well, to me the answer is yes. I will start from simple examples while explaining my point of view.

For me most of the things occurring in this word are hard to understand. I can tell you that the movie is beautiful but I do not understand how TV works. How can I fit small people inside the plastic box? I know it sound ridiculous and I probably show my lack of intelligence right now, but have you ever thought about it? The answer is most likely: no. But hey, TV is different than mathematics because we can experience it with our senses and the content we are provided with is in some point understandable. Well, mathematics is also understandable. It is like a painting. You see something, you know some parts but individual parts of the equation does not make any sense.

When I showed this to my sister she made big eyes and told me she does not understand anything. When I asked her to tell me if she knows any of the symbols she easily recognized the sign of equality, subtraction and that we have to divide 1 by something. The same goes for paintings. If you look at Vincent van Gogh’s portrait of madame Roulin rocking on the chair you can tell “This is a beautiful painting, I can see a friendly looking lady sitting on the chair and the colors are nice”. But did you know that the painting is also called “Lullaby” an it was started before painter’s mental breakdown and finished after leaving the asylum?

So why the equation above can be ugly to some people? For the same reason the picture above can be ugly. Ugliness and beauty are hard to define because they depend on your personal beliefs. I don’t understand very constructed mathematical theorems and equations but they greatness amazes me and I find them beautiful.

Which does not mean I enjoy math. I don’t really understand it even when I how to do it. I still think that some parts are unnecessary and we should learn more useful skills than calculating delta but what can you do.