Yes. Someone suggested music; I respect that person's opinion, of course, but I think nothing could be further from the truth. Few things are less universal than music, in that every culture develops very different sorts of music, and the same music speaks differently to different people; for example, rap music speaks to some people; it speaks to me, too: it says "turn of this **** and find something that doesn't suck." Mathematics, on the other hand is universal--the integral of a function does not change from culture to culture; Japanese mathematicians take derivatives the same way that American mathematicians do.
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
Last edited by Gregory on Jun 13th, 2004 at 05:15 AM
(double post; if the post button wasn't right by the edit button, stuff like this wouldn't happen)
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
Yes, Mathematics is the universal language, you used everywhere in the world -
This is interesting - ''Within this great system of study works the Gematria that links the lineage of number to the letters of the written alphabet(s) and to the language itself. Likewise, each Arabic letter has a numerical value and each number has significance. The names of and words for all things contain numeralogical meaning , and thence comes a magical linking between all things acrosstime and space. ''
I don't think mathematics is the universal language - it isn't a language at all because you can only express a very limited amount of things, it has no individuality
And as soon as there is individuality/feeling/personality, it isn't mathematics anymore.
A language goes beyond language itself, it has nuances, it can be humorous or serious, sad or lighthearted, but mathematics is cold and because of its universality clear, leaving no room for misunderstandings or also emotions.
1+1=3 is and will always be the same, but you can say "I hate you" in a thousand different ways.
__________________ Life is complex: it has both real and imaginary components.
Of course it's a language; it just expresses different ideas than the languages you're used to.
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
Yea, exactly,
and that's why in my opinion it isn't a universal language.
It isn't able to express universal ideas in a way so that the people can understand it;
Unlike other languages, mathematics isn't limited to certain lands or regions but to parts of the population of those regions. Most people won't understand what 4², 6! or y=kx+d means.
I do like mathematics,
my point is just that probably more people understand Mandarin than mathematics.
__________________ Life is complex: it has both real and imaginary components.
Well, but by that definition, there can be no universal language, because you'll never have something that everybody understands. Certainly, math has a claim to being universal, dispite what you say, however, because even if a majority of people won't understand 6!, I'm betting that most of them would understand (or could easily be made to understand) 6*5*4*3*2*1. At it's basic level, mathematics is very, very simple--much simpler and easier to learn than any other language.
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
actually I dont think math is a universal language....I mean think about. all countries use the metric system except the USA (unless in science class, but even then its used because of standards). even forms of measuring are forms of math...if its not the same all over its not universal.....when the Greeks and Latins used types of math not everybody understood...even still today not everybody knows the mysteries of different maths.....in around about way I'm saying no math is not universal.
Forms of measuring are not math. But what if they were? It would still be universal; any given measurement will be the same anywhere it is taken; if the units are different, they can be converted. The Greeks and Romans used math that is completely understood--I'm not sure what you're getting at with that one. Nobody knows all the mysteries of various mathematics; so? I probably don't know all the intracasies of the English language, and I've been speaking it all my life. Everybody knows the basics of mathematics, which makes it universal, and completely unlike any other language.
__________________ "Men curse the Communist Party, but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would be worse than our Secret Police."--Pastor Valentin
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Jun 12th, 2004 01:09 PM
