The question of how mathematicians think is closely related to the question “How does a musician compose?” Similarly, this question is asked to learn how the creative process works. Those who are interested in computer science or especially artificial intelligence can give the correct answer to this question. A real mathematician is not interested in finding the answer to this question. He’s just busy doing math.
Unfortunately, there is no clear way to answer the question of how a mathematician thinks. But we can approach this question as follows; if you watched any chess tournament, the game’s analysis is shared…
The existential philosopher Merleau Ponty says, “Film is not thought, it is perceived.”
Many people see watching movies as a way to spend time. For example, someone who is down might want to watch a movie to cheer up, or a group of friends coming together might want to terrorize themselves with a horror film for the sake of thrills. For some, however, watching films is beyond the mere mundane experience many perceive it to be. …
As humans, despite numerous things to fascinate us, we always become shocked when we meet someone who shares the same birthday as us. While this level of surprise may come across as understandable if you are one of two people in a given setting, it wouldn’t be so if you were one student among 23 in a classroom, or one of 23 people in a cafe you’ve sat in to drink a hot chocolate or peach-mango tea, or one of the 23 people on the Argentinian national team for the 2022 World Cup.
That is because math tells us that…
It was a decade ago that I met Richard Feynman when I happened to be casually spending some time at a library. My reason for being there was to peacefully watch the rain behind the comfort of one of the library windows. The library was indeed a perfect location for this purpose of mine, and as the rain began to subside, my eyes wandered over the book which I had selected purely for the sake of its beautiful cover and title. …
Have you ever seen a rainbow? Until recently, I had looked at many rainbows but had never truly seen a rainbow.
In his writings on faith and logic, religious scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi maintained that looking and seeing are two different things. In his book, Words, he says,
“The eye is a window through which the spirit looks at this world. If you use it on behalf of your carnal soul, without selling it to God Almighty, by gazing at transient, impermanent beauties and spectacles, it panders to lust and other carnal desires.”
Using Nursi’s reasoning, you might look at…
From the day I learned Calculus, I noticed that I had become obsessed with learning how certain things worked. While it is fun to understand how certain things work, it is even more entertaining to learn about how something was discovered. Furthermore, it is most amusing to learn how something works or exists on our own. For example, knowing that 2•2=4 isn’t very rewarding for a child. However, understanding why 2•2=4, demonstrating it with wooden blocks, is extremely rewarding.
That is why it is so enjoyable to come up with and read about proofs. To write out a proof takes…
In his 1969 book, The Science of the Artificial, Herbert Simon defines design as “To design is to devise courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” To move away from the thing at hand to one chosen, the chosen one can’t simply be functional. It has to also appeal to the eye. We can say that things that are functional yet appealing have good design.
All of the brilliant designers I have had the opportunity to meet had vast imaginations and significant aesthetic concerns. Furthermore, all of them had interests in geometry and mathematics. Spending my…
“…that vast book which stands forever opened before our eyes, I mean the universe, … cannot be read until we have learned the language… It is written in mathematical language, … without which… it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word.” — Galileo, the Father of Modern Science.
Everyone knows about honey bees. However, the bees have known what human mathematicians didn’t know for thousands of years. A honeybee may be the most extraordinary creature in the universe. Its body is beautifully patterned, can fly wherever it wants, spends its time near beautiful flowers, produces the most delicious and incredible substance in nature, honey, and, most importantly, it is a great mathematician. The amount of knowledge they have of the world around them is comparable to graduating from the best science and engineering schools. They show us that mathematics is the language of nature and science. Aristotle was…
It was finally the weekend! After my long mathematics presentation, I came home to watch my favorite tv show, Person of Interest, to de-stress. Surprisingly, the episode was about the most famous mathematical constant, pi (π), equal to the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, commonly approximated as 3.14159. Mr. Finch (the main character) acted as a substitute teacher and wrote on the chalkboard 3.1415926535. Then he asked the students, “What does this mean?”
I answered the question in my mind, thinking, “If I have a bicycle tire with a diameter of 1, then one full revolution of…
Archimedes used calculus as a simple way of thinking that was never seen before. On the other hand, Richard Feynman held that calculus was the language that God had used when creating this universe. In reality, both are correct. Not only is calculus a form of thinking, but it is also a way to explain an unknown occurrence. If we look further into it, we can assume that they are the same thing. After all, language is the spoken form of thoughts. (Let us ignore those who talk without thinking).
Ever since Leibniz proposed calculus to the world, mathematicians and…
Ali
Math Teacher. Content Curator. Soccer player. Maradona fan. Mostly write about the lectures I love to learn better. alikayaspor@gmail.com
