The Meaning of Mathematics

Mathematics is common for us. We have learned this lesson since we’re at elementary school. But until now, I believe that most of us never know what’s the meaning of mathematics. Truly, ever body can define mathematics based on his/ her own point of view. A mathematics expert can define that mathematics is a body of knowledge. But for elementary school’s students, they can define that mathematics is a counting science. Yeah, mathematics is very complicated and it has a lot of definitions. So it is difficult to know what’s the real meaning of mathematics.

Beside knowing the definition, we also most know the type and the characteristics of mathematics. There are 2 types of mathematics. The first is pure mathematics and the others is applied mathematics.

The characteristic of mathematics is abstract. Mathematics just lies in our mind. Mathematics is just our understanding. As a science, mathematics has an object. The object is abstract idea. There are 2 ways to get abstract object:

1. Technical abstraction

There is difference between abstract and abstraction. Abstract can be the material of a thing, the price of a thing etc. But abstraction is just the value of something. In mathematics, we just talk about the value of the objects.

2. Idealization

Idealization is our perception about something. It is just assumption mathematics is an art. There is no perfect thing in this world. We just assume that a line is straight. But, there is no a perfect straight line. So, idealization is our assumption to get our own mathematics concept.

Mathematics’ objects can be divided into 2 parts. The first is formal objects. Formal objects is like mathematics methods(deductive, inductive etc). And the other is material objects. Material objects are the contains of mathematics itself. They are on mind which is fit with people minds.

Mathematics is a science with is formed deductively. The character of mathematics is think logically and consistent . A professor from Melbourne University said that mathematics has two characteristics. They are:

1. Conjecture ( our prediction)

2. Conviction (we must communicate the result of our math work)

Beside that, Professor Katagiri from Japan also define that Mathematics consists of 3 aspects:

1. Mathematical Attitude

It is related to mathematical thinking. Good attitude at mathematics are we must have critical thinking, we must be consistent and always have a question about mathematics.

2. Mathematical Method

There are a lot of method of mathematics. They are used to find the fact of mathematics. Some of them are deductive method, inductive method, syllogisms, and logic.

3. Mathematical Content

There is other definition about mathematics. Mathematics is realistic mathematics. They are horizontal and vertical mathematics. Math consists of two words. They are right and wrong. To prove the truth of math, we use direct and indirect proof.

That’s all about the meaning, characteristics, types and objects of mathematics. We can see that mathematics is very complicated. Mathematics is not only counting science. But also a science about how to think critically. Because the power of mathematics is our critical thinking.