The purpose of maths.

In the US they call it “Math” in England it’s “Maths”… the Americans only have one, the Brits use the word in the plural. In German it is “Mathe” again the plural, so is this a case of the Europeans recognising the plurality of the subject, the fact that it contains many disciplines or is it simply that the Americans are better at abbreviating words? Nevertheless, it raises the question “What is Mathematics”? What is it for? When I was at school, I believed that it was about numerical manipulation. As a result I thought of geometry, for example, as a peripheral activity rather than a central plank of the subject, more a historical overhang that was being studied for completeness rather than for active use. But I was missing the point. What maths is really about is solving problems. Every day people are faced with problems, and the framework provided by maths can help them solve these problems. Mathematics provides proven ways to think about problems, and informs people of the approaches to take to arrive at a solution, approaches that have been shown to be robust, that work each time. Often there are a number of ways to approach the problem, one way might be numerical, another might be graphical, alternatively the solution might be arrived at via an abstract diagram. All these are component parts of the subject that we call mathematics. The more branches of mathematics that a person has knowledge of, the more options that person has to apply to find a solution to their problems. At Puppet Maths we teach the context in which mathematical techniques can be used, to demonstrate to the pupils the real world use that the maths they are learning can be put to and examples of the problems that it can help solve. This shows the pupils that they are studying maths for their own best interests, and not simply because adults like to make their lives difficult.