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Book Cover
E-book
Author Reyes, G. Mitchell, author.

Title The Evolution of Mathematics : A Rhetorical Approach / G. Mitchell Reyes
Published University Park, PA : Penn State University Press, [2022]
©2022

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Description 1 online resource (202 p.)
Series The RSA series in transdisciplinary rhetoric
RSA series in transdisciplinary rhetoric.
Contents Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Stranger Relations -- 1 Plato's Mythos of Mathematics -- 2 Imbrications: Mathematics as a Translative Rhetorical Force -- 3 Transgressing the Limit: Invention, the Calculus, and the Rhetorical Force of the Infinitesimal -- 4 How Imaginaries Became Real -- 5 Algorithmic Culture and Economies of Translation -- 6 Implications: Translative Rhetoric Revisited -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary There is a growing awareness among researchers in the humanities and social sciences of the rhetorical force of mathematical discourse--whether in regard to gerrymandering, facial recognition technologies, or racial biases in algorithmic automation. This book proposes a novel way to engage with and understand mathematics via a theoretical framework that highlights how math transforms the social-material world.In this study, G. Mitchell Reyes applies contemporary rhetorical analysis to mathematical discourse, calling into question the commonly held view that math equals truth. Examining mathematics in historical context, Reyes traces its development from Plato's teaching about abstract numbers to Euclidian geometry and the emergence of calculus and infinitesimals, imaginary numbers, and algorithms. This history reveals that mathematical innovation has always relied on rhetorical practices of making meaning, such as analogy, metaphor, and invention. Far from expressing truth hidden deep in reality, mathematics is dynamic and evolving, shaping reality and our experience of it.By bringing mathematics back down to the material-social world, Reyes makes it possible for scholars of the rhetoric and sociology of science, technology, and math to collaborate with mathematicians themselves in order to better understand our material world and public culture
Analysis Algorithmic Culture
Algorithms
Calculus
Evolution of Mathematics
History of Mathematics
Math and judgment
Mathematics and the Anthropocene
Mathematics
Philosophy of Mathematics
Rhetoric
Translative Rhetoric
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-184) and index
Notes In English
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Mai 2023)
Subject Mathematics -- Social aspects.
Rhetoric -- Social aspects
LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Rhetoric.
Mathematics -- Social aspects
Rhetoric -- Social aspects
History and biography -- History of mathematics and mathematicians -- Miscellaneous topics.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780271094717
0271094710
9780271094700
0271094702