The Nature of Mathematics

Mathematics in our World

Getting to know
Mathematics
Presented by: Francis O. Pantino, LPT, Ph.D.
 Learning Outcomes

Getting to Know Mathematics

a. What is Mathematics?
b. Where is Mathematics?
Presentation
c. What is Mathematics About?
Overview
d. How is Mathematics Done?
e. Who uses Mathematics?
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Argued about the nature of mathematics, what it is, how it
is expressed, represented, and used; and
2. Expressed appreciation for mathematics as a human
endeavour.
 The Elephant and the 6 Blind Men
Learning Outcome
Our Universe of Patterns
Presentation Nature's Patterns are Clues
Overview Beauty of Nature and
Mathematics
Numerical Patterns of Nature
Geometric Patterns
Wave Patterns on Land
Stripes and Spots in the Animal Kingdom
Patterns of Movement
New Kinds of Patterns
What is mathematics?

https://career.sa.ucsb.edu/students/career-planning/choosing- https://denisegaskins.com/2015/10/26/what-is-mathematics/
major/mathematical-sciences
Mathematics is a formal system
of thought for recognizing,
classifying, and exploiting patterns
(Stewart, p. 1).
 study of
study of
patterns
patterns

art language
art language
Mathematics
is a/an …..

set of
set of problem-solving
tools
process of thinking
process of
problem-
solving tools
thinking
 set of problem solving is a Mathematics is a
tools process of
is a thinking

language  
study of patterns art
  which includes, among
other elements
examples of which can
which are propositions can give rise mathematical either be
to a inductive
each has a   reasoning
 
logic  
truth value propositional
patterns can also be
functions
 
can be joined joined using deductive
    involves
number using a which can be  
connective use of
patterns bit made true or false
    operations via proofs
geometric quantification
to form a  
 

patterns   and there are

compound contingency which can
can be shown different
  proposition either be methods of
 
word as true or  
false via a can be a universal proof
patterns which is  valid if
  contradiction based on
truth table tautology  
   
existential rules of
 
inference
which is invalid  if
based on

fallacy
 
Mathematics is a study of patterns and relationships

Mathematical ideas are interwoven with each other.

Patterns and relationships arise in all parts of
mathematics--in numbers and chance, in geometry and
data--and not just in the realm of formulas and
functions.
"Patterns can be either real or imagined, visual or mental, static or dynamic,
qualitative or quantitative. ... They can arise from the world around us ... or
from the inner workings of the human mind." (Devlin, 1994, p. 3.)

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.231.9177&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Mathematics is a way of thinking
Mathematics is a way of thinking
and sense making. It is creative,
beautiful, individual, and dynamic. It is
being curious, asking questions,
figuring out why things work, breaking
problems apart, seeking regularity,
making predictions, and creating
logical arguments (Meyer, 2017).
http://academicsfreedom.blogspot.com/2013/07/teaching-mathematics-as-way-of-thinking.html
https://www.edubloxtutor.com/logical-thinking/
Mathematics is an art

Mathematics has itself been described

as an art motivated by beauty. Mathematics
can be discerned in arts such as music,
dance, painting, architecture, sculpture, and
textiles. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics
_and_art
)

http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/beyond/articles/Art/art1.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_and_art
 Mathematics is characterized by
order and internal consistency.
Numerous patterns can be found in
numbers and geometric figures.
Tessellations, weaving and tiling are
few explicit examples of
mathematics in art. By exploring the
orderliness and consistency of
mathematics, we learn to
appreciate its beauty.
https://jbscholarlyjournal.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/art-and-mathematics/
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/indian-rice-art-kolam
Mathematics is a language
Mathematics is used to communicate
complex processes and thoughts efficiently
using symbols and specific and precise
terms. Mathematics has its own register, or
special vocabulary which needs to be
learned to be able one to communicate well
about mathematics and to speak and think
like mathematicians. Mathematicians would
not use “equal”, “congruent”, and “similar”
interchangeably as these terms mean
different things.
https://medium.com/predict/mathematics-the-language-of-the-universe-47325ade387
https://www.universetoday.com/120681/mathematics-the-beautiful-language-of-the-universe/
Mathematics is a tool

Many occupations require the

knowledge of mathematics.
Scientists, engineers, businessmen,
and many other professions use a
great deal of mathematics to do
their best.
 Where is mathematics?

• We see hints or clues

of it in nature

http://eumindmaths3.weebly.com/pawar-public-maths-
in-nature-1.html
• In our daily routine

https://www.slideshare.net/tcarey10/math-in-daily-life
https://sciencestruck.com/math-in-everyday-life
 • In our work

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figure_01
_02_19.jpg
https://ecmiindmath.org/2016/02/16/a-short-histor
y-of-industrial-mathematics-in-linz-austria/
• In people and
communities

https://www.bulatlat.com/tag/trifpss/
 • In events

https://www.australiancurriculumlessons.com.au/2014/05/28/predicting-using-data-sets-mathemati
cs-lesson-plan-sporting-events/
https://passyworldofmathematics.com/olympic-games-mathematics/
https://www.manilatimes.net/the-best-of-festivals-at-aliwan-fiesta-2018/392691/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyGe_NDJjC0
 What is mathematics About?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp2bYWRQylk
http://hkc361blog.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-is-mathematics.html
 A large part of the early pre-history of mathematics can
 

be summed up as the discovery. The earliest mathematical

ideas/concepts, objects discovered/invented includes the
following:
1) counting numbers- e.g. 1, 2, 3…
2) fractions- e.g. ,
3) the concept of zero was invented and accepted as
denoting numbers between 400 and 1200 AD.
There was a period in history when “one” was not
considered a number because it was thought that
 

a number of things ought to be several of them.

