May
29, 2017 Monday
Bedtime
Story
Edward Rothstein is a Ray of Hope for an Average Ape
The
essay “How to Read Mathematics” is a sagacious one for any bibliophilic even if
he lacks mathematical insight.
In
the very beginning of the essay is a quote by Edward Rothstein who is an author
of book titled, ‘Emblems of Mind: The Inner Life of Music and Mathematics’
(Times Books, 1995) that goes like this:
Mathematics
is “a language that can neither be read nor understood without initiation”. (In
general, that statement can be universalized for almost anything).
Rothstein,
by the way, has nothing to do with mathematics; he holds M.A. in English
literature from Columbia University.
Yet
he is writing on the beauty of mathematics (and music).
This
just shows that it is not impossible to appreciate mathematics even if one
lacks a total inclination for it.
Most
of us will never do any serious mathematics; and most possibly are not capable
of any serious mathematical work.
In
fact, most average apes, including advocates, judges and doctors even question
the teaching of higher abstract mathematics in schools (They are quite
satisfied with the pedagogy of its basic applications).
Luckily
for us that is not a barrier to know mathematics, to enjoy what mathematicians
do and yes, even try it out a little bit for yourself.
I
have discovered a great website that keeps feeding me mathematical problems
from time to time.
The
problems range from simple to very difficult.
The
questions offered to you are such that they stay at the level that you are
comfortable with unless you feel like challenging yourself and intend to be a
masochist and enjoy torturing yourself.
Then
you can go for higher levels and feel free to terrorize yourself.
Believe
me, most great achievers were certainly masochist; no one achieved anything
sitting comfortably in their bedroom watching a nice movie.
I
have come to enjoy a little bit of mathematics through this website and this is
all that I “do” in mathematics.
Doing
apart, I realized that even reading mathematics is quite an ordeal; it is very
different from all other forms of readings that most of us adults do.
(Reading
law and court verdicts are also similarly challenging as one has to seek out
the logical connectives, reasoning and nitty-gritty points that have to be
sought-for in the vast details of data out there).
So
let me tell you a few things what I learnt from reading mathematics and a bit
of amateur writing on it.
You
will have to wait for it yet another night mon ami.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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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, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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