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Math is much much more than counting and fractions. It is an universal language, beyond simple arithmetics. It can't be simpler or harder

injb 3y ago
I must disagree. There are many examples of mathematical concepts that are much harder to learn than they need to be due to bad choices of names. One we have discussed here on HN many times is the names of "real" and "imaginary" numbers which not only fail to shed any light on the things being studied but are positively misleading. There are plenty of other cases, from the many overloaded meanings of "multiplication" to things like open and closed sets (where a set can be one, or both or neither) Therefore since it's clear that maths could be significantly easier even in English if we just improved the terminology, it follows that it might already be that easy (or even easier still) in some other language. It might be a universal language, but there's only one way to get it into your head and that is by getting information in a language you already speak. And while all human languages may be equivalent, the words and phrases that have been fixed for explaining maths concepts do not have to be equivalent.
- bibanez 3y ago
  Maybe. At the grad level though it levels off, in my experience. I do Maths in Catalan, my native language, and many of my colleagues spoke only Spanish (which is similar but no so much) before College. Still the language barrier is less significant in Maths because they’re able to understand the concepts
  - injb 3y ago
    That makes sense to me. Now that I think about it there are a lot of mathematicians in the US doing maths in English who learned in some other language, and you never hear complaints about limitations of English. But I think the thrust of the article linked here was "are there ways it could be easier for children" rather than "are there ways it could be easier for grad students and professors". I'm not sure the answer to the first question is "yes" but it seems plausible at least.
- FractalHQ 3y ago
  I struggled with math in school. Once I started programming later in life, I found myself doing complex math intuitively, and eventually got into lower level 3D graphics with even more complex math. If you were to turn some of my 3D scene management or fragment shader code into raw math, I would be pretty lost. But the ability to give variables intuitive names and structure things freely makes all the difference for me.

injb 3y ago

I must disagree. There are many examples of mathematical concepts that are much harder to learn than they need to be due to bad choices of names. One we have discussed here on HN many times is the names of "real" and "imaginary" numbers which not only fail to shed any light on the things being studied but are positively misleading. There are plenty of other cases, from the many overloaded meanings of "multiplication" to things like open and closed sets (where a set can be one, or both or neither) Therefore since it's clear that maths could be significantly easier even in English if we just improved the terminology, it follows that it might already be that easy (or even easier still) in some other language. It might be a universal language, but there's only one way to get it into your head and that is by getting information in a language you already speak. And while all human languages may be equivalent, the words and phrases that have been fixed for explaining maths concepts do not have to be equivalent.

bibanez 3y ago
Maybe. At the grad level though it levels off, in my experience. I do Maths in Catalan, my native language, and many of my colleagues spoke only Spanish (which is similar but no so much) before College. Still the language barrier is less significant in Maths because they’re able to understand the concepts
- injb 3y ago
  That makes sense to me. Now that I think about it there are a lot of mathematicians in the US doing maths in English who learned in some other language, and you never hear complaints about limitations of English. But I think the thrust of the article linked here was "are there ways it could be easier for children" rather than "are there ways it could be easier for grad students and professors". I'm not sure the answer to the first question is "yes" but it seems plausible at least.
FractalHQ 3y ago
I struggled with math in school. Once I started programming later in life, I found myself doing complex math intuitively, and eventually got into lower level 3D graphics with even more complex math. If you were to turn some of my 3D scene management or fragment shader code into raw math, I would be pretty lost. But the ability to give variables intuitive names and structure things freely makes all the difference for me.