Introduction
The notion that the mathematical sciences are confined to teaching materials and the classroom with students is untenable. In fact, mathematics is not a discipline that studies only strict facts and numerical ratios relevant only to the academic environment. On the contrary, the range of application and discovery of mathematical laws is so broad that it is safe to say that the individual encounters these manifestations literally every day. Thus, mathematical laws are not difficult to detect in the real world. This essay aims to confirm the above thesis through a number of illustrative examples and proofs.
Main body
The primary focus should be on what mathematics is all about. Many schoolchildren and students mistakenly believe that this discipline studies numbers, figures, and calculations that allow them only to solve problems. This gives the impression of an extremely narrow focus on mathematics. This results in a frequent dislike of the subject by children since they do not understand the real meaning of this science. In fact, mathematics should be defined as the body of knowledge that allows drawing conclusions about the world order (Wilkinson). Thus, mathematical knowledge helps to make logical judgments, solve practical problems, and form ideas supported by the deductive method. In other words, the mathematical sciences have an extensive subject matter, so reducing them only to numbers and quantities does not seem fair.
Given the impossibility of reducing the general idea of mathematical science to a single point, it is essential to note that the manifestation of its regularities and concepts is widespread in the real world. In fact, mathematics helps people manage their lives and solve everyday problems, whether they are shopping, building, or calculating rocket science. To put it another way, it is safe to say that without mathematics, human life would be radically different from current life. The following paragraphs consistently and illustratively support this argument through descriptive examples of discovering mathematical relationships in life.
Perhaps the most textbook example of mathematical concepts in everyday life is percentages. One can hardly meet a person who has never in their life encountered the need to calculate interest. This might include the use of percentages to calculate a discount on the purchase of goods, as well as the calculation of the amount of the tip to be left with the waiter in a restaurant (Picardo). More specifically, an individual tends to use percentages when calculating the size of a discount in a store, for example. For instance, if an item costs ten dollars, but the price tag indicated a promotional offer of -50%, the individual would be able to calculate that they would only have to pay five dollars. Such estimates often occur automatically if a person’s arithmetical skills are sufficiently trained. In reality, percentages have many more uses than the two cases described and are used in construction, science, analytics, statistics, and other areas of life.
Additionally, a prevalent example of accurate detection of mathematical ratios is the Fibonacci sequence. First of all, it should be clarified that under this term, it is customary to define a mathematical sequence in which each successive element is the sum of the previous two (Velasquez). Thus, the classical form of this Fibonacci sequence is: 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,5,…
Many people have almost certainly heard of Fibonacci numbers many times, but few may know that it is not only a theoretical model but also a widespread practical concept. In particular, the arrangement of petals or the structure of inflorescences of many plants, including sunflowers, spruce cones, or pineapple, correspond to the distribution of Fibonacci numbers. In addition, the ratio of neighboring numbers in a sequence is close to the Golden Ratio, which is also popular in nature. More specifically, curls in the shell of mollusks, for example, are constructed according to this model (Inigo et al.). Some of the other swirls in life — whether hurricanes, fingerprints, or galaxies — may also correspond to Fibonacci numbers. All this leads to the idea of a clear correspondence between consistency and natural phenomena. It is very likely that such numbers were found in nature and only then described mathematically.
Another interesting manifestation of mathematical rules in real life is the rounding system, which works all the time in supermarkets, universities, or simple calculations. Thus, according to the rules of mathematical rounding, a decimal fraction can be presented as a whole number depending on the characters after the divider. The following examples show how to round numbers correctly:
- 1,13 =1
- 99,99 = 100
- 50,05 = 50
Thus, when store or restaurant checkout systems round up the final check, they use rules from mathematics. At the same time, when the student uses the atomic weights of the elements from the Periodic Table, they can also round them up for more straightforward calculations. Alternatively, when calculating the amount of medication that is enough for a given period, the patient may get non-integer numbers: for case, 6.8 pills. Obviously, that amount of medication cannot be consumed, and by the rules of rounding, the patient would have to take seven pills.
Fractal is also an intriguing mathematical concept that few non-science people know about. However, people often encounter fractal models even though they may not be aware of them themselves. Fractals should be called self-similar repeating forms that tend to repeat (Pearce). For instance, a fern leaf is a perfect description of fractality since even the tiny details of the leaf copy the shape of the whole. The same is true of broccoli, the reticulated arrangement of veins, or bronchi. In fact, although fractals as a mathematical model are infinite, in nature, their order is nevertheless limited by biological laws.
Finally, polygons are an essential illustration of a mathematical embodiment in everyday life. Geometry studies the properties, areas, and volumes of drawn polygons, but many figures in life also have this shape. In particular, shopping malls are often built in the form of parallelepipeds, and bee honeycombs have a regular hexagonal structure. The natural embodiments of the polygonal form are much more profound than simply showing the figure. In fact, there are physical or biological patterns behind the regular shape of an object that optimize its existence. For example, soap bubbles and raindrops have an even, spherical shape because this gives them the smallest surface area. In turn, the smaller the surface area, the stronger the surface tension of the liquid compresses the boundaries of the figure. Thus, geometrical figures are not only theoretical concepts but, on the contrary, have physical embodiments.
Conclusion
To summarize, mathematical patterns are much more than just learning models. In contrast, the causal relationship between learning and real life is constructed differently. In school or university, the student learns mathematical knowledge that describes the world order. So mathematics skillfully combines both theoretical and practical forms of knowledge. In other words, it is appropriate to conclude that there are innumerable incarnations of mathematical rules and models in the world.
References
Inigo, Maxie, Jameson, Jennifer, Kozak, Kathryn, Lanzetta, Maya and Sonier, Kim. “Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Ratio.”LibreTexts, 2021. Web.
Pearce, Kyle. “Fractals In Nature: Develop Your Pattern Recognition Skills In The Forest.”DIYGenius, 2018. Web.
Picardo, Elvis. “4 Ways Simple Interest Is Used in Real Life.”Investopedia, 2020. Web.
Velasquez, Robert. ” What Is The Fibonacci Sequence? And How It Applies To Agile Development.”eLearning Industry, 2017. Web.
Wilkinson, Alec. ” What Is Mathematics?”The New Yorker, 2021. Web.