is Mathematics superior to all science??????????????????

@devmitra (274)
India
April 12, 2010 9:39am CST
hey gals and guys..i have a debate competition tommorrow and this is the topic. i guess everyone tommorrow would be in favour of the notion(as the competition is going to be held in the department of mathematics), but i want to go against it. please give me some points against the notion. i think to against the topic would improve my chances of winning the debate.
3 responses
@GADHISUNU (2162)
• India
12 Apr 10
Mathematics is the Queen of Sciences. It is the most exact Science. For the Physical Sciences(Physics and Chemistry) Math is like life. Mathematics is what adds quantitative knowledge to Physics and Chemistry. So also to all the Engineering Disciplines. You don't get a hang of Math and you have very little chance of making it big as an Engineer. All science starts as a qualitative enquiry, and as Lord Kelvin observed the knowledge that doesn't offer a quantitative measure is of shallower kind, and of not much use. So you need Math agian. Now I will enumerate the other side of Math. A person who is totally oriented toward Math might have the weakness that he will take his Math seriously and could draw some weird conclusions if he doesn't keep his eyes open towards the natural limitations of the effect. For many problems a Quadratic Equation might be a right formulation but not all the solutions that you get out of the "mechanical" procedure of QE solution would have a meaning in the physical world. This is because the Mathematician's world is ideal, the real world need not and will not behave like the solution of the Mathematical Equation. Thus for the other sciences Math merely serves as a shorthand or a special language to express thoughts in. Another example of the blind application of mathematical method is to take a look at the Photoelectric Work Function Graph. This a graph of the intensity of the electron curent(Y-axis) vs the frequency of the incident radiation(X-axis). There is a minimum frequency called f0(actually nu-0 the greek letter)at which the photoelectric effect begins to manifest. If only one tries to produce the line below the X-axis to meet in a negative Y-axis it would mean as if there is a "negative" value of Light Intensity at which a reversed electron current would flow! Every idea expressed is absurd. But Boyle's Law/Charles Law curves could be "produced backwards to meet the Temperature axis(X axis) at -273.15 dec C,and define what is today known as the Absolute Temperature Scale!!! So, one must be extremely careful while applying Math to the real world. In one case an operation is meaningful and in another case it is absurd. It is not Math but only common sense that could help you out.
@GADHISUNU (2162)
• India
12 May 10
I am from Bangalore, and an Engineer by training and profession. I love Math for its pristine purity.She(It) brings out all that would be nice if only nature followed her (its) laws. But like everything else in the Universe, reality is stranger than fiction!
1 person likes this
@devmitra (274)
• India
19 May 10
hi again...good to hear frm you..iam pursuing a pg in mathematics and all i have found is that we are made to carry on with the age old theorems in our course and its really challenging. From abstract algebra to functional analysis mathematics is all twist and turns. anyways have a great day. lOVELY TALKING TO YOU.
@devmitra (274)
• India
11 May 10
oh my...you are just too good. where are you from sir? i guess you are a mathematician yourself or you are associated with pure science. your answer is "the best". just awesome!!
• United States
12 Apr 10
Arguments against should include: 1) Without an understanding of all sciences the use of mathematics is greatly devalued. In essence if you don't know why things happen the way they do no matter how many calculations are made things will fail to continue to exisist the way they do because one slight miscalcuation will throw everything off. 2) Sciences such as biology, ecology, life give meaning to existance. And no matter how much mathematics are calculated without life there is no need for those calculations.
1 person likes this
@devmitra (274)
• India
11 May 10
helo rose...iam sorry for the delay i have displayed in responding to you.i apologise. Thank you for your response dearie. Your explanation is definitely appreciative and you have given the other side of the picture.I do agree with you that life is not all arithmetic and guess what i have won the first prize in the debate competition with this topic and i mentioned there that life is poetry and art and is best enjoyed without a lot of calculations sometime. Thank you for the response and may you be blessed by God.
@hcvvmk (175)
• Malaysia
12 Apr 10
MAths links to all natural science and social science and it includes economics as well
@devmitra (274)
• India
11 May 10
Thank you so much dear for your response. Have a great day.