Ethos Pathos Logos

“How can you identify a single counterfeit penny, slightly lighter than the rest, from a group of nine, in only two weighs?”(Suri, 4) This is an interesting mathematical puzzle which everyone might had played in our childhood. The puzzle was invented by a legendary mathematician Martin Gardner in 1956. Are you wondering that why great mathematicians such as Martin Gardner were still interesting in this kind of recreational math? An editorial written by Manil Suri who is an Indian mathematician expounded the significance of recreational math. He used many examples to explain the importance of recreational math puzzles from different sides. Those math games educated players who had none mathematical background an ability and a logical deductive

Pathos appeals to the emotional connection from the editorial to readers, and stories can be used as a perfect tool to create emotional connections between the editorial to readers. The pathos is reflected in the connection between people who have no math background and the confidence of solving math problems. As we know, mathematics is usually considered as a very abstruse science. According my experience as a college student, many students who have no math background escape to study math related knowledge because of their fear of mathematics. Even though, according to my previous discussion, once people understand the beauty of recreational math, they will love it, but there are still a huge amount of people quit due to the fear of mathematics before stepping on this stage. Suri effectively eliminates readers’ fear and creates the confidence of solving math problems by using the story of Marjorie Ric. The story is about a San Diego woman who having had no math beyond high school. Despite all this, after spending two years studying in a recreational math problem, she finally published her study result in mathematics journal. It is worth noting that, the result of using Ric’s story is remarkable to create emotional connection. By using a story of normal mother instead of using a story of great mathematicians, the sense of identification between readers and Marjorie is increased. So as to

Ethos appeals to the credibility, trustworthiness and authority the writer hold, in other words, what extent readers believe in what the writer trying to express. In a persuasion, the successful use of ethos is extremely important. A low ethos writing is usually reflected in that the writer have no expertise on the topic he/she argue with, and it usually result in the doubt from readers. For example, a speech about “Newton 's laws of motion” that is performed by a physicist is much more trustable than it is performed by a musician, even they are both professional in their field. In this editorial, Suri tags himself as a mathematician below his picture, but he does not mention his background as a mathematician which is usually be consider as serious and credible to build his credibility, therefore, there is no trust to be transferred to readers. That is one failure in his editorial. Furthermore, another advantage of as a mathematician is that, he is qualified to use his own stories and experience as a successful implement to support his thesis, the use of his own story tends to be more creditable as a real world instance to verify his view. In consequence, even he uses vivid stories and rational arguments to elaborate his thesis, but it is still be considers as a less creditable