Is knowledge in mathematics and other Areas of Knowledge dependent on culture to the same degree and in the same ways?

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10. Is knowledge in mathematics and other Areas of Knowledge dependent on culture to the same degree and in the same ways?

November 2004 and May 2005

Submitted To: Mr. Scully

Submitted By: Sonia Michniewicz

Due Date: May 7, 2010

Course: Theory of Knowledge

Word Count: 1486 words

Culture is the way of life that we are brought up to live in. We can define culture as the framework of shared meanings which people who belong to the same community use to help them interpret and make sense of the world. Culture defines the lifestyle of people along with their values and beliefs. Culture can be expressed through language, customs, traditions, thinking, behavior, faith, music, food and in many other ways called cultural traits. All these features contribute to the growth and/or reduction of knowledge in certain areas of knowledge. Culture tends to differ from region to region around the world and that means that in each region the cultural influence on knowledge is different, however in the title the area of math is specifically mentioned. Math is considered to be a ‘universal’ language which means that the cultural traits of language is made equivalent for all, suggesting that mathematical knowledge is not dependent of culture. Culture plays a major role in shaping our knowledge as individuals and as a society but each area of knowledge and the strands of those areas are influenced by culture in a different way.

Math is usually considered a ‘universal’ language that everyone is about to communicate with not matter what your cultural background is. For example, Pythagoras’s theorem was said to be discovered by Pythagoras in the sixth century B.C. However, archeological finds show that in Ancient Iraq and in China, prior to Pythagoras, the same theorem appeared to be discovered. These groups of people lived centuries and miles apart from one another and had little to no cultural similarities yet they were able to conclude that in a triangle  . This illustrates that culture has little significance in mathematical knowledge claims but the fact that our modern society accepts Pythagoras as the creator “on the authority of several Greek and Latin authors” (Crease) suggests how modern society/culture chooses ‘creditable sources’ rather than historical encounters. However, the creator’s identity is not actually as important as the discovery itself to our knowledge in mathematics.

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As a universal language anyone should be able to meet a random person and explain a calculus question numerically without a problem except for terms that are not numerical values. Occasionally, my mom helps me with my math homework and sometimes she has difficulty explaining a concept to me because she doesn’t know the term in English and I don’t know what she wants to say in Polish but that doesn’t mean that her knowledge on the math problem in wrong. In fact, once I have learned the concept from my mom we have the same knowledge on that concept ...

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