December 09, 2016 Friday
Bedtime Story
What is Inductive Reasoning?
Before we venture on to the axiom of choice, let me tell you what
mathematics is and how it works.
This is not for the sake of storytelling but to put into the
suitable perspective what I have been talking about for so long, namely the
axioms.
Mathematics as contrast to physical sciences such as physics rests
primarily on theorems in contrast to physics which is founded on theories and
some laws.
One can reduce this idea to one simple statement; theorems are to
mathematics what theories are to physics.
The theories in physics is based on what is known as inductive reasoning.
This is the basis of scientific method that was discovered fairly
recently by some very smart ancestral apes of ours.
Physicists initially observe a phenomenon, gather some date data
on it via experimentation and propose a hypothesis.
Consider photoelectric effect which involves emission of electrons
from the metals under the effect of photons.
In this specific case, Heinrich Hertz, Wilhelm Hallwachs and many
others way back in 1887 noticed and observed that when electrodes were shown
with ultraviolet light, they tended to spark more often and more easily.
Philipp Lenard then in 1900 showed that these electrons were
released in the form of cathode rays.
In 1902, Lenard made another critical observation; that the energy
of the emitted individual electrons depended directly on the frequency (or
color) of the ultraviolet light falling over it.
As an aside, Lenard though a brilliant man was an outright bigoted
racist who believed that physics could be first rate Deutsche or substandard
Jewish.
These all were various levels of observations of a single
phenomenon, some of them coaxed, lured and teased out through interventions
known as experiments.
This is the second step of the scientific method:
To investigate a phenomenon further and conduct experiments.
Experiments provide more detailed and precise information of a
phenomenon that a mere observation with our ape senses will surely miss out.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night and my fellow cousin ape.
Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, may I
suggest this large collection of Kids Songs:
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