The speaker, a mathematics teacher, starts by saying that declaring one's love for mathematics is often a conversation killer. However, he wants to share an outsider's perspective on mathematics, having struggled with the subject himself. He recounts his journey from being a humanities student to becoming a mathematics teacher due to a shortage of math educators. Through his studies, he discovered that mathematics is not just about formulas and calculations but about patterns, relationships, and logical connections. He shows examples of fractals, which are mathematical patterns found in nature, such as river deltas, trees, and lightning bolts. He argues that mathematics is a sense that allows us to perceive realities that would otherwise be intangible. The speaker also discusses how humans are wired to see patterns and create them, citing examples from Islamic art and the symmetry of flowers. He concludes that mathematics is a fundamental part of the human experience and that we can develop our mathematical sense with practice and guidance.
Here are the key facts from the text:
1. The speaker, Eddie, is a maths teacher.
2. Eddie did not enjoy maths as a child and struggled with the subject.
3. Eddie's favorite subjects in school were English and history.
4. Eddie's high school ranked students based on their maths class, with maths 1 being the highest.
5. The Australian Mathematics Competition is a prestigious competition that Eddie's school participated in.
6. Eddie originally wanted to become an English and history teacher.
7. A chance encounter with a professor at Sydney University led Eddie to change his teaching area to mathematics.
8. There is a critical shortage of mathematics educators in Australian schools.
9. Mathematics is a sense that allows us to perceive realities that would be otherwise intangible to us.
10. Fractals are shapes that have a mathematically recursive structure, meaning that they are made up of smaller copies of themselves.
11. Fractals are found in nature, such as in river deltas, trees, and clouds.
12. The human body is also made up of fractals, such as in the shape of blood vessels.
13. The golden ratio is a mathematical reality that can be found in nature and art.
14. The golden ratio is approximately 1.618 and is an irrational number.
15. The golden ratio is used in the design of many natural and man-made structures, such as the Parthenon and the sunflower.
16. The speaker believes that everyone is born with a sense of mathematics and that it can be developed and refined with practice.