Sept 23 Reading

 I hated mathematical symbols. I've always thought that math should be written out in words, so the Babylonian rhetorical algebra actually makes more sense to me, disregarding the odd language of course. When I got into higher level maths that started using function notation like f(x) in grade 10, I could not wrap my head around it. It made no sense to me, and later math courses did not get any better. Once I approached calculus it was like nothing was written in words anymore, nothing made sense anymore. And discrete mathematics and mathematical proofs often used more symbols to represent things that can easily be stated in just plain old English. So, similar to how proofs can be written out without symbols, every math problem should be able to be listed out step by step without any symbols as symbols just represent words, it's just shortening a word to a universally recognizable symbol. Mathematics is all about taking small things and applying it to everything, expanding it to encompass all areas of studies. For example, calculus and integration can be applied to simple shapes or to complex physics particle acceleration problems. Mathematics can easily be done without the use of any symbols like what a mathematical proofs paper will show you, but it will be very long. Symbols help cut down math language and also make it universally recognizable across all languages. I don't think math needs symbols, like I don't think "as soon as possible" needs to be shortened to "asap". But it does make it a lot easier to say and text. Only for those who understand what it means of course.

Comments

  1. Susan GerofskySeptember 23, 2026 at 12:11 PM

    What a fascinating observation and polemic, Leo! I’m really interested in how this will play out in your teaching, knowing that many other people also have a strong dislike of mathematical symbols.

    ReplyDelete

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