Math is not about numbers
This misconception really puzzles me sometimes. Math, unlike medical work or lab science, is something we’ve all had hands-on experience with. That makes it really weird when people say things like; “Hey, Mr Math what is $3.45 multiplied by 6 436 423?” or “My math isn’t the best, I was never good with numbers”.
Sigh. I hate numbers too. Anyway, let’s talk math.
Firstly, let’s forget all the grunt work we did in primary school. Looking past the multiplication tables and fractions, to the part where we started using letters and funny symbols.
So if math is not about numbers, then what is it about?
I believe math works as two things:
- a language, and
- a tool.
You must be a super nerd if you speak math hey?
No, I don’t mean you speak it. Before I explain, let’s first look at a normal word in a normal language.
There you go. I painted a nice cat. Now the important question is: Is there an actual cat on the screen there?
No. Of course not. The letters are just arranged in such a way that when you see them like that, you think of a cat.
Did you notice that when I wrote out an English word (just letters put together) I magically created the image of a real cat in your head? Let me try to do it again.
There you go. I painted a sad? This one is weird. It’s not an actual physical thing that we’ve seen before.
Doesn’t matter. Words can also make us think of abstract ideas and concepts.
That is exactly why you should think of math as a language. Yes, it looks like a whole lot of random letters and symbols, but then again so does Chinese (To me). The point is that these symbols have meaning. The key value in math is being able to take a real world problem; represent its components as the funny symbols in this language; and finally, being able to solve them.
Okay, fine. But how does changing the language help you solve the problem?
After the initial line that you write down when translating a normal problem into a math equation comes a whole lot of working out and calculating. In the end, you get your solution. So, your initial line was from English to math, then your final solution is from math back to English. During the parts in between, you don’t actually sit and try to figure out what they mean. Using the rules of algebra you just move, change, manipulate, group, and simplify the components until you are left with a solution. In this way, math was the tool you used to find a solution to your problem.
So what?
So you can see that the numbers had nothing to do with what is really involved in math. It’s about interpreting your problem and then solving it.
