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Mathematics in The Modern World The Language of Mathematics

The document discusses the language of mathematics and compares it to the English language. It notes that mathematics uses expressions instead of nouns and sentences instead of sentences. Expressions are analogous to nouns as they name things, while sentences state a complete thought. Some key differences are that mathematical sentences can be true or false, while English sentences may be true, false, or uncertain. It also discusses how numbers have different names in mathematics and uses examples like 5, 2+3, 10/2 to demonstrate this.

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66 views

Mathematics in The Modern World The Language of Mathematics

The document discusses the language of mathematics and compares it to the English language. It notes that mathematics uses expressions instead of nouns and sentences instead of sentences. Expressions are analogous to nouns as they name things, while sentences state a complete thought. Some key differences are that mathematical sentences can be true or false, while English sentences may be true, false, or uncertain. It also discusses how numbers have different names in mathematics and uses examples like 5, 2+3, 10/2 to demonstrate this.

Uploaded by

almiraticnangbongalon
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Language of Mathematics

Characteristics of mathematics
The language of mathematics makes it easy to express the kind of thoughts the mathematicians like to
express
 Precise
 Concise
 Powerful
 The language of mathematics can be learned but requires the effort needed to understand and learn
foreign language

1. Precise (able to make a very fine distinctions)


Example: What can you add to 5 to make it 20?

2. Concise- able to make it briefly


Example: X+5=20
3. Powerful- able to express complete thoughts with relative ease
 Example: V = I R

V-voltage
I- current
R- resistance

English: nouns versus sentence


 Nouns” are used to name things we want to talk about (such as person, places and things); where as
“sentences” are used to state complete thoughts

English Sentences
 A typical English sentence has at least a one ‘noun’ and a one ‘verb’
 For example

Carol loves mathematics.


Here Carol and Mathematics are nouns; loves are a verb

Mathematics: Expression and Sentences


 The mathematical analogue of a noun will be called an expression.
 The mathematical analogue of a sentence will also be called a sentence. A mathematical sentence,
just as an English sentence, must state a complete thought.

Comparison of English and Mathematics


English mathematics

Name give to and object Noun(person, place, thing Expression


Examples: carol, Tabuk, Book Example:
5 , 2+3 , 1/2

A complete thought Sentence: Sentence


Examples: Examples:
The capital of Kalinga is Rizal. 4+5 = 10
The capital of Kalinga is Tabuk. 4+5 = 9

Examples
Classify the entries below as: an English noun (EN); Mathematic expression(ME); English
sentence(ES); Mathematic Sentence(MS)
1. dog - EN
2. 3 - ME
3. The word cat begins with letter K. ES
4. 2+3 = 5 - MS
5. 6-7 - ME
6. 7-3 = 4 - MS
7. The dog is black. ES
8. X - ME

Truth of Sentences
 Sentences can be TRUE OR FALSE
 The notion of truth (i.e., the property of being true or false) is of fundamental importance in the
mathematical language, this will become apparent as you read the book.

Examples
classify the entries below as: sentence is true (ST) ; sentence is false (SF) ; Maybe true or maybe false
(ST/SF) ; not applicable (NA)
1. The word cat begins with letter K. SF
2. 2+3 = 5 ST
3. 7-3 = 4 ST
4. The dog is black. ST/SF
5. X-1=0 ST/SF
6. x+3=3+x ST
7. This sentences is false. ST/SF
8. X-0=X ST
9. 1 . X = X ST
10. Hat sat bat NA

Ideas regarding sentences


 Sentences have verbs
 Just as English sentences have verbs, so do mathematical sentences.
 In Mathematical sentences ‘3+4=7”, the verb is ‘= ‘, if you read the sentence as ‘three plus four is
equal to seven’ then it’s easy to hear the verb.
 Indeed, the equal sign ‘= ‘is one of the most popular mathematical verbs.
Numbers have different names
 Since people frequently need to work with numbers, these are the most common type of mathematical
expression;
 For example, the expressions

5 2+3 10/2
(6-2) +1 1+1+1+1+1 8-1
 All looks different, but are all just different names for the same numbers

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