The Language of Mathematics

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1. neodimiumJan 2025
   Shortly after graduating as an engineer, I remember receiving much help regarding mathematical thinking from a book by Keith Devlin titled "The Language of Mathematics: Making the Invisible Visible".

   What stuck with me (written from memory, so might differ somewhat from the text):

   In the introductory chapter, he describes mathematics as the science of patterns. E.g. number theory deals with patterns of numbers, calculus with patterns of change, statistics with patterns of uncertainty, and geometry with patterns of shapes and spaces..

   Mathematical thinking involves abstraction: you identify the salient structures & quantities and describe their relationships, discarding irrelevant details. This is kind of like how, when playing chess, you can play with physical pieces or with a board on a computer screen - the pieces themselves don't matter, it's what each piece represents and the rules of the game that matters.

   Now, these relationships and quantities need to be represented somehow: this could be a diagram or formulas using some notation. There are usually different options here. Different notations can highlight or obscure structures and relationships by emphasizing certain properties and de-emphasizing others. With a good notation, certain proofs that would otherwise be cumbersome might be very short. (Note also that notations typically have rules associated with them that govern how expressions can be manipulated - these rules typically correspond in some way to the things being represented and their properties.)

   Now, roughly speaking, mathematicians may study various abstract structures and relationships without caring about how these correspond to the real world. They develop frameworks, notations and tools useful in dealing with these kinds of patterns. Physicists care about which patterns describe the world we live in, using the above mathematical tools to express theories that can make predictions that correspond to things we observe in the real world. As an engineer, I take a real-world problem and identify the salient features and physical theories that apply. I then convert the problem into an abstract representation, apply the mathematical tools (informed by the relevant physical theories), and develop a solution. I then translate the mathematical solution back into real-world terms.

   One example of the above in action is how Riemann geometry, the geometry of curved surfaces, was created by developing a geometry where parallel lines can cross. Later, this geometry became integral in expressing the ideas of relativity.

   This maps back to the idea of "making the invisible visible": Using the language of mathematics we can describe the invisible forces of aerodynamics that cause a 400 ton aircraft suspended in the air. For the latter, we can "run the numbers" on computers to visualize airflow and the subsequent forces acting on the airframe. At various stages of design, the level of abstraction might be very course (napkin calculations, discarding a lot of detail) or very fine (taking into account many different effects).

   Lastly, regarding your post of 'When I found out they're not visualizing the stuff but instead "visualized the equations together and imaging them into new ones"':

   Sometimes when studying relationships between physical things you notice that there are recurring patterns in the relationships themselves. For example, the same equations crop up in certain mechanical systems than does in certain electrical ones. (In the past there were mechanical computers that have now been replaced with the familiar electronic ones). With these higher order patterns, you don't necessarily care about physical things in the real world anymore. You apply the abstraction recursively: what are the salient parts of the relationships and how do they relate. This is roughly how you can generalize things from 2 dimensions to 3 and eventually n. Like learning a language, you begin to "see" the patterns as you immerse yourself in them.

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2. devnull255Dec 2021
   Moral Politics, by George Lakoff: this book offered a new perspective on not just the discussion and language of politics, but sent me down the rabbit hole of cognitive linguistics and "embedded mind" in books he authored or co-authored, such as "Metaphors We Live By", "Philosophy in the Flesh", and "Where Mathematics Comes From".

   Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond: Gave me a deeper insight into the geographic underpinnings of civilization and history, and how available resources and climate allowed some early settlements to grow into mighty empires, while others struggled to subsist. It also improved my Civilization 3 game playing. ;)

   The Language of Mathematics by Keith Devlin: Sparked a renewed interest in mathematics through historical narratives of the development of our number systems, mathematicians and numerous mathematical topics.

   The Code Book by Simon Singh: Kicked off my historical and professional interest in cryptography and keeping secrets.

   Flow by Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi: Showed me how to make the best use of every minute, especially waiting at bus/train stops, and helped me recognize what I really like doing.

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3. GrangalanJrJul 2011
   Here are some nice introductory ones:

   Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction (Tim Gowers): http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Short-Introduction-Timothy...

   The Language of Mathematics: Making the Invisible Visible (Keith Devlin): http://www.amazon.com/Language-Mathematics-Making-Invisible-...

   What is Mathematics?: An Elementary Approach to Ideas and Methods (Richard Courant): http://www.amazon.com/Mathematics-Elementary-Approach-Ideas-...

   They give brief but interesting glimpses into several areas of higher math, so they could help you decide what you want to pursue in more depth.

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