Mathematics is a very wide discipline. Many people seem to assume that most problems in mathematics have been solved or that it is an static discipline that does not serve a practical purpose. I like to think of math as a language in which we communicate abstract ideas and contextualize them. Galileo once said, "Nature's great book is written in mathematics." Its ability to be cross-disciplinary derives from this idea. We can use math to numerically quantify different natural phenomenon in various disciplines like physics, chemistry, economics, finance, computer sciences, and so on.
At the same time, problems from other disciplines inspire the creation of theoretical concepts that end up contributing to mathematics itself. While I don't doubt the benefits of cross-displinarity in mathematics, I think that translating it so that other disciplines may understand and use it correctly its a great challenge. To be able to successfully do this will take a lot of cultural negotiation in between fields and an increament in the appreciation of cross-disciplinarity.
Great post, and I think you're quite right. I wonder also sometimes though about mathematics taking other disciplines too far from their original purpose. Not everything is quantifiable, and while math can be used sometimes to describe results or provide detailed insights, it can also have negative consequences.
ReplyDeleteFor example, to reduce economics to pure number-crunching, or to reduce philosophy to a mathematical game of creating and following axioms, is to miss the full depth of these disciplines. And to suppose that every discipline needs to be infused by math or the scientific method in order to be legitimate is to ignore the transcendental nature of the human experience.
So yep, there's my rant. Great post, Vanessa, thanks!