Blog Response 4

I interpret practicality as being able to solve real life problems using a set of methods. Abstraction is taking practicality a step further: it adds a “what if” situation that may not have any resemblance to the real world. Thinking abstractly can widen the scope of applications and generalize new connections among concepts. My interpretation of practicality and abstraction does rely on familiarity with contemporary algebra. It would seem difficult for me to solve a word problem without being able to utilize the tools of algebra, namely numbers, symbols, and operations.

Word problems in Babylonian mathematics appear practical at first, but they are often taken to the extremes by the measurements they give and the actual practicality of the problem. They take on a simple problem, such as calculating the amount of grain in a pile, but give measurements far from reality, such as the height of an eight-story building. Babylonian mathematics was born out of applied mathematics problems, and from that, they were able to extract abstract mathematical concepts and ideas.

My experiences of learning with word problems did influence my ideas about Babylonian word problems in the sense that the word problems I encountered had little to no practicality. It was often difficult thinking of a situation in life where I needed to solve a “problem” given data in the form of a riddle. I think that the word problems I experienced tested my abstract thinking more and it definitely helped me enjoy mathematics more.

Comments

  1. Amanda FritzlanNovember 10, 2022 at 1:17 PM

    Very interesting! Your thoughtful comments make me think of there being a continuum or levels of abstraction vs practical real world mathematics.

    ReplyDelete

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