Since we were already on the topics of truth and self-confidence, I asked Victoria if there were any skills she learned in math that she thought were applicable elsewhere in her life. Her answer actually surprised me a little: she told me she felt math had actually improved her English skills, thanks to the introductory proofs class she took recently. She told me, “I know how to use ‘thus’ perfectly in a sentence - all those words that seem like hard words - thus, therefore, in particular - I find myself throwing those into my everyday language now, in general just improving my language.”
Her reasoning and arguing techniques are stronger now, too, but she jokingly told me that “in some ways that’s also a negative. I’ll find myself in an argument or a discussion with my parents or my friends and if every single thing they’re saying isn’t lining up, I’m going to want to point that out - but that’s not how you have a normal conversation. You have to go with the flow, whereas in math you have to check that every single thing implies the next.”
Her reasoning skills have been particularly useful, however, given the pandemic. The ability to see where there might be gaps in an argument, or opinions clouding the facts, is helpful when sorting through the seemingly endless and often contradictory articles online - especially on social media. More than that, Victoria has the skills to understand the data directly rather than having to rely on potentially biased interpretations. She points out that “not everyone has that skill, which would make it much more difficult to navigate these kinds of situations.”
For Victoria, her experience in math so far has been exceedingly positive, and she hopes to share that with others, particularly other women. She explains, “I would never want women to feel like they’re not supposed to be in math because that’s a “man thing”. I love being a woman in math because it empowers me. I feel like if you can do math, you can do anything. Maybe I shouldn’t think that but…”
Thanks, Victoria, for sharing your thoughts with us! If you’re reading this and would like to join the conversation - we’d love to hear from you. Please send us your thoughts at awmwestern@uwo.ca or consider being featured in our next ‘Faces of Western Mathematics’ article.
