Maths — key to opportunities

THE EDITOR: Mathematics in our times is no longer the enigma it was in the 1950s and 1960s in the special selection process. Indeed, the applications of maths, its principles, functions and axioms, have been verified in and out-of-this-world, by computer graphics, by the semantic differentials and by Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS). There are high precision levels in Higher Maths and Applied Maths as displayed in the lunar landings and by journeys beyond Neptune.

During the colonial period, the apparent “crevasses” in the brain were attributed to “mental blocks,” or reluctance, in dealing with reciprocals, theorems, eclecticisms, and statistical formulae. Today, the query is whether maths is simple. Does it aid in an understanding of the metric cadence of fugacity and durance? Or the nature of the Statute Mile and the Avoirdupois System? Is there a Heritage Maths or an effective theme in Calculus, Mental Arithmetics or Geometric Epistemology? We often envisage “integrated maths” as being the tool of everyday life. But this may not be applicable in all circumstances. At the secondary level and in the halls of learning, we cannot escape the need for life-long learning, or perhaps, the need for various subject regions or topics in maths. For example, Algebra with Statistics, Arithmetic with Calculus, or Geometry with Trigonometry and Symbolic Logic. Semantic Differentials can even peer into our emotions and thought-patterns with numerical values. Ranges can be discerned between good-bad; spectrums; high-low; rare-common; pure-impure, plethora-few, or sporadic-flooded. The difficulty, perhaps, is superimposed concepts or issues of a peculiar (3-D) nature.

We need to further seek links in the evolution of maths or the history of maths. There are recognisable links with astronomy and astrology, the values of Pi with respect to pyramids or shivallas (shakti-influences). It is calculus, fuzzy logic, and statistics that impart significance to terms such as demi, semi, vast, several, panoply of sounds, and kinematics. Maths happens to be a subject-area wherein the right answer can be obtained by different pathways — by arithmetic, by calculus, or by statistics. But this is still a long way from being integrated or unified versions. Hence methodology is of prominence. Yesterday we thought of Fortran as the digital computer lingua of the future. Today, we envisage the language of cyberspace and netiquette (internet etiquette) as being the way forward.

Satori, the glimmerings of intuition, is a tool in the application of maths to technology. Maths, in this Age of Reason, is the language of science, technology, meteorology, and innovations. There is a need for reaching aspects of reasoning so that Tangram (and Yin-Yang), puzzles, codes, codex, can be deciphered, and centred. Football today (whatever the pattern) is not just a matter of eluding the defence, but also of strategy, balance, wind velocity, innovations, and subtle utilisation of odd moments of play. Even the politicians tend to search for evidence of “gerrymandering” in “their” constituencies and sample surveys involve technical details as to choices of subjects. So consciousness is part of maths... a key to opportunities. And formulae and theories, such as Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, can yield modifications and resonances (eg Dr R Capildeo, Theory of Rotation and Gravity). Terms (principles) such as sunya (blank, zero), fice, crystals, infinity, illusions, mirage, nanno-spectrum, mana-yuga, and gargantuan, have endured as missing links in maths and in the development and evolution of civilisation. Even a world called “If” can be created in engineering graphics.

HAYMAN C SAROOP
Tacarigua