Mathematics a Social Discipline?

[cosine]

Is Mathematics a Social Discipline?

 

I think that mathematics is really one of the most social disciplines, in this day and age it seems that people seem to produce much better when working in cooperation. Maybe it is because one person's stupid mistakes are easily seen by another.

 

Then again I can see counter arguements to this too. In the years they were working on their respective theorems, Weils and Perelman occasionally left their attics to go for walks.

 

Yet I think these rather famous cases are rare and may be caused solely by the specific expertise needed. But what do you think?

[Killa Klown]

I think mathematics is not just a way of social discipline, but also somehow an instinct that is taught at a very young age. For example if you see a pencil on the floor and pick it up and find another pencil on the floor, and pick that one up too you instinctly know you have 2 pencils in your pocket.

[ajb]

I am studying towards my PhD in mathematics. I can tell you that it is a mixture of hard work by yourself as well as talking lots to other people.

 

All papers published will have references and acknowledgements.

 

People are also expected to attend conferences and seminars.

 

I think that very little work these days gets done in isolation. There is just now so much out there already known and you wouldn't want to waste too much time going over old results.

[the tree]

I think mathematics is not just a way of social discipline, but also somehow an instinct that is taught at a very young age. For example if you see a pencil on the floor and pick it up and find another pencil on the floor, and pick that one up too you instinctly know you have 2 pencils in your pocket.

I think you misunderstood on quite a few levels there.

Cosine was at no point suggesting that mathematics is a way of social discipline, he was saying that the discipline of mathematics is a social one.

Also, he was presumably talking about maths in a more cutting edge sense than counting, a branch that was pretty much completed a few thousand years ago.

[YT2095]

saying "Please" and "Thank you" is, Maths is Not however.

[Dave]

Having been able to go into the common room of the maths department here at Warwick this year, I'd have to go for the usually option. Mathematics is a very social subject, there's a lot of sharing of knowledge and certainly colloboration is encouraged more than some other disciplines.

 

Unlike physics, where there are patents and such to be had, there is very little to gain from stealing ideas from others and so there is much more social interaction.

[cosine]

saying "Please" and "Thank you" is, Maths is Not however.

 

I beg to differ!

 

Mathematician A: Let's assume Fermat's Last Theorem to be true...

Mathematician B: No.

Mathematician A: Please?

Mathematician B: No.

Mathematician A: Pretty please? It will simplify the proof...

Mathematician B: Well, okay then.

Mathematician A: Well if we assume Fermat's Last Theorem, then my proof of it follows from our assumption! Haha I win!

Mathematician C: B got pwned!

Mathematician A: Thanks C.

[YT2095]

all that is saying is that maths Can be a topic of conversation, that still doesn`t make it a social discipline.

social discipline is taught at Childhood (or should be).

[the tree]

I don't really think that maths is any more than the other disciplines. Some things require more than one person to be involved, maths just finds it very useful.

[cosine]

Well I would argue that it is a social discipline because you the social mathematician is infinitely better than the unsocial one. First off, explaining your thoughts is a very social skill. I appeal to authority now when I agree with the Feynmann/Einstein quote (depending on your source) that "If you can't explain it to a 6 year old [or an interested undergraduate], then you don't understand it enough yourself." And secondly the development of mathematics is much richer and quicker when you're bouncing ideas with a partner instead of only on your own path. I think of it much like this, If you consider a person as a vector, His ideas can span the space with the basis of one vector, aka a 1-dimensional space. Then add another person as a vector into the thought process, and the thoughts spanned by the two are 2-dimensional instead of 1!

[the tree]

But none of that applies specifically to maths, does it?

[Tom Mattson]

Unlike physics, where there are patents and such to be had,

 

Not really. There are patents to be had in applied physics, engineering, and even applied mathematics too. When I was in grad school (for physics) I knew of a grad student in applied math who had a patent for an algorithm she developed.

 

there is very little to gain from stealing ideas from others and so there is much more social interaction.

 

While the ideas that get tossed around in pure mathematics and the pure sciences don't directly translate into monetary gain, they do so indirectly. When someone comes up with a good idea, they certainly want to be credited with the discovery. At the research level people typically form collaborations that result in joint authorship of a publication in a refereed journal. I doubt that there are too many people out there who would be willing to invest a lot of time and energy in a collaboration with someone whose only intention is to take the other's input, and publish it without crediting him.

 

So "Sometimes" is my vote.

[cosine]

But none of that applies specifically to maths, does it?

I think you're meaning that that doesn't only apply to mathematics, in which case I totally agree. I'm just trying to dispell the illusions that most mathematicians lock themselves up alone in offices and out pops formulae

[Royston]

I'm just trying to dispell the illusions that most mathematicians lock themselves up alone in offices and out pops formulae

 

I voted 'always', because I can't see how mathematics can be anything but a social discipline...along with any other scientific discipline, however there are closet mathematicians such as Perelman, which I guess would be an exception to that rule.

 

EDIT: Oops, you already mentioned Perelman in your OP...though I think somebody who turns down awards is a very special case, infact somebody who still lives with his Mum (at that age) is a very special case. I'm wondering if there are similar examples to Perelman in other fields ?

[Trurl]

With math you read others knowledge, learn from it, then create something new. It is a system. While math thinker may work alone on their ideas, in the end it comes down to share it and add to the knowledge or let the idea be lost in symbols. It is something that can be seen at any level of mathematics. My vote: “always”