please empty your brain below
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I always felt that mathematicians had been badly advised by the marketing people when they named complex numbers. Better to have called them "easy numbers", surely?
Peter Cameron | Homepage | 16.12.16 - 8:00 a.m. | #
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Good stuff. Why is it that otherwise reasonably bright people take such pride in not understanding maths? I never notice people who are good at maths boasting about their ineptitude at writing.
Steve | 16.12.16 - 8:56 a.m. | #
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I did some long division about six months ago. For the life of me, I have no idea why, but I distinctly remember doing some.
And Steve - that's an excellent question. Maths under-pins so much. Yet not even being able to do basic mental arithmetic seems to be a badge of honour.
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 16.12.16 - 9:20 a.m. | #
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@Andrew, I agree. Civilised, cultured, well-educated people would not boast that they had not read Jane Austen or seen King Lear; that they had no idea who were the parties to the Congress of Vienna or what was the background to Henry VIII's break with Rome. Yet such people happily boast of the ignorance of science and their inability to do straightforward maths. Ignorance is strength.
Alan Burkitt-Gray | 16.12.16 - 10:22 a.m. | #
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More importantly, the widespread lack of mathematical and scientific understanding - particularly in the media and the political classes, who largely read humanities at university - plays out in the inability of many to understand evidence such as the statistics of medicine and pharmaceuticals, the claim that evolution is "just" a theory (that is, just a hypothesis or matter of simple belief, rather than a well-substantiated and thoroughly tested explanation of the world), and the so-called "controversy" over anthropogenic climate change.
The stupid, it burns.
I'm not convinced that the beautiful dumbing down of this gallery is the way to go, but there we are. Thank heavens for the likes of Ben Goldacre, Brian Cox and Marcus de Sautoy.
Andrew | 16.12.16 - 10:59 a.m. | #
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I do not boast that I am bad at maths; I regretfully and shamefully confess it.
Sarah | Homepage | 16.12.16 - 2:25 p.m. | #
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@Alan Burkitt-Gray
"Civilised, cultured, well-educated people would not boast that they had not read Jane Austen or seen King Lear; that they had no idea who were the parties to the Congress of Vienna or what was the background to Henry VIII's break with Rome."
Well, I score one out of four on those criteria.
On the other hand I still find it easier to do mental arithmetic than look for a calculator (even when there is a calculator app on the computer I'm working on) and subscribe to Ford Prefect's view:
"He started to count to ten. He was desperately worried that one day sentient life forms would forget how to do this. Only by counting could humans demonstrate their independence of computers". (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).
timbo | 16.12.16 - 2:50 p.m. | #
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Whoa..Lotus 1-2-3 is in the museum?? I'm using it on my finance computer..which uses Windows 3.6. So maybe all of those should go to the US Smithsonian ??
Colesville Garth | 16.12.16 - 3:34 p.m. | #
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I think too many people think they can't do maths because they have no confidence in it. It many cases it's just a matter of breaking it down into small steps and taking some time.
Cornish monkey | 16.12.16 - 3:35 p.m. | #
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@Steve - that's something I keep asking myself. Maths - and science. It's okay for someone to say "I'll never understand x, y, or z [where x, y, and z may or may not equal mathematical concepts]" have a chuckle about their ignorance and have others around agree with them. As you say, you don't hear them saying "I don't get the sense of this reading stuff"
The Legendary Zelda | 16.12.16 - 4:38 p.m. | #
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Age 11-12: Enjoyed geometry, algebra. Got good marks.
Age 13-15: Different teacher. Failed to understand anything. Dropped maths.
Age 18: Introduced to book-keeping. Top of the class.
Great Aunt Annie | 16.12.16 - 10:50 p.m. | #
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A few years ago, I made a video for school students about the history of mathematics - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjOGcQDC2I0.
Even then I found that the Science Museum was removing many of the interesting mathematical 'things' it used to have on display and replacing them with more impressionist installations. It seems as if they've gone a step further in that direction with their new gallery.
In the end, we filmed it all in the museum's huge reserve store, where we had a wonderful day working in amongst their overflowing shelves of fascinating, actual, historic things.
ActonMan | 16.12.16 - 10:57 p.m. | #
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I do miss the quiet dusty rooms of display cases in the Science Museum, but I guess they don't pay the bills. That said, I did like their recently-opened communications galleries, so I ought to give this a chance too.
Incidentally, it wasn't Noel Edmonds who pressed the button in the first National Lottery draw, but a lady in a garish tracksuit
martin | 16.12.16 - 11:08 p.m. | #
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If you like quiet dusty cases, head for the Agriculture gallery (immediately underneath Mathematics). It still boasts a marvellously ancient suite of painted dioramas featuring dozens of model tractors.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 16.12.16 - 11:19 p.m. | #
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Isn't this the next Doctor's Tardis interior? ;)
Red Cardinal | 17.12.16 - 2:53 a.m. | #
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Andrew: I would take issue with you about Ben Goldacre. He does a great job trying to improve our understanding of science and how it impacts our lives; but when any mathematics come up he says something like "This is hard stuff and makes everybody's head hurt; but don't worry, clever people have worked it out, I will just give you their conclusion." In my view this just panders to people who wear their ignorance of mathematics proudly.
Peter Cameron | Homepage | 17.12.16 - 7:09 a.m. | #
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Thank you, finally a critical review of this new gallery. I was very disappointed by it. I enjoy doing maths very much, but the gallery didn't do anything to bring the pleasure of mathematics to the visitors. I heard the new National Museum of Mathematics in New York does a better job. The maths part in the Statoil gallery of the Science Museum is also better at it.
Katrin | 17.12.16 - 3:43 p.m. | #
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Quoting Stephen Hawking, "Someone told me that each equation I included in the book would halve the sales. I therefore resolved not to have any equations at all. In the end, however, I did put in one equation..."
How many equations can you find hidden around the refurbished mathematics gallery?
Stephan G. | 19.12.16 - 2:11 a.m. | #
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> a water-filled machine which supposedly mimics the economy
That's a MONIAC right?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MONIAC
Is on my list of things to see in London (but then again I *am* an economist) and last time I went to the Science Musuem I couldn't find it...
jg | Homepage | 19.12.16 - 12:26 p.m. | #
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If I was a GCSE maths student this would put me off having a career in maths or physics(which is mainly maths anyway) for life. What were they thinking of?
There are no stories about maths, no images of famous mathematicians, you would think maths was invented sometime in the mid seventeenth century!. No mention of the Fields medal, too much babbage although they seem to have lost the half of his brain they own (the other half is in the Hunterian).Forgive me for thinking that the slide rule was a very important tool for the mathematician, no mention of that either. Oughtred who he? Why not go the whole hog, just put everything into store including the curators, and use it as a shelter for the homeless
fletcher wallis | 17.01.17 - 8:21 p.m. | #
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