Nature of Mathematics

LESSON 1.0

ENGR. MA. REGINE F. CANAMAN

 Nature of Mathematics

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LESSON 1.0 Nature of Mathematics

Mathematics is the language with which God wrote the universe. – Galileo Galilei

The evolution of digital technology has given rise to a significant increase in the rate

we use and generate data. It could take hours before the internet for the library to get many

volumes of resources for a research paper. Today, a few minutes (or seconds depending on

your connection speed) using the browser on your mobile device will get you the same or

even more detail. It took hours for the photographs to be printed and shared a few decades

ago, while now it only takes a matter of seconds for your perfect selfie to be uploaded and

viewed on the other side of the world by your relatives and friends.

How often have you paused in this fast-paced world to appreciate the beauty of the

things that are around you? If you ever stopped and thought about the basic concepts

regulating the universe? How about the processes and mechanisms which make our lives

easier, if not more comfortable? Many people perform the same repetitive tasks every single

day and are often ignored the basic principles that make such activities possible.

They also continue to recognize and obey patterns as logical beings, whether

consciously or subconsciously, because it feels normal, almost as our brain is hardwired to

recognize them. Early humans recognized the repeated interval of day and night, the cycles of

the moon, the rise and fall of tides, and the seasonal changes. Awareness of these trends

ultimately enabled survival for humans. Similarly, many flora and fauna follow such patterns

as well, i.e. the arrangement of the leaves and stems in a vine, the form of a snowflake, the

petals of the flowers, or even the shell of a snail. What would you think? Did you notice any

patterns around you? What other examples could you think about?

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 Nature of Mathematics

In this lesson, we'll look at some of these patterns and regularities around the world,

and how mathematics comes into play both in nature and in human endeavors.

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