TOK and Mathematics

Ghina Srouji
 Outline
 Definition

 Axiom-theorem Structure
 Creative discipline

 Mathematical truth

 Applied Mathematics
 Sciences

Natural Formal Human

Bi y
olo i c s g
gy ys lo
Ph Histo h o
ry yc
Ps
Chemistry
Mathematics
 What is
mathematics ?!
 Science of structure, order and relation
 Science dealing with the logic of quantity
and shape and arrangement
 A science of relation
 Set of tools for solving practical and
technical problems
 A game for intellectual construction
 What do thinkers say
about mathematics !
“Nature is written in the language of
mathematics”
Galileo
“Mathematics is the music of the spheres”
Pythagoras
“The world is made up of numbers”
Pythagoras
 Axiom-theorem
Structure
The foundation of mathematics is :
AXIOMS ( = collection of fundamental laws)
Formal systems of knowledge

Define Axioms

Rules of Inferences

Create Theorems

Create mathematical knowledge

 Mathematical truth
 Mathematics does not seek truth,

but it does seek coherence.

 Creative Discipline !
 It is a discipline that
requires the least effort
because it relies on little
preliminary knowledge.
 It is evolving:
Hands on: Pythagoras theorem,
parabolas, hyperbolas, ellipses
 Applied
Mathematics
Tunnel of Samos

The rocket Ariane

 What could be new !!!

Iteration
Mathematics Computers 1) Numerical :
application : Finding Roots

2) Geometric = Fractals

Mathematics * Seirpinski triangle

http://math.bu.edu//DYSYS/applets/chaos-ga
* Julia Set
http://math.bu.edu//DYSYS/applets
 Why do we ALL
learn mathematics?
 Why do we learn literature?
Isn’t it enough to read and write !
 Why do we learn biology? history?
music? geology?
 Mathematics, what for ?!
 Helps researchers of all kinds and in all the
domains to understand our world and how it
functions

( engineers, biologists, ecologists, …)

 Helps citizens in their everyday life

 Mathematics offers
us another world,
above our natural
world.

In fact, our world is very

complex whereas the
mathematical world seems to
be better structured.
In order to do this, we
should let go of the
complicated rules of our real
world and join the coherent
rules of the math world.
 Mathemagics
 Itis a rather fantastic and exciting
privilege of the science of mathematics
that everything that was once thought of
and proven still retains its worth intact.

 Mathematical theories are for all time

 Finally
 “ when the imagination is
confounded with intelligence,
isn’t it mathematics?
Albert Camus

 Mathematics honors the

human mind
 Mathematics: an
introduction to
abstraction!
 "Let no one who is
not a geometer
enter".
- Written on the door of Plato’s
Academy