Department of Mathematics
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow
Unilever Research
Colworth House
Sharnbrook
Bedfordshire
Presented at the NAGUA 1987 meeting
Applied mathematicians suffer from the word 'mathematics'. Mathematicians are perceived to be abstract and somewhat irrelevant individuals best kept at arm's length. To illustrate this point I wish to tell three stories.
The first concerns a mathematician, a medical man and a lawyer. They are asked whether they preferred a wife or a mistress. The lawyer quickly replied that he would prefer a wife: mistresses were too expensive and, besides, there is the possibility of alimony and on his salary this could be substantial. The doctor also responded quickly, preferring a mistress on the grounds that he was all for an active, healthy life.
The mathematician however, took some time to come to a conclusion. He then said he would like both, explaining that his wife would think he was with his mistress; his mistress would think he was with his wife; and he could be in his office doing mathematics.
The second story involved a mathematician and an engineer in a balloon. Something goes wrong and they have to make an emergency landing. The engineer turns to the mathematician and says, "Okay. so you're the mathematician; tell us where we are." The mathematician considers the surrounding ground and says, "We're in a field of green grass". "Typical", says the engineer, "your answer is perfectly correct, but completely useless."
The last story concerns a mathematician, an astronomer and a physicist, all from a foreign country travelling through the English countryside by train. They spot a single black sheep in a field and the astronomer exclaims, "Ah, a black sheep. Therefore (since I am an astronomer) all sheep must be black." "Not so", says the physicist; "We can only make the claim that at least one sheep in England is black." "Not correct", says the mathematician. "All we can say is that there exist at least one sheep which has one side which is black."
These trivial yarns make a serious point. The public perception of the
mathematician is that they shun the opposite sex, are completely useless and
overly finical. I believe that this is largely due to the dominance of pure
mathematicians within mathematics departments over the last 30 years that has
contributed to this perception. Indeed a letter appeared in The Times
on the Monday before the start of the NAGUA meeting from Emeritus professor
Lawden making a similar point in somewhat stronger terms. He said, referring
to the pure mathematicians:
"They have transformed a former fascinating adventure in the realm of ideas
into an arid logical structure within an impenetrable notation and terminology,
whose capacity for quickening the pulse is on par with a dead goat."
Whether you agree with the sentiment or not, it is fairly indisputable that
the word mathematics has a certain pejorative aura, and one which makes it
difficult for the applied mathematician to be taken seriously by Industry.
Indeed, Kathleen Holmay, writing in the Society for Industrial and
Applied Mathematics (SIAM) News, states:
"Mathematics projects little or no image, leaving most people with a void of
understanding or perception as to the connections that mathematics has to the
real world at large and its vigour as a dynamic science."
The term 'Industrial Mathematics' is altogether more robust and it is to be hoped that this new breed of outwardly looking men and women can stimulate applied mathematics in its widest sense.
Volledige presentatie 1482301 Auteur(s): McKee, S. (red.) / Elliott, C.M. (red.) Titel: INDUSTRIAL NUMERICAL ANALYSIS Uitgever: Clarendon, Oxford, 1986 ISBN/ISSN: 0-19-853190-7 Onderwerp: *WI A03 TOEGEPASTE WISKUNDE> Bevat: 256 blz. Plaatsnr.: STMM MK -AA.B.21 Plaatsnr.: CBmg 21975144Rest of article deleted ]