Mathematics for everyone

Mathematics is empowering. It provides the tools to create and explore with only a pen and a piece of paper. It allows us to answer our own questions about why and how certain things work the way that they do. Mathematics is inherently natural. As humans we tend to be curious and creative, we can express these desires and interests through the exploration of mathematics. Mathematics knows no race, gender, religion, or nationality. Mathematics does not discriminate, and it provides a platform for people of all different kinds to work together to gather more and more understanding. The language of reasoning is universal and does not depend on social constructions. This is why mathematics is for everyone.

Unfortunately, some do not see mathematics as for them let alone for everyone. I have noticed, through teaching mathematics to others, that many people turn away from mathematics as the result of complicated words or scary-looking formulas. I have attempted to teach my family (without a formal education in mathematics) some concepts that I have learnt at university. At first, I taught them as my lecturers taught me and within seconds it was clear that they were already not listening. I attempted a different approach, showing them many more diagrams and visual representations of what I was explaining. Without using any loaded terminology or frightening notation I was able to teach them the basics of these university concepts.

I believe people are naturally opposed to anything that looks complicated or difficult. It is natural for people to want to take a path of least resistance and as a result, typically avoid mathematics as it is taught formally. While these complex notations and scary-looking formulas are required by mathematicians to communicate and combine different concepts effectively, it is not required for most people. When teaching mathematics, avoiding these aspects that turn people away will still carry over the important ideas while ultimately making mathematics more welcoming.

Mathematics has many benefits that carry over in many aspects of our lives. When I think about how mathematics improves my everyday life I always think back to the movie “Arrival”. In the movie, aliens from out of space visit Earth and remain in their spaceships. Humans attempt to communicate with them and in doing so discover that they communicate in a very strange way. They do not use sound to communicate but instead use a form of writing with ink on glass walls. Their writing consists of circular figures that can convey single words or long complex ideas. By slowly learning this non-linear language, the humans sent to communicate with the aliens develop a new way of thinking, that too is non-linear, allowing them to see into the future and back to the past. While mathematics might not give you the ability to time travel, it will, in a similar way, teach you a completely new way of thinking. I have realized through my limited study of mathematics, that the way I think, even in my everyday life, has changed dramatically. I have become more precise, calculated, and more creative. Furthermore, I have become more intrigued by the inner workings of everything from nature to machinery. Mathematics has taught me to explore the world around me and try to discover why things work in the way that they do. It is hard to compare my experience of life before and after mathematics. Before I still found the world around me beautiful but now I feel I have reached a new vantage point.

In conclusion, mathematics is for everyone. However, it is important that everyone comes to this realization. Important changes need to be made in the education and perception of mathematics for this message to be carried across.