Reflections on the Crest of the Peacock

The quote, "A concise and meaningful definition of mathematics is virtually impossible." stopped me from the reading. This quote was surprising at first sight, however, after having few seconds to think about it I had to agree with it. This quote represents the abstract nature of mathematics which embraces and relates to every element of the world. Adding on to that, the immense history behind it that humans yet to have the full grasp on further proves this quote is true. It made me realize that I am only viewing small aspects of mathematics and there is enormous space left for me to travel still within the world of mathematics. 

Another thing that surprised me was that how different countries from different continents are interconnected through thousands of years of history within mathematics. It is very interesting that the study of mathematics evolved as the civilization grew and mathematical exchange happened between different groups and places as an important part of civil development. The fact that people from thousands of years ago acknowledged the importance of mathematics and shared their knowledge was fascinating to me. 

Last point that I found surprising was how a similar concept of mathematics were represented in varied forms depending on the context of each region and time period. Joseph informed that "the principle of place value was discovered independently four times in the history of mathematics." by Babylonians, Chinese, Indians, and Mayans. It makes me curious about what factors were significant for them to decide on which base number to use for the system and why they differ. It also makes me wonder if different base number could be effective if applied to different context.


Joseph, George Gheverghese. The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics. Princeton University Press, 1991.

Comments

  1. Amanda Fritzlan21 September 2022 at 12:20

    Yubin, I appreciate your philosophical musing about the definition of mathematics as inspired by this chapter. I hope that you can bring this fascination of the immensity of mathematics and the curiosity to explore into your mathematics classroom! Good post!

    ReplyDelete

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