NOAM GR!

I enjoy lurking around math forums and blogs from time to time.  These places tend to be frequented by all sorts of people, ranging from students like myself, to professional mathematicians, to teachers, to hobbyists.   Topics of discussion range from puzzles, to math jokes, neat problems and theorems, interesting applications; and research topics too advanced for me to know what the hell I’m looking at.

There is, however, one discussion that comes up often that just gets under my skin every time.  It is usually prompted by a quote like this one:

I am accustomed, as a professional mathematician, to living in a sort of vacuum, surrounded by people who declare with an odd sort of pride that they are mathematically illiterate. — David Mumford

Which in itself doesn’t bother me.  It’s a fact: the overwhelming majority of people are mathematically illiterate.

What tends to happen next in this discussion, is a few people comment on the sad state of math education in America, someone links to Lockhart’s Lament, a few more people share some personal anecdotes from their professional life as a mathematician or educator…

But soon enough the inevitable happens, and the conversation takes a turn south.  It’s at this point that you start seeing this sort of idiotic comment:

Is anyone just ridiculously depressed/disillusioned with how damn stupid the majority of people are, I honestly cannot come to a sane acceptance that most people cannot form or even grasp basic rational thought processes.

What can I say.  It must be pretty tough being that ridiculously depressed/disillusioned, but at least he’s making an effort, right? — you know, coming to a sane acceptance of how stupid the majority of people are.  Or something.

Of course, some other delicate geniuses aren’t quite so forgiving of the proles:

What bugs me is they say you are so smart in relation to some retardedly easy concept and they aren’t capable of thinking at a level abstract enough to appreciate the level of intelligence one might have.

Can you blame him?  Not only must he go through life tormented by the knowledge that his powers of abstraction will never be fully appreciated by the rest of humanity, but can you imagine, on top of that, living with the chronic back pain that is surely caused by hauling around such a massive brain, day-in, day-out? — No.  So before you judge him, take a moment to put yourself in his shoes, and think about the hardships that he must endure, every day, as his puny, pale, bacne-ridden body is crushed, little by little, by the weight of his genius.

Learn a little compassion and empathy, won’t you.  Maybe from this next guy:

The majority of people are indeed stupid.  I don’t blame them for not being math geniuses, but the average person abuses logic so terribly it hurts.

That’s right.  Not being a math genius = being indeed stupid.

Now you know.

I really hate to have to have been the one to break it to you.  But for what it’s worth, maybe you can take some comfort in knowing that there are wonderful people out there, like this gentle soul, who feel your pain; because you see… your stupidity hurts him; it hurts him just as bad as it would hurt you. If you weren’t so indeed average and stupid compared to him, that is.

Jokes aside, most math students are not such self-important dopes, and soon enough somebody with some common sense steps into the picture and points out the obvious:

People also declare quite proudly that they are terrible dancers or artists or singers.  Why single out Mathematics?

Which is what I wish to address in today’s post.

~*~

Here is someone’s rebuttal to the user above, before I chimed in:

You don’t need to be a good dancer or artist or singer to function in modern society.

Nor do you need to understand math.  Many successful people don’t understand math.

Actually: most successful people don’t understand math.

[Mathematics] helps you make wise investment decisions (only one example) , and an understanding of statistics and probabilities is necessary to make understand the world around you.

Can you point me in the direction of this research that suggests that mathematicians tend to make better choices in life than journalists, or lawyers, schoolteachers, doctors, actors?

I love math, and wish more people would give it a chance too, but to sell it under the premise that somehow your personal life will directly benefit from an understanding of it, unless you’re going into mathematics or another math-heavy area, is disingenuous.

Even in areas where math is used — like biology or accounting — , any understanding of mathematics past a superficial familiarity with first-year calculus and statistics is not really necessary.

For that matter, define “math literate”: is a doctor mathematically literate because he learned how to differentiate in first year?  An elementary school teacher?

Truth is, a deep understanding of language, politics, interpersonal skills (which I completely lack), etc. is far more useful and conducive to success and happiness than an understanding of mathematics.

And if you want to talk about undervalued skills, I mean, just reading through some of these “nobody understands math! everybody is so stupid!” threads … grammar and rhetoric books don’t bite, you know. — What good are your axiomatically flawless opinions if you read like coco the chimpanzee when you try to express them?

If you want to defend mathematics for its beauty, its elegance, how fun and rewarding an experience it can be, sometimes even a moving, almost spiritual, experience — for the same reasons you would defend music or sports or mountain climbing — I’m right behind you.  But don’t fool yourself into believing that your grasp of knot theory somehow elevates you into some transcendent state of zen-like understanding.

~*~

Yeah, that’s right.  I showed him what’s what.

I’d like to close by pointing out that this sort of childish elitism exists in all disciplines: in the arts and in the sciences.  I think it ends up hurting everybody: it creates imaginary rifts, it stifles interdisciplinary dialogue, it cheapens our culture.  It’s totally gay.

~*~

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