Culture, history and language · Perspectives
Whose contributions are recognised in the history of mathematics, and why does it matter?
Textbooks name theorems after a few famous people, mostly European men. Historians have shown that many results were found earlier or elsewhere, and that many contributors were overlooked. This question asks how recognition affects what and how we know.
Claims
- Mathematical truth does not depend on who discovered it, so recognition affects history but not mathematical knowledge itself.
- Correcting the historical record improves our knowledge of how mathematics developed, which is valuable in itself.
Counterclaims
- Who is recognised shapes who feels mathematics is 'for them', which affects who becomes a mathematician and so which questions are asked.
- Naming conventions can hide the international, collaborative nature of mathematics.
Real-life situations from mathematics
Pascal's triangle
The triangle of binomial coefficients appears in the work of Jia Xian in eleventh-century China and of Yang Hui (1261), and in Persian and Indian mathematics, centuries before Blaise Pascal's treatise. In China it is often called Yang Hui's triangle.
Recognition and women in mathematics
Emmy Noether proved fundamental results in algebra and physics but was initially not allowed a paid post at Göttingen. Katherine Johnson's calculations supported early US space flights, including John Glenn's orbit in 1962. In 2014 Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman to win a Fields Medal.
Check dates and figures in a reliable source before you use them, and cite that source.
Use this in your TOK work
Essay. Fits titles about the history of knowledge, perspectives or the knower's identity.
Exhibition. A textbook page showing 'Pascal's triangle', with a note on its earlier history, is a thoughtful object.
Link it to the prescribed title or the exhibition prompt you are working on, in your own words. See using maths examples in your essay and choosing exhibition objects.
Themes and study heading
Knowledge and politics Knowledge and the knower Perspectives
Different views of what mathematics is and whose it is.