Calculus is difficult because real numbers are wrongly believed essential to it. Reverting to the way calculus originated makes it easy. Axiomatic proofs (like Russell’s 378 page proof of 1+1=2) add zilch to the practical value of math in a grocer’s shop, but they make math excessively difficult. The purported Read more…
Because the calculus is difficult. Why? Because Europeans stole it, and hence, like cheats in an exam, they failed to fully understand it. Snippet of handwritten letter from Matteo Ricci (Cochin, 1581) just before Clavius’ 1582 Gregorian reform of the calendar, which itself was needed for European navigation (latitude determination Read more…
Axiomatic proofs (like Russell’s 378 page proof of 1+1=2) add zilch to the practical value of math in a grocer’s shop, but they make math excessively difficult. The purported “superiority” of axiomatic proofs is a church superstition which was politically convenient to the Crusading church in developing its rational theology Read more…
Snippet of handwritten letter from Matteo Ricci (Cochin, 1581) just before Clavius’ 1582 Gregorian reform of the calendar, which itself was needed for European navigation (latitude determination in daytime). Ricci speaks of getting Indian calendrical knowledge from an “honest Moor or an intelligent Brahmin”. See, Cultural Foundations of Mathematics, Pearson Read more…