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Rediscovering Mathematics
tycho
#1 Posted : Thursday, August 24, 2017 11:51:18 AM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 7/1/2011
Posts: 8,804
Location: Nairobi
Friends, do you like mathematics? I like it myself, but some times I find the work too difficult, and my mind appears not to be disciplined enough for it.

But despite that, every time I have kept away from this I don't not seem to know what, called 'mathematics'; something has been whispering the word into my ears. And it's been so nagging. I want to find peace by looking at it as comprehensively as possible or even just opening my eyes to it.

I have, and I am undertaking a mathematical journey and you probably are. Or you may be tempted to join. I'm about to go back to Bertrand Russell's Philosophy, check on Peirce but there's a whole lot of material on the net. Please share if you find anything of interest.


tycho
#2 Posted : Thursday, August 24, 2017 11:53:01 AM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 7/1/2011
Posts: 8,804
Location: Nairobi
1. Mathematics isn't science. What is it?
Baratang
#3 Posted : Thursday, August 24, 2017 12:05:34 PM
Rank: Member


Joined: 10/6/2009
Posts: 587
tycho wrote:
1. Mathematics isn't science. What is it?


2. Science without mathematics is not science.
tycho
#4 Posted : Thursday, August 24, 2017 12:19:53 PM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 7/1/2011
Posts: 8,804
Location: Nairobi
Something interesting has just happened. I was creating a new folder for what I may get today. But I have already several folders named 'Mathematics' so I decide to give a different name. I write 'Maht'.

And then something springs inside me. Could 'Maat' be 'Math'? I go to check, there's a book about that.

But here's the rub. 'Maat' is divine utterance; Could 'math' also be the language of divine utterance? For example, how did Kepler know that the earth was going around the Sun?

It was by observation and calculation, no? And by these calculations, humans could know how the heavens were and could even follow the seasons. Thus Mathematics has been a way in which humans can know the universe and the language of Maths could be the language of knowing the heavens and the earth and is divine.
tycho
#5 Posted : Thursday, August 24, 2017 12:24:58 PM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 7/1/2011
Posts: 8,804
Location: Nairobi
If life is about mathematical relations, like revolutions around the sun, or frequency vibration: How can it be possible for an individual to ignore the mathematical relations he/she creates by virtue of being alive?

For example is 'Karma' or fate, mathematical computation and result creating?

Can one be able to live well by virtue of mathematical control?

Again these are ancient traditions going back to Pythagoras and probably beyond.
tycho
#6 Posted : Friday, August 25, 2017 1:32:46 PM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 7/1/2011
Posts: 8,804
Location: Nairobi
tycho
#7 Posted : Friday, August 25, 2017 1:47:54 PM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 7/1/2011
Posts: 8,804
Location: Nairobi
Baratang wrote:
tycho wrote:
1. Mathematics isn't science. What is it?


2. Science without mathematics is not science.


The failure to understand what mathematics exactly is, is the biggest problem of our civilization. In the Copernican revolution mathematics was aligned with science, and since then it has been treated like a science, and hence has also been constrained.

By constraining mathematics, world order has constrained itself, and in that respect, our current civilization is decadedent.

If we go backwards in history, we find mathematics as the 'word of God' or 'Maat'.

Maat was lost. How Maat was lost is simple; the meaning of its symbolism was taken for granted and was lost because by its futuristic and far seeing nature, the secular use of Maat could generate surpluses. And power, being an object that many want could easily slip to those who were oblivious of Maat.

Note how the Babylonians/ Sumerians in fact, excelled at looking at the stars while building sophisticated mathematical systems.
tycho
#8 Posted : Monday, August 28, 2017 9:22:47 AM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 7/1/2011
Posts: 8,804
Location: Nairobi
Baratang wrote:
tycho wrote:
1. Mathematics isn't science. What is it?


2. Science without mathematics is not science.


I think mathematics is the definition of things, and the definition of their relations in terms of number, quantity, and spacetime.

Science is on the other hand and in the least of its status, the use of mathematics to actualize relations between humans and the universe.

As I reflect, I can't help but go to the book of Genesis, where it is written that Adam was given the power to name, by God. In that context of creation, naming would be 'Mathematics'.
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