Konstantin Frank!

15.02.2012

Compare and contrast the role of language in two Areas of Knowledge

The purpose of language varies greatly in the various Areas of Knowledge. Language is essential for a society, as it is the key for conveying knowledge over several generations and sharing knowledge within each other to extend the information the human species has over itself and over its environment. However, in my opinion language has different purposes in the six areas of knowledge. I will proof through examples from mathematics and English literature that the space for interpretation is completely different in both topics, as well as the preciseness of language in both areas.

Mathematics, which is the study of quantity, structure, space, and change, uses language to express these concepts. Looking at the preciseness of language in mathematics, shortening everything to the maximum extent, making things as easy as possible is the main purpose. For centuries, mathematicians tried to determine the ratio between circumference of to diameter, known as . By calculating it through complex models, they have been able to determine parts of this ratio, or number. Instead of trying to write this indenite number every time they want to talk about the ratio and use it for calculations, they agreed on using the letter . There is one sign for , written pi. This is an example how the language in mathematics, an articial language, aims to express things in a very simple way. Being articial means that it is made by men and not arose as a result of the innate ability for language of human beings. Looking at English literature it is hard to nd a word that has no synonyms or that is not ambiguous. For example the word light has several meanings. It can either be the light that comes from the sun, but also the opposite of heavy and nowadays the description of a product that is low in fat and calories. The meaning of this

Konstantin Frank!

15.02.2012

word depends heavily on the context. Not only words, but also sentences can be misleading and often need to be put in context in the English literature. Konstantin is sitting with his dog under a table can either mean that Konstantin behaves strange and sits with his dog under a table, or that he sits at a table and only his dog sits under the table. Summarizing, the language used in Mathematics is very precise and straightforward and does not need to be put into context, on the other hand words used in English literature can have several meanings and the reader needs to have more information to be sure about whether she/he drew the right conclusion.

Exploring the question whether the reader drew the right conclusion leads me to my next point. Many famous authors use stylistic devices to make their texts appear more interesting and use irony, metaphors and similes. Reading the sentence that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing from the book The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, most readers will think of this sentence saying that the world is balanced on the wing of a fay, but as a hidden message or subtle hint to something. Having read the whole book, the reader can assume that Fitzgerald wants to point out, that the dreams of Gatsby are too big and his whole life is a house of cards that can collapse every moment. However, every reader might think of it from a different point of view and draw another conclusion and this is probably the incentive in reading world literature or literature in general as it stimulates our fantasy and our mind, making up its own story. Looking at math, there is always little space for interpretation as maths is about dening as precise as possible. It is barely arguable that 1+1=2 or that 2 is the symbol for the sum of a sequence 2 that begins at 0 and
n n n=0 5

stops at 5. No space for interpretation. Though we have to think to nd a solution for this, there is only one solution and we can decide whether this solution is wrong/false by following

Konstantin Frank!

15.02.2012

all mathematical rules that manage the way we have to handle the sum of a series. There is no space for interpretation and people can not look at it from a different point of view. Summarizing, the space for interpretation in English literature is much bigger, if not innite as long one can argue for the point one makes, however in Mathematics there is barely or no space at all for interpretation as almost everything is dened. There might be several solutions, but they do not vary from person to person or depend on the mathematician solving the problem.

Mathematics and English literature are two completely different sciences. Mathematics, being an Area of Knowledge on its own and English literature being part of The Arts do not only cope with various content, but use language in a completely different way. Talking only about the preciseness and the space for interpretation is probably too little to compare them to their full extent. It is even more questionable if the symbols in Mathematics are actually language, as they are intended and using arbitrary signs, but not emitted by voice. Moreover I did only focus on the English literature, as there might be languages that are way more precise and in which the fantasy of the reader is not intended to be stimulated, so the reader will not make up his own mind.