Mathematics

The general term ‘mathematics’ is often defined as the study of topics such as structure, quantity, change and space. A different view, held by several mathematicians, is that mathematics is the body of knowledge that is justified by deductive reasoning, which starts from axioms and definitions.

The word ‘mathematics’ comes from the Greek word ‘mathema’, which means ‘science’, ‘knowledge’ or ‘learning’. In Commonwealth English, this description is often abbreviated as ‘maths’, and as ‘math’ in North American English.

Practical mathematics is used, generally, for such purposes as measuring land accounting and predicting astronomical events, such as the passing of comets. Mathematical research or discovery often involves discovering and cataloging patterns without regard for application. In other fields of research and knowledge, such as engineering, the natural sciences, economics or medicine, tend to make use of many new mathematical discoveries.

The development of math might be seen as an ever-increasing series of abstractions, or alternately, an expanding of subject material. The first abstraction was most likely that of numbers. The realization that recognizing and counting objects can make human life easier was a major breakthrough in human thought.

Prehistoric people also recognized how to count abstract amounts, like seasons, days and such, naturally, by reading the stars movements in the sky. And the geometric skill of such ancient peoples is evident in the monolithic monuments built during these times.

Further development of math requires writing or some other form for recording numbers and tallies, such as the knotted string used by the Incans to store numerical data. These counting strings were called khipu.

Since the beginning of recorded history, the primary disciplines within mathematics rose out of a need to calculate commerce and taxation, to understand the relationships between numbers, to predict astronomical events and to measure land. These needs of the people can be seen as being related to the broad subdivision of math, into the various studies of quantity, space, change, and structure.

Mathematical innovations have been made throughout human history and continue to be made today. In the January 2006 issue of Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, it is stated by Mikhail B. Sevryuk, that ‘the number of papers and books included in the Mathematical Reviews database since 1940 is now more than 1.9 million, and more than 75 thousand items are added to the database each year. The overwhelming majority of works in this ocean contain new mathematical theorems and their proof.”

Mathematics came about where there were difficult problems that involve structure, quantity, change or space. First, these aspects were found in commerce, land measurement and later in astronomy. Now, all sciences suggest problems studied by mathematicians, and several problems pop up within math itself.

Feynman invented his Feynman path integral using a combination of physical insight and reasoning, Newton invented infinitesimal calculus, and today’s string theory also inspires the new world of mathematics.

Some math is only relevant in the area that inspired it, and is applied to further solve problems within that field. Oftentimes, though, math inspired by one area proves very useful in another area and then joins the general stock of math concepts.

Like most areas of study, the explosion of information in the scientific age has led to specialization in mathematics. A primary distinction here is between applied mathematics and pure mathematics.

Aura Mirchandani is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory.