Hannele.Tervola@gmail.com
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 Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 6:08 am Post subject: The easiest way to conceive mathematics |
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There is no mathematics in the nature. There are only sizes to measure
and numbers of individual entities with roughly but not exactly the
same qualities. Mathematics is just a tool invented by humans. It
leaves away the complexity of the nature and concentrates on single
easily measurable charachteristics. It is good for the building of
tools but not for the guiding of actions which should be more complex,
like the nature is. So if we take something as an example of what good
quality thinking is like, that should not be mathematics but the
natural perceptions of nature: of life in the action. Since if we
learn how to handle the complexity of the nature, we can handle also
simple things like mathematics but not the other way around!
Humans are adabted to a life in the nature where nothing is twice the
same, even though some significant charachteristics repeat themselves
again and again. No two bushes are alike, there is always some tiny
variation, which can be quite big if you take a closer, slower look at
the thing: Here is a branch to the north, there to the south, here are
three bush trunks, there just two,... This is what the human eye and
the whole human perception ability are adabted to, so mathematics too
becomes easier if it is done WITH the natural variation, with each
single object being different, and not without it. So it is easier to
count trees of different looks, even though of the same species, than
to count coins or any other factory-made artifacts. The human eye
can"abstract" the main charachteristics of the task at hand from the
real picture, while the complexityy of the whole gives it an
atmosphere and rythm which make it an unforgettable sight, easy to
remember: one occasion from the life itself! Thus even the
mathematical task becomes a part of life>s whole sphere, it gets its
place in the whole so that it is easy to understand its meaningfulness
in life. It is not good to abstract directly "all calculations like
this" are useful in life. Instead one should look at the
meaningfulness of the one single calculation to life and via that
understand also the possible uses of that technique in other
occasions, while remembering that calculating without any reason isn>t
useful at all. |
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