9

th
August, 2013
How Mathematics Affects Material Culture
An essay by Akshay Verma, 7
th
Semester, FVC
Introduction
Mathematics is the principle that governs our universe. It is the underlying logic
of things. The systems of mathematics developed by humans are a most
fascinating and unique reflection of the species understanding of the cosmos. It
is a very abstract and highly conceptual system that allows us to manipulate
matter using the laws that govern it. This essay will explore how it has affected
material culture by primarily focusing on the macroscopic picture and delving
into a little bit of history.
Numbers Versus Mathematics
One of the cornerstones of human intelligence is the sense of numbers.
Interestingly, most animals and birds have it too. Although they may not be seen
counting, they know if one of their offspring goes missing. But, there are very few
animals that can apply this sense into mathematics. Human beings not only sense
numbers and quantities, they perform complex operations on them.
The sense of numbers is not one of the five pure senses. The perception of
numbers is not possible without the five senses. Most people perceive numbers
through the sense of sight. Then those fundamental visual ideas are given names
and corresponding sounds. Unlike numbers, generally, mathematics doesnt end
up being the final product; it is mostly an intermediate. Numbers are the
outcome of things, while mathematics is the operator that makes other numbers.
Therefore, a sense of numbers can be called a Level 0 faculty, while
mathematics, a Level 1 faculty.
The sense of numbers is closely related to linguistics. There are certain tribes
that do not have words for numbers. One such tribe is the Piraha tribe of the
Amazon.
1
They have only three words to denote quantity: Hi means "small size
or amount," ho, means "somewhat larger amount," and bagiso indicates to
"cause to come together, or many." The following is from a study [1]:
one test involved 14 adults in one village that were presented with lines of spools of
thread and were asked to create a matching line of empty rubber balloons. The people
were not able to do the one-to-one correspondence, when the numbers were greater
than two or three.

1
Science News (2012): You Can't Do the Math Without the Words: Amazonian Tribe Lacks Words for Numbers
The oldest known possibly mathematical object is the Lebombo bone and is
dated to approximately 35,000 BC and has what are believed to be tally marks.
Also, prehistoric artifacts discovered in Africa and France, dated
between 35,000 and 20,000 years old, suggest early attempts to quantify time.
2

A sense of numbers doesnt guarantee the development of the faculty of
mathematics. Its when numbers are dematerialized and values attached to them,
that mathematics starts to evolve.
2 + 2 = 4
Basic mathematical operations could have evolved as the visual ideas of adding
(or collecting) similar objects together, subtracting from them, dividing them
into equal or proportional parts, or multiplying them with small numbers. Small
quantities can be represented or counted on fingers, but the representation of
larger quantities could not have evolved without a proper system of denoting
them. Many civilizations evolved tools like tally marks, abaci and written
symbols. These principles were applied to geometric shapes by exploring the
relationships between the lengths, angles and areas. Systems of weights and
measures were also developed.
3
Further, place value systems, decimal and zero
were invented.
Although measurement was an inaccurate science then, it lead to great advances
in material technology. Chemical processes became more accurate. Architecture
is the most obvious field that benefitted from this. The great pyramids of Egypt
are a striking example. Astronomy began to be observed and understood, and
calendars were invented.
4
Technology improved in general with the
development of number systems and mathematics.
Gradually, mathematics moved from a direct application of numbers to objects,
to higher levels of abstraction. Concepts like Pi (), negative numbers, recurring
decimals, irrational numbers, square roots, quadratic equations, etc. were
discovered.
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In 820 AD, Al-Khwarizmi wrote Al-Jabr, later transliterated as
Algebra. It was a milestone in mathematics, as it made numbers variable and
realized the concept of dematerialized quantities. This can be called as a Level 2
faculty.

2
Wikipedia: History of Mathematics
3
California State University, Northridge: The evolution of notation for decimal fractions
4
Wikipedia: Egyptian Calendar
5
Wikipedia: Timeline of Mathematics
The Concept of Value
The concept of quantitative value is a limited one. It made possible for objects to
be measured on various parameters, but could not represent the relative
qualitative values of things. Thus, the concept of currency was evolved. The
values of different objects were in direct proportion to the unit of the currency.
These values were variable, depending on subjective terms of demand and
supply. Selling and buying became easier and no longer depended on
coincidence of wants. Though banking systems had already existed before the
development of mathematics, they greatly improved and now made use of
compound interest and collaterals. Foreign exchange and trade also started to
take place.
With global exchange of information and the establishment of systems of
learning, the concept of value reached greater heights. Calculus, logarithms,
statistics and graphing were discovered. In 1847, George Boole formalized
symbolic logic in The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, defining what is now called
Boolean algebra.
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This was a huge breakthrough that paved way for computer
science. It added another layer of abstraction to mathematics. Earlier, numbers
used to denote quantity, but now numbers were realized as contrast, relative
difference in state. Anything that differs from another has a mathematical
relationship to it. For example, if an apple is red and a banana is yellow, I may
call an apple 0 and a banana 1. Now, I can define a mathematical set of logic to
these numbers and perform logical computations on them. This can be called as a
Level 3 faculty.
The expansion of the domain of mathematics from simple quantitative
expressions and operators, to the something beyond addition and subtraction
logic, the state of being true or false created the world we are living in today.
From a philosophical perspective, mathematics is now starting to be applied to
the duality principle.
As we are going higher up the level of abstraction in mathematics, we are moving
away from a system of constant measures to one that accounts for variability.
The only constants are the concepts of the numbers, not matter itself. Our
material culture is gradually shifting to a relative value based system from an
absolute value system. This is also affecting the importance of things, which can
be seen in the marked changes that are taking place in people, both at an
individual level as well as at the social level. It is a change in human intelligence,
the ripples of which are reaching the surface in the form of behavioral changes.

6
Wikipedia: Boolean Algebra
The Future
As we have seen, our understanding of mathematics places the brick-wall of the
limit of material advances. In a universe where everything is in mathematical
relationship with everything else, we achieve higher levels of manipulability with
our increasing abstraction of ideas into mathematics. The current level of
understanding has allowed us to transfer our intelligence to machines in the
form of computers and artificial intelligence. In the future we may also be able to
find mathematical parallels to our emotions, intuition and ego. Our universe is
expanding both outwards and inwards, and mathematics is the invisible force
that is driving it.