Jul

31

I read a recent Op-Ed piece in the NY Times which asked "is algebra necessary?". His opinion was that it wasn't. In my understanding, algebra is the foundation of physics and engineering, and all three were the very foundation of the Industrial Revolution, which shaped our modern lives. Without the fortune of having algebra, ancient countries like China missed the boat of the industrial development and had to suffer for hundreds of years. Sure it was long ago, but are we at a stage where it can be thrown away? I seriously doubt it.

Let's face it. Most of the things in our lives were created in its wake or on its foundation, be it cars, airplanes, electricity, and in the broader sense, modern ships, missiles, rockets etc. Are these things about to die so that we can dust off the old memory and move on? Not to me - these things are still a necessity of our lives or the society (I hope we could do away with the military) and still under constant improvement.

Let's look at the stuff in our modern era. Without algebra how does one get about the following things? A program that draws price charts on the screen, a financial calculator, algorithmic trading, CAT scan, digital video, Google Map, GPS, all communications, digital TV, weather forecast, touch screen inputs on the iPhones and iPads… Anyone please add more.

Are we taking all these for granted? Sure not everyone has to learn algebra. But if only a minority of the people learn it, it would a tragedy for us all, wouldn't it?

Plus, an added benefit to any individual learning algebra (or math as a whole) is that reasoning ability gets sharpen.

Another post on Scientific American also discusses about this: "Abandoning Algebra is not the Answer"

Bruno Ombreux writes:

China knew something about Algebra as soon as around 200 BC. Matrix representation is a direct offspring of the Chinese counting board.

Source: chapter one of "Matrix analysis and applied linear algebra".

I do not think China missed centuries of industrial development. It missed only about 150 years. And it was more because of political upheaval and communism than because of a lack of algebra. China remained a powerhouse until the early 19th century, with about 30% of the World's GDP. Then its share went down as low as 2%. Now it is in the process of going back up to 30%.
 


Comments

Name

Email

Website

Speak your mind

Archives

Resources & Links

Search