Transformation of Math - 3

Math & Digital Technology

The invention of mathematical software can be called the fifth major change in mathematics. It brought 2 major changes – making manual computational skills redundant and enabling processing of huge amounts of data.

Till about 5 decades back, even the scientific & mathematical world outside school was focussing on calculations with paper & pencil and mechanical calculators.

The past 5 decades have seen the development of software which could perform almost any calculations and even solve differential equations. The outside world quickly saw the advantage. Today almost no adult in a developed economy performs calculations manually.

Locating patterns in real life events needs analysis of vast amounts of data. The advent of AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning) & Data Mining have accelerated the applications of math to a large number of real-life problems belonging to disparate disciplines.

Knowledge of mathematical techniques is becoming a necessary part of research in any discipline.

Math Today

Digital technology removed the drudgery of computation from math and allowed mathematicians & professionals to focus on the core mathematical issues. It also gave them powerful tools for analysing data.

Doing mathematics today requires a new set of skills required to make effective use of powerful new (procedural) mathematical tools which can be accessed even from our smartphones.

These new skills are in fact much closer to those in the humanities or the creative arts than most people yet realize. Human mind can bring to problems something that computers cannot begin to do, and maybe never will; understanding & intuition.

There is a lot of freedom in mathematics to ask questions. Because of this freedom, innumerable questions are being asked and many branches of mathematics are emerging. We are also realising that asking relevant questions is more difficult than trying to answer them.

Today there are so many new areas in math that it is difficult for even renowned mathematicians to keep track of all the developments in the field. The days when the field of math was dominated by a Newton or Leibnitz or Gauss, who worked simultaneously in many branches of math, seem to be over.

Here is a link to a “Map of Mathematics” which shows the huge number of branches of math.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmJ-4B-mS-Y

The rigid distinction between Applied Math & Pure Math is becoming fuzzy with each intruding into the other domain.

According to mathematicians Terrence Tao “what is required today is a sufficiently deep understanding of all those procedures, and the underlying concepts they are built on, in order to know when, and how, to use those digitally-implemented tools effectively, productively, and safely”.

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/theres-more-to-mathematics-than-rigour-and-proofs/

The human mind is more powerful than any computer. Rigour should not destroy human intuition. Maybe now we have a better understanding of Ramanujan’s ways of doing math.

This is a totally different view of math, from what prevailed just a century earlier.

Our education system needs to urgently take note of these developments.