数学天才_数学天才是脆弱的。我们需要停止破坏它。-CSDN博客

数学天才

by Junaid Mubeen

通过Junaid Mubeen

数学天才是脆弱的。我们需要停止破坏它。 (Mathematical genius is fragile. We need to stop destroying it.)

几乎从未有过的数学传奇 (The legends of mathematics that almost never were)

Mathematical genius is misunderstood. The term “genius” evokes feelings of envy. It paints a picture of a pre-determined minority of people who have truly mastered a discipline. A chosen few.

数学天才被误解了。 “天才”一词令人羡慕。它描绘了真正掌握一门学科的预定少数群体的情况。 选定的几个 。

Yet there is nothing pre-determined about it. Mathematical genius resides within every one of us. Most people just don’t know it yet. That’s because genius is fragile. If you don’t embrace genius and tend to it with care, it will slip away, leaving behind just a subdued vision of the mathematicians we could have become.

然而，没有任何预定的东西。数学天才存在于我们每一个人中。大多数人还不知道。那是因为天才是脆弱的。如果您不拥抱天才并谨慎对待它，它就会消失，仅留下我们可能会成为数学家的低调视野。

If you take even a cursory look through the annals of mathematics, you’ll see the fragile and often fickle nature of genius. Many of the legends of the field — whose talents and achievements are beyond dispute — could so easily have been forgotten by history. Their stories should act as a warning sign to educators today.

如果您粗略地浏览数学史，就会发现天才的脆弱性和善变性。该领域的许多传奇人物(其才华和成就无可争议)很容易被历史所遗忘。他们的故事应该成为当今教育工作者的警告信号。

从上等到数学民俗学 (From last in class to mathematical folklore)

Jacques Hadamard was a French mathematician with a knack for number theory. In proving the Prime Number Theorem (loosely, showing that primes become less common through the number line), Hadamard established his place in mathematical folklore.

雅克·哈达玛(Jacques Hadamard)是一位法国数学家，对数论有所了解。在证明素数定理(松散地显示出质数通过数字线变得不那么普遍)时，哈达玛确立了他在数学民俗学中的地位。

How surprising then that, prior to fifth grade, he was placed last in his class for arithmetic. Hardly the mark of a child prodigy. You wonder by what alchemy he was reduced to the sobering status as ‘last in class’ — most likely a test, of the same narrow kind that pervades school mathematics today.

如此令人惊讶的是，在五年级之前，他在算术课程中排名倒数第二。简直不是神童的印记。您想知道是什么炼金术使他沦为“班级最后”的清醒状态-最有可能是一种测试，是与当今学校数学相同的狭窄测试。

Tests can serve a profoundly useful purpose in providing feedback and diagnosing students’ learning needs. But as blunt labels for students’ abilities, they can be devastating. Hadamard prevailed, but how many other primary-aged students give up for life in the face of these cruel, snapshot judgements?

测试在提供反馈和诊断学生的学习需求方面可以起到非常有用的作用。但是作为学生能力的直截了当的标签，它们可能是毁灭性的。哈达玛占了上风，但是面对这些残酷的快照判断，又有多少其他的中学生放弃生命？

抛弃线性代数的花园 (Ditching the garden for Linear Algebra)

The stated hopes and beliefs of our parents can hold the key to unlocking our genius — or stifling it. Hermann Grassmann, one of the founding fathers of Linear Algebra, did not excel in his formative school years. Grassman’s own father — also one of the school teachers — advised his son to give up mathematics altogether. In his father’s eyes, Grassmann’s calling lay as a gardener. With all respect paid to my botanically-inclined friends, Grassmann did well to honor his intellect.

