Welcome!
Congratulations! You found our class blog! This is where we as a team will hopefully create a resource to help us conquer any issues that arise during our class this year. This is the place to talk about what’s happening in class; to ask a question you didn’t get to ask in class; to share your knowledge with fellow classmates and any other Internet users who choose to read our notes;…and most importantly it’s a place to reflect on what we’re learning.
A large part of retaining knowledge requires reviewing and discussing new information on a regular basis. This blog is intended to help each of you do just that. Between creating your own posts and commenting on your classmates’ posts, you will have the opportunity to explore each of the topics we cover this year in greater depth. I hope you will use this forum to help yourself and your classmates in whatever ways you can think of.
Blogging Prompt
Occasionally I will include a posting of my own, either to clarify a concept or to generate some further discussion. These postings will have a title similar to the one above this paragraph.
To get things rolling, here’s a question for you to think about and respond: Is God a mathematician? Why or why not?
Don’t forget to email me with the information I requested in class so I can include you on the team!
posted by Math Maverick @ 2:43 PM
16 comments
16 Comments:
It all depends on your point of view. I don't believe in God, so my answer is no. A Deist would believe that God is a mathematician because he created all the laws of the universe, which includes the laws of math, and simply let the universe run itself. A more Christian view would say that God is a mathematician, but he can overrule his own laws if he wants to.
Mark's got a point, about it depending on your point of view. I believe in a God and a Goddess, as a sort of balance between the genders...so I suppose they'd have to know a little about math to be able to create equilibrium.
But I guess the real power is the deities being able to make a mathematician to do the math for them! How useful would THAT be? ~8)
Well, to be honest, I don't think God is really heavy-duty into math. I think he's more of a numerologist than a mathematician, since he does more with significant numbers that with big amazing equations. But then, that's just me and my little Catholic opinion...
It seems that as scientists probe deeper into their respective fields,looking into things increasingly small and increasingly large, numbers are at the basis of all things. There are so many relations between Nature and Numbers (eg - the golden ratio). If there truly is a higher power, it is an amazing mathmetician. I follow Buddhism, so I tend to find my divinity in Nature and in Energy (the collective vibration of the universe, all that jazz), so my answer is Yes. Numbers are everywhere.
And now for the Jewish point of view, which happens to agree with a Deist's view...
God created man and gave man the power to think and the ability to achieve all that a mind has the capacity for. So in doing so, God created the mathematician. Another Jewish belief is that each person is made in the image of God. By using the Law of Detachment or Syllogism (yup that's from Geometry and I could never keep them straight):
If God makes people in his image, and
People are mathematicians,
Then God is a mathematician.
I wonder if they had a math god in ancient Egypt helping them build those vast pyramids...or in any polytheistic society?
All great perspectives! But let me ask a little more - certainly there are beautiful mathematical relationships. But if God is a mathematician, what does that do to free will?. And Sophie, I have to disagree with your second premise - not all all people are mathematicians (although my life as a math teacher would be infinitely simpler if it were!) So your conclusion doesn't necessarily follow. You may still be right, however... And I definitely like the idea of a math deity to help us along!
Huh. Well, interesting question. It implies so very many other questions. Asking if God is a mathematician is also asking if there is a God to begin with. Conveniently enough, the moments when I do believe in God come when considering the mathematical ebb and flow of the universe. I remember doing this report in geometry back in ninth grade on how almost every angle in nature is exactly 130 degrees or something--the details grow fuzzy--and even at the time, I thought to myself, "Well, geez, how can there not be something else out there if the world has that kind of rhyme and reason to it?"
A lot of people have been answering this question with the question, "Well, what is God?" I am going to go to opposite route and ask, "Well, what is a mathematician?" A person who is good at math. So what is math? Math is about numbers, and numbers are basically just symbols that we have established to represent certain quantities. We have other symbols besides numbers, like infinity sign and the equal sign and the ! that we all know and love. These symbols exist to represent ideas (like "+" represents the idea of combining two quanitites). So when we do math, we are utilizing these symbols as representatives for ideas, and manipulating them and changing them all around to find new ideas. So now my question is, if a mathematician is a person who is an expert at doing this, is God a mathematician? Well, maybe. If you believe in signs from God, which I do, then maybe he uses symbols to show us truth. Like, if you are deciding between ordering chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and then the kid next to you who was eating the vanilla starts projectile vomiting, then maybe that is God's symbol that represents the idea that you should pick the chocolate. So God is a mathematician. Mathematicians use numbers and other symbols to represent ideas, just like God uses signs to represent truth.
It's in the morning, I can barely think and I'm late to homeroom.
God is not a mathematician because there is no God.
God is a man of numbers. He created the world in 7 days, flooded the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, ordered Noah to take 2 of every animal, gave Moses 10 commandments, and struck Egypt with 10 plagues. Apparently, God knows his numbers. Therefore he may not be the most advanced mathematician, but he can sure count.
Seacrest Out!!!
In other news, 2 days until Grey's Anatomy. I am so pumped.
God is a mathematician because Math=the world and God made the world; therefore using the transitive property, God=Math. So, if God=Math, then pretty sure he's a mathematician.
Most people define God as a primal cause-the creator and maker of all things. Therefore, everybody and everything must be abiding by the laws that God made. Many of these laws are mathematical laws-meaning God created mathematical laws. If God created mathematical laws, God must be a mathematician.
Here's another possibility. Most people see God is omniscient. If God is omniscient, then he knows all things, including everything about math. Therefore, God is a mathematician.
Who's shodge?
it's mrs. hodge kate. i guess she joined our blog during our library time yesterday...btw gianna they dont have to be ugly
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