4) negative numbers- can be thought of as
representing a debt, e.g. -1, -5, -19. Negative numbers
can also be represented as follows:
a) negative temperature- is one that is colder than
freezing
b) negative velocity- an object with negative
velocity is one that moves backward.
5) Irrational numbers- e.g.
 

6) Real numbers- an enlargement of the number

system that includes the irrationals.
5) Imaginary and complex numbers- the next
enlargement of the number system e.g.

Currently, these numbers are known as the ff:

1. Natural Numbers- involving 0, 1, 2, 3,…
2. Integers- the whole numbers including the negative
whole numbers.
3. Rational Numbers- involving positive and negative
fractions
4. Real numbers- more general set of numbers
5. Complex Numbers- still more general set of numbers
These five number systems are inclusive than the
previous: natural numbers, integers, rationals, real
numbers, and complex numbers.
 Mathematics is also about
Operations. Examples include
addition, subtraction, multiplication,
and division. An operation is https://www.assignmentpoint.com/science/mathematic/four-basic-
operations-mathematics.html

something that is applied to two

mathematical objects to get a third
object.
 Another type of mathematical object
is Function. It is thought of as a rule
that starts with a mathematical object-
usually a number-and associates to it
another object in a specific manner.
Functions are often defined using
algebraic formulas, which are just https://wumbo.net/notation/function/

shorthand ways to explain what the

rule is, but they can be defined by any
convenient method.
 Mathematics is also about Transformation- another with
the same meaning as “function”. Transformation is the
rule that transforms the first object into the second.
Transformation is used when the rules are geometric.

 Operations and functions are said to be processes rather

than things.

 Thingification processes is one of the most powerful

general weapons in the mathematicians’ armory.
 Mathematical “things” have no existence in the real
world: they are abstractions. But mathematical processes
are also abstractions, so processes are no less “things”
than the “things” to which they are applied.
Example:
Two is not actually a thing but a process-the process one
carries out when two camels or two sheeps are associated
with the symbols “1,2” chanted in turn.
 A number is a process that has long ago been thingified
so thoroughly that everybody thinks of it as a thing.
 It is just as feasible to think of an operation or a
functions as a thing.
Example:
We might think of “square root” as if it were a thing-
and it means here not the square root of any particular
number, but the function itself. The
 Mathematics is not just like a collection of isolated facts:
 

it is more like a landscape; it has an inherent geography

that its users and creators employ to navigate through
what would otherwise be an impenetrable jungle.
• Metaphorical feeling of distance
Example:
The circumference of a circle, is very close to the fact
that the circumference of a circle is . There is an
immediate connection between these two facts-the
diameter is twice the radius.
On the other hand, unrelated ideas are more distant
from each other; for example, the fact that there are
exactly six different ways to arrange three objects in
order is a long way away from facts about circles.
•Metaphorical feeling of prominence
This aspect can be sensed on mathematical ideas that
are used widely and seen far away such as Pythagoras’s
theorem about right triangles or the basic techniques of
calculus.
 from one to the other without any logical holes
appearing.

 Proofs knit the fabric of mathematics together, and if a

single thread is weak, the entire fabric may unravel.
 The ingredient that binds the landscape together is
Proof, which determines the route from one fact to
another.

Professional mathematicians consider a statement valid

if it is proved beyond any possibility of logical error.

Proof tells a story- a story about mathematics that

works. It has to tell a convincing story which has a
beginning and an end, and a story line that gets you
 How is mathematics done?
• with curiosity
- the desire to learn or know something. Mathematical curiosity
includes more than simply a desire to learn or know mathematics.
It also includes a desire to explore mathematical ideas through
posing mathematically interesting problems after one has
“finished” a problem.

Knuth, E. (2002). Fostering Mathematical Curiosity. The Mathematics Teacher, 95(2), 126-
130. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20870953
 • with a penchant for
seeking patterns and
generalities

https://thamesandhudson.com/patterns-of-india-a-colouring-book-9780500420744
http://
theconversation.com/personalities-are-like-traditions-unique-patterns-of-behaviour-that-build-
over-a-lifetime-of-improvisation-108096
 • with the desire to know the
truth

https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/videos/mysteries-of-the-mathematical-universe/
 • with trial and error

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up-6LkPG1XM
• without fear of facing
more questions
and problems to solve

https://myjobadvice.wordpress.com/2017/03/09/problem-show-your-skills-solve-it/
 Who uses mathematics?

• mathematicians
(pure and applied)

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/560135272387356375/?lp=true
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24660089@N04/7429694772/
 • scientists (natural and social)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hhchu/2511842518
• practically everyone

But, different people use

different mathematics at
different times, for different
purposes, using different tools,
with different attitudes.

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tics.mp4

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orld