MILWAUKEE, WI (Roto Reuters) Recently a dispute has arisen in the Mathematics Department of Mesquite University concerning academic freedom. Mesquite University was established by the Society of Jules and is dedicated to the spread of mathematics and to maintaining its mathematic's identity. The founder was French mathematician Jules Henri Poincare originator of algebraic topology.
Professor Richard D. McBrien has generated an outcry by other mathematicians over his contentions about the nature of mathematical formulas. He teaches that not only is there more than one way to solve an equation, but also depending on the person that there might be different answers. Professor McBrien currently teaches a class in comparative mathematics where he shows that throughout history different cultures have developed various systems of math that have much in common with each other and that systems have replaced previous systems once thought to be true. He teaches that we can not hold that current theorems are true since they also might one day be replaced and that just possibly all mathematical ideas are based on people trying to artificially apply order to the cosmos via algebra and geometry. Professor McBrien contends that humans have an instinct towards equation solving that could possibly be explained by a math gene. He challenges the idea that 2 = 2 must equal 4 and that cultural pressures make people conform to an artificial ideal. He uses a proof for this from the work of experimental mathematician Lou Costello in his three part proof that 7x13 = 28.
| Check #1 | 13 x 7 21 + 7 28 |
Multiply 7 x 3 to get 21. Then multiply 7 x 1 to get 7. Then add 21 and 7 to get 28. |
| Check #2 |
13 |
We check the multiplication problem by dividing one factor into the product. Divide 7 into 2 but it doesn't go. So divide 7 into 8 to get 1. Subtract 7 from 28 to get 21. Now divide 7 into 21 to get 3. So the answer is 13. |
| Check #3 |
13 |
Another way to check a multiplication problem is by addition. To check if 7 x 13 = 28, we add seven 13s together. (3+3+3+3+3+3+3) + (1+1+1+1+1+1+1) |
Other more traditionalist mathematicians at Mesquite University contend that there is only one answer to a given equation and that only by holding to the possibility of only one right answer can mathematicians be saved from a bad equation. That the mathematical identity of Mesquite University requires all to hold to this understanding. Some ultra-traditionalists want that all mathematicians not be allowed to teach unless they take an oath in the belief of mathematics as traditionally taught. The mandatum is fundamentally an acknowledgment by a mathematical authority that a mathematics professor is a teacher within the full communion of mathematics professor who hold to one answer only. Professor Horowitz claims "Our founders would be horrified to find mathematical relativism in the school they founded. That one day the very truth of math would be challenged in a perverted syncretism that not only are there many ways to solve an equation, but the heretical idea that there are also many answers. This can only lead to indifferentism and the creation of indiferential equations."
Professor McBrien invokes that
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