Mar

31

On the Importance of Mathematics

By Antonio Cangiano. Filed under Math Education 


Mathematics is the queen of science and the language of nature. Its importance should be clear to any reasonable person. It is easy however to diminish the value of certain areas of research because they’re currently thought as having little practical use. Evolutionary needs brought our mind to prefer knowledge that can be employed for the solution of specific problems in the real world, rather than deeply abstract ones. It is an understandable and even excusable fallacy that there are useful fields of math and useless ones, based on the perception of their applied or theoretical nature. But it’s still a misconception. Each theorem and discovery is a little piece of a larger puzzle that we conveniently categorize into aptly labeled macro-areas. Discoveries and mathematical ideas that are perceived as “useful” today because they’re applicable to engineering, for example, were at a certain point in time considered absolutely abstract and useless, or at least derived or intrinsically connected to some that were. Mathematics matters; all of it.

On the net I found an incredible lecture by the brilliant mathematician Timothy Gowers, entitled “The Importance of Mathematics”. In this keynote, Prof. Gowers makes a very strong case in favor of the value of math, of financing its relatively cheap research and its deep implications on human progress. You can watch the 8 parts that compose the whole video, in the following playlist:

For those who’d prefer it, a PDF transcript is also available.


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Comments

13 Responses to “On the Importance of Mathematics”

  1. Mathew Crawford | The Importance of Mathematics — Timothy Gowers on March 31st, 2008 9:53 am

    [...] few days ago I began a series of articles on the importance of mathematics. Today I noticed a nice post by Antonia Cangiano at Math-Blog promoting a wonderful speech given by mathematician Timothy Gowers at the 2000 [...]

  2. machinehuman on March 31st, 2008 4:19 pm

    Great lecture, very nice post. I love math!

  3. Jeff on April 24th, 2008 1:17 am

    A really remarkable lecture. Finding new unexpected applications of mathematics always gives me such a thrill. This lecture points out so much that I had never seen before, it really opened me eyes. Nice post!

  4. nitika on July 29th, 2008 1:45 pm

    Its great reading this remarkable lucture.After reading it i have gain more interest in maths.EXCELLENT POST!!

  5. erica on September 24th, 2008 7:38 am

    its really worth all the troubles…. its a very precise explanation on why to study math…

  6. bammy makanju on October 13th, 2008 3:31 pm

    very good lecture in defending your belief
    but i still hate maths..cant stand it..its not everybodies brains or I.Q that is built to be calculating figures

  7. Dotun Oduwole on October 29th, 2008 2:49 pm

    it is fantastic. please keep it up. Kudos!

  8. Bobye’s Blog » Blog Archive » 道与数学（三）：如何看待数学 on December 21st, 2008 8:51 pm

    [...] 相关链接：On the Importance of Mathematics [...]

  9. Jenelyn Solarte on February 27th, 2009 5:05 am

    a nice post!i like the explanation…..keep it up..

  10. Tom Bach on March 17th, 2009 9:29 am

    i like the explanation! very nice!!

  11. Jaxwhepee on June 17th, 2009 8:29 am

    Yup!!! Math I love :D

  12. cUtEaNgEl on June 18th, 2009 7:45 am

    i love math forever it is very use ful for us for our succesful mambition in life….

  13. Realizbeth on June 30th, 2009 4:03 am

    A very tough but most interesting subject of all. It requires us to think analytically and critically. Everyone must give their full attention in studying this subject if they really want to become successful in the profession that they decided to pursue…

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