I agree with you about the arithmetic vs mathematics thing, just I am pretty much entirely ignorant of the latter so I tend to conflate the two.
I don't think I'm ever going to get to the 'real maths' point, and quite frankly I think I'm happier this way, but your comment here: ...there is a point at which 'real' maths kick in and at that point some people experience a kind of philosophical/aesthetic breakthrough but that others, equally able, don't. reminded me of the shift between A-level biology and my Microbiology course at uni. There were certain things that we learned in A-level biology, patterns of growth and interactions between systems and things, which were then echoed in things I learned about on the microscopic scale. Patterns of growth and things that don't really apply when you're talking about one bacterium, but that suddenly appear when you've a whole colony of them, and symbiotic relationships between bacteria and their hosts, and so forth. (and of course I now have no examples for this because I've forgotten everything!)
I'm fairly sure that a mathematician could explain the maths behind all of that to me, but frankly I don't really care. It was beautiful and I was awed and loved the fact that I was able to study it.
(posted in a hurry coz I'm supposed to be working so apologies if it's incoherent!)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-09-21 01:25 pm (UTC)I don't think I'm ever going to get to the 'real maths' point, and quite frankly I think I'm happier this way, but your comment here:
...there is a point at which 'real' maths kick in and at that point some people experience a kind of philosophical/aesthetic breakthrough but that others, equally able, don't.
reminded me of the shift between A-level biology and my Microbiology course at uni. There were certain things that we learned in A-level biology, patterns of growth and interactions between systems and things, which were then echoed in things I learned about on the microscopic scale. Patterns of growth and things that don't really apply when you're talking about one bacterium, but that suddenly appear when you've a whole colony of them, and symbiotic relationships between bacteria and their hosts, and so forth. (and of course I now have no examples for this because I've forgotten everything!)
I'm fairly sure that a mathematician could explain the maths behind all of that to me, but frankly I don't really care. It was beautiful and I was awed and loved the fact that I was able to study it.
(posted in a hurry coz I'm supposed to be working so apologies if it's incoherent!)