[Edu-sig] Where mathematics comes from

[John Miller]

I recently came across a book by Lakoff & Nunez called "Where 
mathematics comes from : how the embodied mind brings mathematics into 
being". After reading the introduction, I jumped to the four appendices 
where the equation

e^(pi)i = -1

is explained. I never thought I'd be able to understand that equation, 
but reading their explanation made it tantalizingly approachable. It 
may well be that much of why people were turned off to math in school 
can be explained by metaphoric deficiencies in the teaching of it. And 
they show how to rectify the situation with their (metaphor-based) take 
on how that particular equation might be better explained. Anyway, 
it'll probably take a few re-readings before I really get it, but at 
least now, there's a chance...

John Miller
Technology Services
School of Education
University of Michigan


On Sunday, January 26, 2003, at 12:00 PM, ahimsa <ahimsa@onetel.net.uk> 
wrote:

> That is probably the source of my own aversion to math: I hate to blame
> my teachers and no doubt I was also probably a lazy sod :) - but
> whatever it was, I now do have to work really hard to overcome that
> resistance, despite my appreciation for the sheer beauty of geometry 
> and
> algebra at the 'safer' and more 'abstract' level of a philosophical
> appreciation.