Mathematics reveals hidden patterns that help us
understand the world around us. Now much more than arithmetic and geometry,
mathematics today is a diverse discipline that deals with data, measurements,
and observations from science; with inference, deduction, and proof; and with
mathematical models of natural phenomena, of human behavior, and social
systems.
The process of "doing" mathematics is far
more than just calculation or deduction; it involves observation of patterns,
testing of conjectures, and estimation of results. As a practical matter,
mathematics is a science of pattern and order. Its domain is not molecules or
cells, but numbers, chance, form, algorithms, and change. As a science of
abstract objects, mathematics relies on logic rather than on observation as its
standard of truth, yet employs observation, simulation, and even
experimentation as means of discovering truth.
The special role of mathematics in education is a
consequence of its universal applicability. The results of
mathematics--theorems and theories--are both significant and useful; the best
results are also elegant and deep. Through its theorems, mathematics offers
science both a foundation of truth and a standard of certainty. In addition to
theorems and theories, mathematics offers distinctive modes of thought, which
are both versatile and powerful, including modeling, abstraction, optimization,
logical analysis, inference from data, and use of symbols.
Mathematics, as a major intellectual tradition, is
a subject appreciated as much for its beauty as for its power. The enduring
qualities of such abstract concepts as symmetry, proof, and change have been
developed through 3,000 years of intellectual effort. Like language, religion,
and music, mathematics is a universal part of human culture.