"Mathematics is the queen of all sciences ..." - this is part of the famous phrase that belongs to the famous German scientist of the XVIII — XIX century Karl Friedrich Gauss. The article will try to figure out what made Gauss formulate such a bold statement.
What is math?
Before moving on to the words of Gauss, “Mathematics is the queen of sciences”, we will understand what it is. By this concept is meant a formal science that studies the various properties and the relationship between abstract objects such as numbers, geometric shapes, and symbols. The word "mathematics" has ancient Greek roots, it means "knowledge" or "field of study."
To carry out its activities, mathematics uses the laws of logical reasoning and its own language. The entire mathematical foundation is based on axioms, from which theorems are already derived. Mathematical language is a collection of symbols and the relationship between them. With it, you can reflect all the processes that occur in reality, at some primitive level. Each mathematical symbol carries certain information, which has a specific meaning, which distinguishes it from a word in a natural language.
It is curious to note that modern mathematical notation was developed only in the XVIII century. In this great merit belongs to the Swiss mathematician and philosopher Leonard Euler.
According to many scientists, a person performed the first mathematical operations (addition, subtraction) even before natural language appeared. However, numerical mathematics took shape in a single and coherent science only thanks to the works of ancient Greek scientists (Pythagoras, Euclid, Aristotle). Modern mathematics consists of several thousand of its subsections and branches, which are engaged in the study of 4 basic objects: quantity, structure, space and changes.
The connection of mathematics with other sciences
Mathematics is the queen of all sciences. This phrase can be understood if we recall the various modern sciences and the objects of their study.
For example, physics is engaged in the study of natural processes and the formulation of laws by which they occur. But its development would be impossible without a mathematical apparatus. Moreover, modern physics has reached such spatial scales (micro- and macrocosm) that thanks to ordinary intuition it is impossible to understand what is happening there, and only mathematics contributes to the development of this science.
If we consider chemistry, then the studied chemical transformations are always associated with a change in the oxidation states of the reactants, with the release (absorption) of the amount of heat, that is, with the mathematical formulation of the problem.
Biology also cannot exist without mathematics: the number of genes in a cell and the development of a population are purely mathematical questions.
If we leave aside the natural sciences and turn to the humanities, then they also have mathematics. For example, in literature, the rhythm of poetry can be expressed in the form of mathematical notation, and notes in music are a kind of adaptation of mathematics to the realm of “beautiful sounds”.
In many schools, when studying mathematics in high school, students are given the task of preparing the project "Mathematics is the Queen of Sciences" so that children have an idea of ​​its importance in the modern world.
Math self-sufficiency
Many may think that mathematics is only a tool that all the sciences known to man use. This statement has its justification, since mathematics initially developed "to help" the science of nature, and many of its statements were derived from experimental observations and generalizations of statistical data.
But not for nothing that mathematics is the queen of all sciences. Currently, it is also self-sufficient. An example of its activity can be called the millennium tasks, which are purely mathematical problems, tens of thousands of people from all over the world are working on their solution.
Who owns the phrase: "Mathematics is the queen of sciences"?
The answer to this question has already been given. This phrase was reflected in his writings by the great German scientist Karl Gauss, whom contemporaries called the “Prince of Mathematics”.
Gauss was a gifted child who, from his first years of life, showed interest in mathematics and languages. There is a historical joke when little Karl was able to add numbers from 1 to 100 faster than anyone.
The scientist made a huge contribution to the development of such sciences as:
- number theory;
- mathematical analysis;
- differential geometry;
- statistics;
- algebra;
- geodesy;
- optics.
As can be seen from this list, Gauss has achieved great success in various branches of mathematics.
Gauss famous phrase
You can often hear the following question: "Whose words are" mathematics is the queen of sciences "?" But this expression is not complete, in addition, it loses most of the original meaning that the scientist put into it. The completely famous phrase reads as follows: "Mathematics is the queen of all sciences, and arithmetic is the queen of mathematics. She often provides services to astronomy and other natural sciences, but in every sense she has the right to be in the forefront."
In the first part of the phrase, the scientist, speaking of arithmetic, emphasizes the importance of the concept of "number" in mathematics. The second half of the phrase speaks of the universality and self-sufficiency of the “queen” of all sciences, which underlies (“in the forefront”) any other teaching.
Other statements of the scientist related to mathematics
Since Gauss wholeheartedly loved mathematics, he devoted not only his scientific works to it, but also many phrases reflecting its beauty and grace. Here are some of them:
- "The charm of this exalted science, mathematics, is revealed only to those who have the courage to plunge into it."
- From the ancient Greek language, the word "mathematics" is "knowledge". Referring to this fact, the scientist once noted: "Not the knowledge itself, but the process of studying, and not the position itself, but the process of moving towards it, is what provides the greatest pleasure."