Attending one of his recent meetings in Brisbane, Srinivas Arka shifted the focus onto me by requesting me to share my thoughts on the teaching of Mathematics with the audience.

 

I responded briefly by highlighting the following points:

  • Mathematical knowledge (like the sciences) is objective in contrast to religious and spiritual pursuits which are based on subjective experiences

On further reflection, I focussed on comparing and contrasting

  • Mathematics as the application of mathematical modelling to solve practical “real life” problems
     

  • Religious/spiritual pursuits being based on the totality of one’s subjective experiences, which are not only conditioned by one’s finite faculties but also by one’s mental state

Chandra Visvanathan
Mathematics and Chemistry teacher,
Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia