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On Mathematics
16 may 2018
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I would like to apologize for my lack of activity on gopher for the
last few months; I started college and have been very busy. My
teachers assign so much homework that I really haven't had the time
nor energy to write anything for gopher. Currently I'm taking english
101, college 101, microeconomics, and calculus 1.
Anyways, let's get to the topic at hand. Alexander Stepanov, the man
behind the c++ standard template library, has posed an interesting
question (please forgive me, as I cannot remember which exact source
the question is from). In trying to emphasize the importance of
mathematics, he asks what difference there is between doing
mathematics and doing programming. This has been an interesting
question, as there is no clear distinction between between the two
activities other then the fact that one involves mechanization.
Since I heard this question I've been thinking a lot about the
fundemental essence of what mathematics really is and what it's all
about. It turns out that math isn't really about calculating angles,
or solving for variables, or finding logarithms. Mathematics is about
logical thinking. It's the proccess of going from assumtions to sound
conclusions, and it's the proccess by which we derive truths of
abstract ideas and constructs.
I've developed quite a deep appreciation of mathematics, and I've
decided I want to learn the fundementals. I think that I'll start
with propositional logic and set theory and then move up from there.
I want to be able to go on to do more advanced maths, and perhaps even
one day understand Donald Knuth's "The Art Of Computer Programming".
I think that I also want to make some math guides along the way to
help others learn, although those are probably going to be html as I'm
going to need images for equations and what not.
Anyways that is all I have to say for now. Hopefully I can be more
active on gopher again.
