Republic of the Philippines

NUEVO ZAMBOANGA COLLEGE, INC.

Mayor Agan Avenue, Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City
Zamboanga Del Sur, Philippines 7000

The Nature of Mathematics

In the book of Ian Stewart, Nature’s Number, he that mathematics is a formal system of
thought that was gradually developed in the human mind and evolved in the human culture.
Thus, in the long course of human history, our ancestors at a certain point were endowed with
insight to realize the existence of “form” in their surroundings. From their realization, a system
of thought further advanced their knowledge into understanding measures. They were able to
gradually develop the science of measures and gained the ability to count, gauge, assess,
quantify, and size almost everything.
From our ancestor’s realization of measures, they were able to notice and
recognize some rudiment hints about patterns. Thus, the concept of recognizing
shapes made its course towards classifying contour and finally using those designs
to build human culture: an important ingredient for a civilization to flourish. From
then, the man realized that the natural world is embedded in a magnanimously
mathematical realm of patterns----and that natural order efficiently utilizes all
mathematical patterns to its advantage. As a result, we made use of mathematics
as a brilliant way to understand the nature by comprehending the structure of its
underlying patterns and regularities.
Mathematics is present in everything we do; it is all around us and it is the building
block of our daily activities. It has been at the forefront of every period of
our development, and as our civilized societies advanced, our needs of
mathematics pioneering arose on the frontier of our course as we prepare our
human species to traverse the cosmic shore.
Mathematics is a Tool
Mathematics, as a tool, is immensely useful, practical, and powerful. It is not about
crunching numbers, formulas, and symbols but rather, it is all about forming new
ways to see problems so we can understand them by combining insights with
imagination. It also allows us to perceive realities in different contexts that would
otherwise, be intangible to us. It can be likened to our sense of sight and touch.
Mathematics is our sense to decipher patterns, relationships, and logical
connections. It is a whole new way to see and understand the modern world.
Mathematics, being a broad and deep discipline, deals with the logic of shape,
quantity, and arrangement. Once, it was perceived as merely a collective thought
dealing with counting numbers, but it is now being understood as a universal
language dealing with symbols, arts, equations, geometric shapes, and patterns. It
 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVO ZAMBOANGA COLLEGE, INC.
Mayor Agan Avenue, Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City
Zamboanga Del Sur, Philippines 7000

is asserting that mathematics is a powerful tool in decision-making and it is a way

of life.

Figure 1.1 The Nature of Mathematics

In Figure 1.1 illustrated by Nocon and Nocon, it portrays the function of
mathematics. As shown, it is stated that mathematics is a set of problem-solving
tools. It provides answers to existing questions and presents solutions to occurring
problems. It has the power to unveil the reasons behind occurrences and it offers
explanations. Moreover, mathematics, as a study of patterns, allows people to observe,
hypothesize, experiment, discover, and recreate. On the other hand,
mathematics is an art and a process of thinking. For it involves reasoning, which
can be inductive or deductive, and it applies methods of proof both in a fashion that
is conventional and unconventional.
Mathematics is Everywhere
We use mathematics in our daily tasks and activities. It is an important tool in the
field of sciences, humanities, literature, medicine, and even in music and arts; it is
in the rhythm of our daily activities, operational in our communities, and a default
system of our culture. There is mathematics wherever we go. It helps us cook
delicious meals by exacting our ability to measure and moderately control heat.
It also helps us to shop wisely, read maps, use the computer, and remodel home with
constrained budget with the utmost economy.
 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVO ZAMBOANGA COLLEGE, INC.
Mayor Agan Avenue, Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City
Zamboanga Del Sur, Philippines 7000

