Friday, May 11, 2018

Why Math is a universal language?

   Each one of us was born in a certain place at a certain time. None of us has a chance to decide his/her race, gender, nationality and native language. As we grow older, we start to assemble the puzzle in order to arrive to a theory that specify the meaning of our existence. We go to school and we start first by learning the alphabets, then words and sentences until we're able to make paragraphs and essays and later on write articles and books. It is a gradual improvement on how communication became easier through learning a language. Eventually, everything starts to make sense. 

Similarly, Mathematics is based on common sense. At a younger age someone would be able to count and to differentiate what is more or less. Also, kids learn from how much they possess and how much more they have than others etc... students at school learn numbers from tiles and therefore they start to put the puzzle altogether as they grow older. We use math in our daily life despite your occupation ( teacher, doctor, engineer, carpenter, lawyer etc...) . When it comes to sciences, it won't make sense without the use of mathematics. For instance, in physics math is needed to perform all the calculations needed algebraically. In chemistry, math is needed to do all stoichiometric problems as well as the graphs associated with physical chemistry. In  Biology , math is essential for finding probabilities and distributions of datas. In economics, math is essential for graphs and for the different calculations associated and the list goes on. Therefore, in order to communicate science someone needs to speak the universal language which is mathematics. 


Mathematics is always associated with solving problems. Yes, it is widely used to solve problems given by a teacher if you are a student. At the end, regardless of your occupation you will arrive to a solution. First, you have communicated the problem and then you have used your acquired knowledge about the subject to engineer a solution. Scientists from all over the world gather at the CERN ( European council for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland and in NASA in order to understand the universe better and make a difference in our life. Those scientists rely on mathematics as their universal language in order to communicate better their ideas. In addition, since mathematics is a universal language and it helps narrow down the differences between cultures, why not using it to "solve problems" between countries? 

1 comment:

  1. I really like your idea here that math infiltrates our lives in almost all avenues.

    We need it to solve problems in a variety of different subject areas and it is universally understood as it is written almost exclusively using numbers and symbols with agreed upon meaning. It is so special that students can come from all over the world and work on the same math problems and come to the same solution regardless of their backgrounds or native tongue... something you cannot say for a lot of other subjects.

    I wonder how you could use it to solve problems between countries. Are you speaking about economical or social issues? Or rather, different countries working on the same problems.

    Very deep thinking ideas! Thanks Abbas.

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