我们父母所表达的希望和信念可以把握解锁我们天才的力量或扼杀它。线性代数的创始者之一赫尔曼·格拉斯曼(Hermann Grassmann)在其成年的学业上并不出色。格拉斯曼自己的父亲(也是学校的老师之一)建议他的儿子完全放弃数学。在父亲的眼中，格拉斯曼的呼唤是作为园丁。在对我所有喜欢植物的朋友表示敬意的时候，格拉斯曼很荣幸地表达了他的才智。

女人是最好的数学家 (Women make the best mathematicians)

Sophie Germain faced resistance of another kind. This precocious teen discovered mathematics in the stack of books that filled her father’s home library. Germain’s commitment was nothing short of incredible. She even taught herself Latin and Greek to access the full range of texts.

索菲·格曼(Sophie Germain)面临另一种抵抗。这个早熟的少年在堆满父亲父亲的家庭书的书堆中发现了数学。 Germain的承诺令人难以置信。她甚至自学拉丁语和希腊语以访问所有文本。

Germain faced just one problem — this was eighteenth century Europe, where it was uncouth for women to participate in mathematics.

杰曼(Germain)仅仅面临一个问题-那是18世纪的欧洲，那里的妇女参加数学培训是很不公平的。

Germain’s parents went as far as banning her from studying. They even removed her light and clothes to dissuade her from reading books.

Germain的父母甚至禁止她学习。他们甚至摘走了她的灯和衣服，以劝阻她不要读书。

She persevered, reading the likes of Newton and Euler into the late hours of the night, wrapped under a quilt, with stolen candles her only flicker of light. After finding her slumped over her books one morning following an all-nighter, Germain’s parents finally relented. Good job too — her contributions to number theory proved pivotal.

她坚持不懈，一直到深夜读牛顿和欧拉之类的东西，被子包裹着，被偷的蜡烛点燃了她唯一的光芒。在整夜通宵达旦之后，发现她一头扎在书本上，杰曼的父母终于松了口气。成绩也很好-她对数论的贡献举足轻重。

Germain worked under the pseudonym M. LeBlanc to disguise her identity. Her talents put her in correspondence with the Prince of Mathematicians, Carl Friedrich Gauss, who later expressed admiration and astonishment when discovering Germain’s true gender.

Germain以化名M. LeBlanc的身份掩饰了自己的身份。她的才华使她与数学家王子卡尔·弗里德里希·高斯(Carl Friedrich Gauss)保持一致，后者后来发现杰曼(Germain)的真实性别时表示钦佩和惊讶。

The most sobering aspect of Sophie Germain’s story is that it could just as easily play out today. The gender gap in mathematics remains unresolved, with girls falling behind their male peers in early schooling; a trend which carries through to the underrepresentation of women in STEM degrees and careers.

索菲·杰曼(Sophie Germain)的故事最令人发醒的方面是，它今天同样可以轻松播放。数学上的性别差距仍未解决，女孩在早期教育中落后于男性。这是导致妇女在STEM学位和职业中代表性不足的趋势。

The gender gap is cultural, not biological. When teachers have lower expectations of girls, it is hardly surprising that boys show more favorable attitudes towards mathematics.

性别差距是文化的，而不是生物的。当老师对女孩的期望较低时，男孩对数学表现出更加积极的态度就不足为奇了。

If Sophie Germain were alive today, would she be any more welcome in mathematical circles than in eighteenth century Europe?

如果索菲·杰曼(Sophie Germain)今天还活着，那么她在数学界会比在18世纪的欧洲受到更多欢迎吗？

Maryam Mirzakhani gives us reason to be hopeful. In 2014 the Stanford professor became the first female recipient of the Fields Medal; the highest accolade in all of mathematics (our equivalent of the Nobel Prize or, if you prefer, the Oscars).

Maryam Mirzakhani给了我们充满希望的理由。 2014年，斯坦福大学教授成为菲尔兹奖章的第一位女性获奖者；在所有数学中均获得最高荣誉(相当于诺贝尔奖，或者，如果您愿意，还可以得到奥斯卡奖)。

You do not need to understand Mirzakhani’s work (and unless you are an expert on Riemann surfaces, be grateful for that) to appreciate its significance.

您无需了解Mirzakhani的作品(除非您是Riemann表面的专家，否则不胜感激)即可欣赏其重要性。

Mirzakhani has torn down gender stereotypes. As an Iranian, she may yet have other threats to face from the Trump administration. It appears that, even in 2017, the country into which we are born profoundly shapes our life chances.

