Course Reflection

In previous blog posts I’ve talked about the frustration I had growing up in the Canadian education system. We were always taught how math worked, but we were never shown why it worked or how it evolved. This lack of context made it frustrating because we didn’t have the context to understand the big picture of what was really happening.

As a finance student, mathematics is a critical component of my education. We calculate the returns that a prospective investment could make, and we do this by forecasting future cash production of an investment. The concepts of exponents and algebra are critical, and learning about the history of these concepts and being provided more of a historical view of them was fascinating.

My favourite part about the class was the history component. I personally am a huge fan of history and discussing artefacts and mathematical methods from ancient societies was really cool.

Arithmetic of Medieval Universities

This was truly fascinating to read. Some concepts in math can be difficult to relate to, especially those concepts that we may not be able to directly connect to parts of our everyday lives. This article provides insight and perspective into how people in Medieval societies thought about how education should be structured which we can compare to how we do it today. I was shocked to read that Plato believed the first 35 years of a man’s life should be based solely on education. No one stops learning, even after I graduate university I will read new books and watch videos on new subjects so we are always in a position to educate ourselves because of the vast information available at our fingertips. However, I cannot imagine being in school for 35 years. Plato breaks down the 35 years into different subject matter, but still, I’m happy to be graduating at the age of 22. The next thing I was shocked by, which is a consequence of the vast technological advancements we’ve made, is that a master’s degree during medieval times is common knowledge for a current day third grader. Finally, I was surprised to learn that the date for Easter was previously calculated by priests.

Numbers With Personality

As a sports fan, numbers have always had certain associations for me. For example, Michael Jordan wore number 23, and Wayne Gretzky wore number 99. These two athletes are among some of the most influential in all of history, and seeing either of those numbers instantly makes me think of both Jordan and Gretzky.

We see these kinds of associations being made in other places too, for example in Chinese culture the number 4 is considered to be bad luck. The influence of this cultural belief is so great that there are certain buildings in Vancouver that skip the number all together, with there being just a 3rd and 5th floor.

Alice Major’s paper is fascinating, shedding light on the personality of numbers and associations in other cultures. In the mayan culture, the number 5 means female. This is something I would introduce to a secondary class, it allows more context to be provided on numbers in other cultures and societies.