Discussion on the role

of trust in Math

Peterson
Real Life Situation

● Mathematicians have developed a frame to determine when high points and

low points in the number of infections will be.
● Mathematicians Nick James and Max Menzies say that they look for turning
point in the graph to indicate when serges start or end.
● Most state officials are looking for plateaus to life restriction, but that should
really be looking for local maxima and minimums in the graph.
To what extent does trust play a role in the
pursuit of knowledge?

AOKs: WOKs:

Math Language

Intuition

Reason
Knowledge Claim #1: Previous knowledge of math
affects the believability of a new math claim.
● The sum of two even integers will
always be even.
● We know this is true because of our
previous math that we have
learned.
● We know that an even integer is
divisible by two and we know how
to add.
● If you don’t have any previous math
knowledge on a particular math
proof, it does not mean it’s wrong
Knowledge Claim #2: The Language used to present a
mathematical proof affects the believability of a claim.

● “A graph G is perfect if for every induced

subgraph H, the chromatic number of H
equals the size of the largest complete
subgraph of H, and G is Berge if no induced
subgraph of G is an odd cycle of length at
least five or the complement of one.”
● Some people will say that if that you should
learn the language if you want to understand
the proof
● This proof uses foreign symbols and does
not explain what they signify.
Knowledge Claim #3: Coherence affects the believability
of a knowledge claim.

● 600 page proof that has only been

confirmed by 12 other mathematicians
● This conjecture roughly states that if a lot
of small primes divide two numbers a and
b, then only a few, large ones divide their
sum, c.
● Since only 12 mathematicians in the whole
world can claim its validity, it is hard to
accept this proof.
● However the 12 mathematicians would say
that this proof is valid.
● Do we trust only 12 mathematicians out of
all of the mathematicians?
Conclusion

● In math, trust is the most important factor needed for the

pursuit of knowledge.
○ Knowledge cannot be passed from person to person unless trust
is established.
○ Do we trust only 12 mathematicians as seen in the ABC
Conjecture
○ Is the Language of the proof compelling or understandable?
○ Can we use intuition to see if this proof is logical?
Link to Real Life Situation

● Trust between the government and citizens is needed in order to stop the
spread of the virus.
● Trust is also need between mathematicians and government to remove
restrictions in safer periods of this pandemic.
● Trust between myself and the government is also needed to accept the
knowledge and act upon it.
Bibliography

https://phys.org/news/2020-09-advanced-mathematics-condense-covid-comple
xity.html

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00998-2

https://annals.math.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/annals-v164-n1-p02.pdf