Forum Conversations: What is Mathematics For?

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What is Mathematics For?

A colleague gave me an interesting article the other day. Titled What is Mathematics For?, it claims that proponents of higher math education (algebra and up) are way out of line when they claim that math is useful for most people out in the world in the jobs they do. It is by Underwood Dudley and published in the May 2010 edition of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. Maybe you'll find it interesting too.

1 comment:

Kyle said...: I would tend to agree with this. I personally haven't found most of my math education to be useful. Even the math required by my major is mostly statistics. And it's always seemed unfair to me to force artistically inclined students to study math when it may not be something they're inclined towards.; 9/15/2010 8:25 PM

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