Mathematics Dysfunction Disorder
I am continuously astonished at the reactions I get from people every time I make a reference to mathematics, especially Calculus. Most people politely glaze their eyes over and stare at an inanimate object somewhere behind my head. Others launch into a diatribe of how the linear thinkers destroyed the world in the first place. Others will simply say, “I have [insert Deficit Dysfunction Disorder here]”
Puzzled by Limits? Perplexed by derivatives?
The truth of the matter is that everyone already knows Calculus, they solve differential equations all day long – they just don’t know that they already know what I’m talking about. If you take away all the strange terms, squiggly lines, and alphabet soup notation,….
Calculus is astonishingly simple
- The Banker does not care about money, he cares about the rate of change of money.
- The Stock Market does not care about risk, it cares about the rate of change of risk
- The Politician does not care about votes, they care about the rate of change in votes
- The Meteorologist does not care about weather, she cares about the rate of change in weather
- The Pilot does not care about lift, they care about the rate of change of lift
- The Gymnast does not care about motion, she cares about the rate of change of motion
- The Artist does not care about color, he cares about the rate of change of color
- The Doctor does not care about your health, she cares about the rate of change in your health
- The Baker does not care about dough, they care about the rate of change of dough
- The Farmer does not care about crops, he cares about the rate of change of crops
- The Scientists does not care about data, they care about the rate of change of data
- Google does not care about information, it cares about the rate of change of information
- Entrepreneurs do not care about knowledge, they care about the rate of change of knowledge
- Markets do not care about innovation, they care about the rate of change of innovation
- Our children do not care about our wisdom, they care about our rate of change of wisdom
When people can learn how to understand what they are really doing in instead of what they think they are doing, then and only then, will we be able to see, and subsequently, build the next economic paradigm. That is why I use mathematics and that is when Social Media Becomes a Science
