arithmetic - from medieval latin, ars+metrica = art+counting
"The history of mathematics exhibits the generalization of special notions observed in particular instances. In any branches of mathematics, the notions [organically] presuppose each other. It is a remarkable characteristic of the history of thought that branches of mathematics, developed under the pure imaginative impulse, thus controlled, finally receive their important application. Time may be wanted. Conic sections had to wait for eighteen hundred years. ... But the accurate expression of the final generalities is the goal of discussion and not its origin. Philosophy has been misled by the example of mathematics; and even in mathematics the statement of the ultimate logical principles is beset with difficulties, as yet insuperable." AN Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929
Continuing a tradition ... or blindly following a futile quest ?
"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? ... He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."
"It is inconceivable that inanimate Matter should, without the Mediation of something else, which is not material, operate upon, and affect other matter without mutual Contact…That Gravity should be innate, inherent and essential to Matter, so that one body may act upon another at a distance thro' a Vacuum, without the Mediation of any thing else, by and through which their Action and Force may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an Absurdity that I believe no Man who has in philosophical Matters a competent Faculty of thinking can ever fall into it. Gravity must be caused by an Agent acting constantly according to certain laws; but whether this Agent be material or immaterial, I have left to the Consideration of my readers." — Isaac Newton, Letters to Bentley, 1692/3
Blindly following a futile tradition ... or continuing a quest ?
"Mathematics is a game played according to certain rules with meaningless marks on paper." — David Hilbert
And so they shun the demanding study of mathematics, engineering, science and technology as a colossal waste of a very precious and limited resource ... TIME ... time that could and should be spent on the study of other things.
Going organic ... and erasing the dividing line
Here's an initial mission ... what are we waiting for?
- to promote a more coherent and durable understanding of the roles and limits of mathematics [STEM as its broadest extension] in a liberal education and
- to enable and strengthen liberal educators seeking to identify, amend, enhance and reintegrate currently failing pedogogical and curricular attempts to conduct and integrate STEM instruction in the distinctive primary, secondary and post-secondary learning environments.
MATH PATH to the liberal arts
- Bob Love, Northfield School Trustee
- Joseph Myers, Friends University Professor
- Finn Lanning, Northfield School Math Teacher
- Dan Snyder, Concordia Academy Headmaster