Math Essay

1083 Words3 Pages

Math is the universal language, encoded at the molecular level. For this reason, the very understanding of this subject allows us to have a better understanding in how we, as humans, fit into the larger universal picture. This universal language is taken for granted by most people because they do not see how math interconnects, not only in their daily lives, but how it interconnects the actual atoms and atomic structures that make up literally everything in their daily life. As part of the college curriculum, we are taught to use the “creative thinking” process, a fundamental core teaching aspect that students are taught to use. This process is to develop the students understanding of the problem in front of them and come up with varied solutions to the problem, rather than the standard cookie-cutter solutions commonly given. Michael Scriven & Richard Paul gave a definition of this Critical Thinking at the 8th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, in the summer of 1987 for the Foundation for Critical Thinking. They defined it as the “intellectual disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication”, (criticalthinking.org) which is overlooked by a majority of students in regards to how mathematics is used. Many seem to think of mathematics as being nothing more than a series of numbers and formulas that they must learn, in order to pass a particular requirement for their college degree. They rarely, if ever, stop to think about the importance of mathematics and how it actually affects them and the people around them. It is ... ... middle of paper ... ... allowing beneficial drugs like antibiotics to be brought into mainstream usage faster than waiting decades for research and development to finish, then even longer for clinical trials to be completed and finally even longer for FDA approval of the drug. With the respect to antibiotics, this is crucial because bacteria mutate much faster than the ability for medical professionals and researchers to make antibiotics to counter them without of the aid of these mathematical models like Professor Swigons ODE model. So the reality is that math is responsible for saving countless lives through its direct and indirect application as well as consistently enriching and making peoples lives better through it use. By having a better understanding of its function and how it effects each and every one of us, it shows just how dependent and interconnected we are with mathematics.

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