Edward Frenkel: Let's Stop Hating Math | Big Think

Edward Frenkel: Let's Stop Hating Math

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Mathematician Edward Frenkel knows why so many people hate mathematics. It’s simple really: the way math is taught is so draconian and ineffective that students can’t help but fear it. But Frenkel believes that someday we can bring the world of equations and algorithms back down to a place of popular understanding.

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Edward Frenkel:

Edward Frenkel is a mathematician working in representation theory, algebraic geometry, and mathematical physics. Born in the Soviet Union, Frenkel first came to Harvard University as a visiting professor at the age of 21. He earned his Ph.D in only a year. Frenkel was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows from 1991 to 1994, and served as an associate professor at Harvard from 1994 to 1997. He has been a professor of mathematics at University of California, Berkeley since 1997. His best-selling memoir Love and Math was released to great acclaim in 2013. He has since been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Edward Frenkel: What is it that distinguishes us from, you know, cavemen? I would say it's the level of abstraction that we can reach. And, you know, to give a simple example, it used to be that there was barter trading so you would exchange, you know, wheat for meat or something like this. But then eventually there was an abstract idea, the idea of money. You know, it's like a piece of paper but this piece of paper actually signifies a certain value and you can exchange it for goods and services. So that's the next level of abstraction. But now we are dealing with an even higher level of abstraction because I don't actually see money that much. I see a piece of plastic, credit cards. I swipe my credit card.

So suddenly that's the next level of abstraction. So this credit card somehow has become this abstract entity which carries money -- which itself carries certain wealth, right. And now we're going even deeper. Now money could be nothing but a line of code which appears in a Bitcoin ledger. So that's the kind of progression, that's the kind of, you know, evolution that I'm talking about. Evolution of abstraction. And so abstraction is king in this brave new world and the key to abstraction is mathematics.

And I do believe that we will have a better freer society when we have less math ignorance and we have more understanding of mathematics. And, of course, I'm not saying that everyone should become a mathematician. On the contrary.

But what I would -- what I dream of is a society in which if mathematics is brought up people don't run away from it -- don't say, "Oh my gosh, this is terrible. I hate mathematics. I don't want to talk about it. I'm scared. I'm frightened." And I understand why people are scared and frightened. It's not their fault. It's because of how mathematics is taught in our schools. But it's a very unfortunate situation when you can't even begin a conversation about mathematics without people saying, "Oh my gosh. I don't want to talk about it." And it's kind of strange because no one would ever say, "I hate literature" or "I hate art" or "I hate music." At least intelligent people would never say that. It's kind of shameful to say that.