Peter Espeut | No development without mathematics

“What is truth?” one famous man asked another. I ask you, my reader: tell me something that is always true – yesterday, today and forever, and in all possible worlds. In this age of relativism the human spirit seeks something solid to hold on to. Mathematics can provide that sort of truth.

2 + 2 = 4

This statement is eternally true, and it is beautiful! It is a statement of equality, and embodies wisdom and logic. People who are comfortable as they manipulate numbers, think a certain way – are concrete and rational. This equation is not an opinion, but a fact.

And when we can move from the concrete to the abstract, then we can begin to really understand the world.

Every high school mathematics student learns the theorem of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras: that in a right-angled triangle, the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. What was fulfilling for me was to be able to walk in the footsteps of Pythagoras and to derive the theorem from scratch. And so I learned why the theorem was necessarily true, and eternally true, and universally true, and I began to realise that there was order in the world.

And then came the theorem of Apollonius, and the beautiful quadratic equation, and the wonders of algebra and geometry. I was hooked! Working out all the steps of a proof requires a sort of ascetic discipline – carefully following a logical method; it became hard to get the wrong answer. People who love mathematics and do well at it, learn to think a certain way, and reason a certain way, and act a certain way. A certain type of personality is formed, in the same way that spiritual exercises form character.

And then came physics and chemistry. Waves – whether radio or light or sound – had length and frequency that could be measured, and varied; atoms and molecules had definite mass, and could be made to inter-react, and the results – solid, liquid, or gas – could be predicted, measured, and verified. Geiger counters and pH meters measured the properties of real substances in nature, which data could be put to good use.

Astronomers use mathematics to predict/calculate the positions of planets, moons, comets, and other celestial objects, centuries in advance with uncanny accuracy. Einstein expressed his theory of relativity (showing how matter and energy were inter-convertible) using mathematical logic (E = mc2).

FUNCTIONAL

Science was functional. While working in the laboratory at Desnoes and Geddes I was able to measure parameters such as the hardness of water, the carbonation and sugar in soft drinks, and the alcohol concentration in beer and stout, all important in quality control. Mistakes in measurement of the properties of thousands of gallons of product, and/or mistakes in calculation, could cost millions! You had to get it right the first time!

The discipline of mathematics teaches logical reasoning, analytical thinking and problem-solving skills. Math problems often require us to be flexible and creative and to approach problems in more than one way. The first method we try might not work; we need flexibility and creativity to think of new pathways to the solution. I enjoy math puzzles and logic puzzles, and have quite a collection.

Mathematics led to science, and then science led to technology. For some of my classmates their journey – beginning with mathematics – led to engineering, or medicine, or seismology or actuarial science, or architecture, or computer programming. These pursuits are not called “disciplines” without reason

You can see how this kind of personal development – human development – led to the accumulation of personal wealth, which aggregates to national development.

I had a STEM education – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – but not in that order. My STEM education formed me.

When I studied the theory of music I realised that it was a highly mathematical discipline, based on the magic number 12. I do not think it is coincidence that so many mathematicians were also musicians: Einstein (piano, violin); the astronomer William Hershel (oboe, violin, piano); Queen guitarist Brian May (BSc Mathematics, PhD Astrophysics); and others.

UNDERPINNED WITH PHILOSOPHY

Mathematics and science are underpinned with philosophy – logic, epistemology, phenomenology, metaphysics – and so is theology, which seeks to bring order and coherence to Christian doctrines. Christianity sees order and beauty and truth in nature and in the world, as do scientists and mathematicians.

Before there is Christian ethics there is philosophical ethics, not based on scripture or revelation but on irrefutable logic. What is interesting is that philosophy and theology come to more or less the same conclusions. But maybe not so surprising, for they both have the same author.

In these postmodernist days, an education restricted to the humanities, law, politics, etc., can leave you with the historicist view that all ‘truths’ are up for grabs and can change with time. Someone with sound foundation in mathematics won’t be tempted to believe that, which should leave them more confident of being able to grasp permanent truths in spiritual and ethical matters which can anchor them in reality.

The performance of Jamaican students in mathematics is generally poor, which means that the salutary impact of mathematics on character formation will be limited. Aside from being innumerate, persons who cannot navigate mathematical logic will be weak at problem solving, logical reasoning, and analytical thinking. This weakness is very evident in political discourse.

The implications of this are not just personal and individual. Weak mathematical formation in a nation’s labour force is a real constraint to economic growth. We know from hard experience that getting the macroeconomic indicators right by itself does not lead to an increase in per capita GDP.

I think it is a fair conclusion that in today’s world, persistent underdevelopment is the lot of any country whose population lacks the ethos engendered by a sound formation in mathematical logic.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com