WMCF Definition of Mathematics
Mathematics makes up that part of the human conceptual system that is special in the following way:
- "It is precise, consistent, stable across time and human communities, symbolizable, calculable, generalizable, universally available, consistent within each of its subject matters, and effective as a general tool for description, explanation, and prediction in a vast number of everyday activities, sports, to building, business, technology, and science." (WMCF, pp. 50, 377)
Nikolay Lobachevsky said "There is no branch of mathematics, however abstract, which may not some day be applied to phenomena of the real world." A common type of conceptual blending process would seem to apply to the entire mathematical procession. Pythagoras is alleged to have said "All is number."
Read more about this topic: Where Mathematics Comes From
Famous quotes containing the words definition and/or mathematics:
“According to our social pyramid, all men who feel displaced racially, culturally, and/or because of economic hardships will turn on those whom they feel they can order and humiliate, usually women, children, and animals—just as they have been ordered and humiliated by those privileged few who are in power. However, this definition does not explain why there are privileged men who behave this way toward women.”
—Ana Castillo (b. 1953)
“... though mathematics may teach a man how to build a bridge, it is what the Scotch Universities call the humanities, that teach him to be civil and sweet-tempered.”
—Amelia E. Barr (1831–1919)