Even from the cosmic perspective, the patterns in the firmament are always presented
as a mystery waiting to be uncovered by an us-the-sentient being. To
unearthed this mystery, we are challenged to investigate and deeply examine its
structure and rules to the infinitesimal level. The intertwined governing powers of
cosmic mystery can only be decoded by seriously observing and studying their
regularities, and patiently waiting for the signature of some kind of interference. It is
only by observing the abundance of patterns scattered everywhere that this
irregularities will beg to be noticed. Some of them are boldly exposed in a simple
and obvious manner while others are hidden in ways that are impossible to perceive
by easy to discern. While our ancestors were able to discover the presence of
mathematics in everything, it took the descendants, us, a long time to gradually
notice the impact of these patterns in the persistence of our species to rightfully
exist.
The Essential Roles of Mathematics
Mathematics has countless hidden uses and applications. It is not only something
that delights our mind but it also allows us to learn and understand the natural
order of the world. This discipline was and is often studied as a pure science but it
also finds its place in other areas of perpetuating knowledge. Perhaps, science
would agree that, when it comes to discovering and unveiling the truth
behind the inherent secrets and occurrences of the universe, nothing visual, verbal,
or aural come close to matching the accuracy, economy, power, and elegance of
mathematics. Mathematics helps us to take the complex processes that are naturally
occurring in the world around us and it represents them by utilizing logic to make
things more organized and more efficient.
Further, mathematics also facilitates not only weather but also controlling the
weather ---- be it social, natural, statistical, political, or medical. Applied
mathematics, which was once only used for solving problems in physics, and it is also
becoming a useful tool in biological sciences: for instance, the spread of various diseases can
now be predicted and controlled. Scientists and researchers use
applied mathematics in doing or performing research to solve social, scientific,
medical, or even political crises.
Mathematics is for Everyone
The relationship of the mathematical landscape in the human mind with the natural
the world is so strange that in the long run, the good math provides utilization and
usefulness in the order of things. Perhaps, most people, simply need to
know the basics of the mathematical operations to survive daily tasks; but
 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVO ZAMBOANGA COLLEGE, INC.
Mayor Agan Avenue, Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City
Zamboanga Del Sur, Philippines 7000

for the human society to survive and for the human species to persistently exist,
humanity needs, beyond the rudiment of mathematics. To safeguard our existence, we
already have delegated the functions of mathematics across all disciplines. There is
mathematics we call pure and applied, as there are scientists, we call social and
natural. There is mathematics for engineers to build, mathematics for commerce
and finance, mathematics for weather forecasting, mathematics that is related to
health and mathematics to harness energy for utilization. To simply put it,
everyone uses mathematics to different degrees and levels. Everyone uses
mathematics, whoever they are, wherever they are, and whenever they need to.
From mathematicians to scientists, from professionals to ordinary people, they all
use mathematics. Mathematics puts order amidst disorder. It helps us become
better persons and helps make the world a better place to live in.
The Importance of Knowing and Learning Mathematics
Why do we want to observe and describe patterns and regularities? Why do we
want to understand the physical phenomena governing our world? Why do we
want to dig out rules and structures that lie behind patterns of the natural order?
It is because those rules and structures explain what is going on. It is because they are
beneficial in generating conclusions and in predicting events. It is because they
provide clues. The clues that make us realize that interference in the motion of
heavenly bodies can predict a lunar eclipse, solar eclipse as well as comets’
appearances. That the position of the sun and the moon relative to the earth can
predict high tide and low tide events affecting human activities. And that human
activities need clues for the human culture to meaningfully work.
Mathematical training is vital to decipher the clues provided by nature. But the role
of mathematics goes clues and it goes beyond prediction. Once we understand how
the system works, our goal is to control it to make it do what we want. We want to
understand the mathematical pattern of a storm to avoid or prevent catastrophes.
We want to know the mathematical concept behind the contagion of the virus to
control its spread. We want to understand the unpredictability of cancer cells to
combat it before it even exists. Finally, we want to understand the butterfly effect
as much as we are so curious to know why the “die” of the physical world play god.
 Republic of the Philippines
NUEVO ZAMBOANGA COLLEGE, INC.
Mayor Agan Avenue, Sta. Maria, Zamboanga City
Zamboanga Del Sur, Philippines 7000

ACTIVITY 1
Answer one of the following questions in an essay:
1. What are the new things you’ve discovered about the nature of mathematics?
2. What aspect of the lesson most influenced your perception of mathematics?
3. What is mathematics’ most significant contribution to humanty?
Format: (STRICTLY OBSERVE THE FOLLOWING)
 300 words
 Margin must be Normal Justified
 Orientation should be Portrait
 Paper Size is 8.5 x 13
 Font Type must be Times New Roman
 Font Size must be 12
 Line Spacing is 1.5
 There should be a Page Number of the form “Page x of x” using Bold Numbers 3
 Save as your file into PDF format (Note: Submit a hardcopy and softcopy)
 Name your file as “ACTIVITY # – LAST NAME, FIRST NAME”
NOTE: Plagiarism is not permitted and will result in a 0 or 5.0 grade.