When I asked my dad (who, by the way, is a high school math teacher) about what mathematics is, he quite simply told me that it is problem solving. When you do math, you solve problems. And when you think mathematically, it means you think logically; you plan and execute steps that will take you from point A to point B in a logical manner.
Being my father's daughter, I would have to agree with him. Math isn't just about numbers, it's about problems and solutions. It's more of a way of life than a science or a school subject. Math is more than a text book of equations.
In 2011, Get Real Math blogged about what it means to 'do mathematics.' They had some really great points which included a quote from Paul Lockhart, author of A Mathematician's Lament which states:
“mathematics is about problems, and problems must be made the focus of a student’s mathematical life. Painfully and creatively frustrating as it may be, students and their teachers should at all times be engaged in the process of doing mathematics — having ideas, not having ideas, discovering patterns, making conjectures, constructing examples and counterexamples, devising arguments, and critiquing each other’s work.”In a more recent blog post (published in 2013), mathematician and programmer, Jeremy Kun, talked about the myth that math is solving for x. Here, he explains that "the primary skill [in regards to algebra] is in reasoning about complex problems in a principled way." Education.com also talks about what it means to do mathematics, showing how mathematics utilizes science verbs that indicate the process of "making sense" and "figuring out."
So it seems to me that my dad is onto something... Mathematics is more than its textbook definition. Math is more than numbers. Math is problem solving. Math is life. Don't you agree?
Go down deep enough into anything and you will find mathematics.
- Dean Schlicter
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