Flatland is a land of two-dimensions with many inhabitants of different shapes and sizes. There are numerous rules and laws to living in Flatland, but this is not the only land with them. There is also Spaceland, which is a land of three-dimensions, but the citizens of Flatland do not believe in three-dimensions. Unknown places like Spaceland frighten the people of Flatland because Flatland has three unique intertwined characteristics. The three major themes that are in Flatland are (1) fearful of the unknown to the (2) conflict between emotion and logic to the (3) quest for power and knowledge. The three features of Flatland correspond with how I feel about my mathematical career and my journey because geometry along with other levels of math presents these types of themes.
As I stated previously, being fearful of the unknown is one of the themes in Flatland, it is also a characteristic the inhabitants of Flatland possess, that is also seen in my own personal mathematical journey. However, it is evident that the creatures of Flatland handle their fear differently than me because they are so afraid of the unknown to where they do anything to keep it away from their everyday life. For example the text states, “Death or imprisonment awaits the Apostle of the Gospel of Three Dimensions” (Abbott 45). This quote mentions three dimensions, which is impossible in Flatland because that is a land of two dimensions, therefore they are so afraid of what they do not know that they kill or captivate anyone who speaks of it.
Though, not everyone is lie this because in the novel A.Square states, “I crave, I thirst, for more knowledge” (Abbott 48). I deal with the unidentified mathematical wonders like A.Square because I fight for my underst...
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...tion, and (3) seeking power and knowledge. Though, the Flatlanders and I do not take advantage of these themes with the same approach. The Flatlanders tend to go to more drastic measures than I but then again these themes are retaining to a whole society. Whereas, when they are accommodating to my life they only consider my math career, which is not as much work. After reading Flatland and writing this dissertation I have made many connections between Flatland and the real world. The actual world and Flatland are very similar having, discrimination, imperfections, laws, art, and etc. Furthermore, to fear the unknown in the conflict between emotion and logic during the quest for power and knowledge is very common in my career as well as Flatland.
Works Cited
Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1963. Print.
Updike, John. "A & P" Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
Updike, John. "A & P" Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
when i was young, i went to school, for a short time. I used to think, that the world was flat. and box-like.
... relationship in one problem that doesn’t appear in others. Among all of this, there is such vastness in how one person might approach a problem compared to another, and that’s great. The main understanding that seems essential here is how it all relates. Mathematics is all about relationships between number and methods and models and how they all work in different ways to ideally come to the same solution.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
Lawall, Sarah N. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. Print.
Myer, Michael. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 7th ed. : Bedford - St. Martin's, 2006.
In the first scene of “Proof,” the audience sees that Robert not only passes along his mathematical ability to Catherine but also passes along his trust in her, opening the path for her to turn the mathematical ability into greatness. While Catherine admits that her education was “living in this house for twenty-five years” (Auburn 64), Robert knows that Cather...
I also learned that mathematics was more than merely an intellectual activity: it was a necessary tool for getting a grip on all sorts of problems in science and engineering. Without mathematics there is no progress. However, mathematics could also show its nasty face during periods in which problems that seemed so simple at first sight refused to be solved for a long time. Every math student will recognize these periods of frustration and helplessness.
The novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson has many themes that present themselves throughout the book. One such recurring theme is a search for truth. The characters in the book do not fully realize that they are searching for truth, but they do feel a vague, "indescribable thing" that pushes and prods their minds to actualize a higher plane of thought. This search for a higher plane by the characters of Winesburg nearly parallels another literary work of ancient Greek origin- Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," which is a portion of his famous writing "The Republic." I contend that the town of Winesburg is the equivalent of the Cave in Plato's writing.
Wigner, Eugene P. 1960. The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics. Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics 13: 1-14.
...ett, S. (2008) . Young children’s access to powerful mathematical ideas, in English, Lyn D (ed), Handbook of international research in mathematics education, 2nd edn, New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 75-108.
Towers, J., Martin, L., & Pirie, S. (2000). Growing mathematical understanding: Layered observations. In M.L. Fernandez (Ed.), Proceedings of the Annual Meetings of North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Tucson, AZ, 225-230.
[4] Nolan, Deborah. Women in Mathematics: Scaling the Heights. The Mathematical Association of America, 1997
Burton, D. (2011). The History of Mathematics: An Introduction. (Seventh Ed.) New York, NY. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.