Mathematical Language and Symbols

"Numbers do not lie. Politics and poetry, promises, these are lies. But numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of God."

- Hermann Gottlieb from the movie Pacific Rim (2013) -

American educator Dr. Randy Palisoc once gave a powerful talk insisting that if people treat math as a human language, it will be so much easier. Listen to his talk in the video below.

Mathematics is a language. It has its own words, grammar, and a system as a language just like the common languages that we humans speak. An English author named Guy Murchie said that Einstein was one of those who realized that Mathematics was a far better language than English, German, or French in expressing and evaluating the concepts of the Universe.

So Mathematics is a language. It's the language spoken by nature. If there is a conversation between atoms and cells and stars and galaxies, they speak in the language of mathematics. This is why, if we humans would want to understand nature, we have to learn to speak its language. The more we speak mathematics, the better we can connect with nature.

In this chapter, we will focus on mathematics as a language. We will be "translating" mathematical expressions and sentences into English and vice versa. We will also be enhancing our grasp of the language by dealing with sets and functions and then with formal logic.

Just like Love, Mathematics do also have language. Enjoy and discover the beautiful language and symbol of Mathematics.