| It's subtle, far-reaching, and coercive, and | | | | tuition in mathematics from an early age by a |
| we start learning it as early as the first | | | | good and enthusiastic teacher will grow up |
| grade. It may not be well-supported by | | | | liking it." |
| research, yet it defines many peoples' | | | | |
| self-image, their college majors, and their | | | | For some of today's greatest scientists and |
| job choices. What is it? | | | | mathematicians, and for some of our greatest |
| | | | artists, math and the arts are more like than |
| It's the idea that there are "math people" | | | | unalike. Theoretical physicist Nick Halmagyi, |
| and "humanities people": students who | | | | writing in Seed Magazine, compares high-level |
| "naturally" excel in math and students who | | | | physics, with its endless chalkboarding of |
| "naturally" excel at the humanities, subjects | | | | equations, to playing jazz, a comparison that |
| such as English, visual art, history, drama, | | | | will ring true to anyone who remembers that |
| and social studies. Sometimes this idea is | | | | in the middle ages, the study of music was |
| linked to the notion of "right-brained" and | | | | sometimes considered a branch of mathematics. |
| "left-brained" people-logical vs. | | | | He writes: "[W]hat I've come to realize is |
| intuitive-though brain scientists dispute | | | | that the best part of what I do is |
| this pop-psychological idea, pointing out | | | | collaborating with remarkably creative |
| that traits are not localized in the brain in | | | | people. Understanding the tiny tweaks and |
| quite this way, and that people cannot be | | | | unexpected transitions in the universe's |
| sorted so easily. In any case, labeling | | | | evolution requires prodigious amounts of |
| students as "math and science types" or | | | | rigor, originality, and personality. It |
| "English and history types" may teach them to | | | | reminds me of the ingredients for a good jazz |
| ignore, and thus limit, their own abilities | | | | ensemble ... We improvise and strike out in |
| in other subjects. It teaches people who may | | | | different directions, following whichever |
| be having a temporary bad experience with | | | | note sounds most promising. Over time |
| math to feel like they've run up against, not | | | | different voices float to the top. We hear |
| a momentary difficulty, but an essential | | | | both bravura solo performances and wrong |
| truth of their own personality. | | | | notes. But ultimately, there comes a singular |
| | | | moment when the right chord of an elegant |
| Why, then, do so many students experience | | | | solution reveals itself, and we reach the |
| math as a chore? Cambridge mathematician | | | | essential resonance of our collaboration." |
| Timothy Gowers suggests that it's not math as | | | | |
| such, but the standardized instruction of | | | | From the other side of the net, so to speak, |
| math class, that turns some students off. He | | | | some of today's most important literary |
| writes in Mathematics: A Very Short | | | | artists also find essential inspiration and |
| Introduction: "Probably it is not so much | | | | food for thought in mathematics. An obvious |
| mathematics itself that people find | | | | example is writer David Foster Wallace, whose |
| unappealing as the experience of mathematics | | | | massive 1995 cult classic Infinite Jest is |
| lessons ... because mathematics continually | | | | frequently hailed as the defining novel of |
| builds on itself, it is important to keep up | | | | its generation. Wallace's fondness for-and |
| when learning it." In a classroom of thirty | | | | expertise in-advanced math is well known, and |
| pupils and one teacher, the instruction has | | | | reached its culmination (so far) in a 2004 |
| to move at a certain plodding pace, which | | | | book of nonfiction, Everything And More, an |
| leaves some students bored and others, who | | | | equation-filled, densely logical history of |
| are slower to grasp a concept, frustrated. | | | | the idea of infinity. Artists of every stripe |
| "Those who are not ready to make the | | | | have grown obsessed with such mathematical |
| necessary conceptual leap when they meet one | | | | condundra as the Fibonacci sequence, chaos |
| of these [new] ideas will feel insecure about | | | | and complexity theory, and the ideas of Kurt |
| all the mathematics that builds on it," | | | | Godel. John Updike meditates on computer |
| Gowers writes. "Gradually they will get used | | | | science in his 1986 novel Roger's Version, |
| to only half understanding what their | | | | which fellow novelist Martin Amis called "a |
| mathematics teachers say, and after a few | | | | near-masterpiece"; Amis, in turn, |
| more missed leaps they will find that even | | | | contemplates information theory (among other |
| half is an overestimate. Meanwhile, they will | | | | things) in his 1995 comic novel The |
| see others in their class who are keeping up | | | | Information. |
| with no difficulty at all. It is no wonder | | | | |
| that mathematics lessons become, for many | | | | Both fields require creativity-and that's |
| people, something of an ordeal." | | | | something human beings have in abundance. |
| | | | Great teaching-and attentive tutoring-can |
| But Gowers sees hope for such frustrated | | | | help ensure that that creativity isn't |
| students in math tutoring: "I am convinced | | | | limited by that self-punishing idea, "I'm |
| that any child who is given one-to-one | | | | just not a math person ... |