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The digestive process of studying maths

In “Mathematics, spaghetti carbonara and you” (June 22), the writer shows that mathematics shares many characteristics with cookery. A closer analogy can be drawn between learning maths and eating.

In “Mathematics, spaghetti carbonara and you” (June 22), the writer shows that mathematics shares many characteristics with cookery. A closer analogy can be drawn between learning maths and eating.

Studying maths only for passing examinations is like eating only for defecation. Without appetite, eating can be a torture. To enjoy and derive the maximum benefits from maths, one must love it. This is true for the study of any subject. To begin, food must be ingested. One can ingest maths by reading books, attending classes, surfing the Web, et cetera.

Ingested food must be digested. Digesting new mathematical concepts and skills is the most important, most challenging and, to some, the most unpleasant part of learning maths.

Gulping food without chewing does not benefit anybody. Memorising maths without understanding is a waste of time and can even be harmful.

A learner must know the material so well he can explain it to others; his favourite words should be “why” and “please explain again”.

But let us not adopt the fashionable excuse of branding memorisation as rote learning. Just as digested food is absorbed through the intestinal walls, absorbed food is integrated and amino acids are then recomposed to form muscle, one must know the maths learnt as if one is the creator of it.

There must also be a network of hypertext in one’s mind to connect one mathematical topic to the others.

And why eat if food is not to be metabolised? As Confucius said: “Is it not a joy to study and regularly practise what one has learnt?” No one can expect to succeed as a musician or athlete without constant practice, yet some dare to classify mathematical exercises as meaningless drills.

Finally, there is egestion, the removal of undigested and innutritious material from the body. Similarly, a learner of maths must allocate his limited resources to only what he wants to learn, discarding the irrelevant and delaying what is temporarily beyond his grasp.

To all addicted to the beauty and grandeur of maths, I say: “Happy feasting.”

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