米尔扎卡尼(Mirzakhani)拆除了性别定型观念。作为伊朗人，她可能还面临特朗普政府面临的其他威胁。看来，即使在2017年，我们出生的国家也深刻地影响着我们的生活机会。

Not all geniuses are born into equal opportunity.

并非所有的天才都出生于平等的机会中。

出于晦涩难懂 (Plucked from obscurity)

Srinivasa Ramanujan epitomized the term “genius.” For mathematicians, his is a true rags-to-riches story. Born and raised in rural India in the late nineteenth century, Ramanujan had scarce few opportunities to develop his raw mathematical skills. He worked with the crusty relics available to him. On one occasion, he encountered a primitive, out-dated textbook and from this simple manuscript derived deep mathematical theorems — many of them unknown to the best mathematicians of his time.

Srinivasa Ramanujan代表“天才”一词。对于数学家来说，他是一个真正的破烂致富的故事。拉马努詹(Ramanujan)于19世纪晚期在印度农村出生并长大，他几乎没有机会发展自己的原始数学技能。他与可用的硬皮文物一起工作。有一次，他遇到了一本原始的，过时的教科书，并且从这份简单的手稿中得出了深奥的数学定理-其中许多是他那个时代最好的数学家所不知道的。

Ramanujan sent his manuscripts over to England, where they were rejected by everyone but GH Hardy, the famous maths professor at Trinity College, Cambridge. Even Hardy was ready to dismiss Ramanujan’s work, until he realized the remarkable depths of what he was reading. Hardy invited Ramanujan over to Cambridge. The two men formed the most unlikely of alliances. Despite his life being cut short by illness, Ramanujan’s legacy as a mathematical great is secure.

Ramanujan将手稿寄到了英国，在那里，除了剑桥三一学院著名的数学教授GH Hardy之外，其他所有人都拒绝了。甚至Hardy也准备解雇Ramanujan的作品，直到他意识到自己正在阅读的书本的深度。 Hardy邀请Ramanujan到剑桥。这两个人是联盟中最不可能的人。尽管他的生命因疾病而缩短，但拉马努詹作为数学巨匠的遗产还是可以肯定的。

It took a chance encounter with a textbook and a leap of faith from a Cambridge professor for Ramanujan’s talents to be realized. How many more Ramanujan’s are languishing in obscurity?

偶然的机会遇到了一本教科书，并获得了剑桥教授的信仰飞跃，从而实现了拉马努詹的才华。还有多少拉玛努真人的默默无闻？

There are seventy million unschooled children in the world. That’s seventy millions beacons extinguished without a hope. Not that modern schooling is a safe haven to opportunity. Socioeconomic achievement remains closely related to educational outcomes. Access to education counts for little when it is not backed up by quality.

世界上有七千万未上学的孩子。那七千万个信标被扑灭了，没有希望了。并不是说现代学校是机会的避风港。社会经济成就仍然与教育成果密切相关。如果没有质量的支持，获得教育的机会就很少。

天才触手可及 (Genius at our fingertips)

The world needs mathematicians more than ever before. Yet historical barriers — from parental expectations and gender stereotypes to xenophobia and poverty — persist to this day. A handful of mathematicians may prevail through dogged persistence, sheer luck or divine intervention. But for their triumphs, millions more may perish. Genius can never be taken for granted.

世界比以往任何时候都更需要数学家。然而，从父母的期望和性别定型观念到仇外心理和贫困的历史障碍一直持续到今天。少数数学家可能会通过顽强的坚持，运气或神圣干预来取胜。但是，由于他们的胜利，可能还会有数百万人丧命。天才永远不能被认为是理所当然的。

The values of society exert untold influence on children’s mathematical achievement. It is our beliefs and choices that make mathematical genius so fragile.

社会的价值观对儿童的数学成就有着不可估量的影响。是我们的信念和选择使数学天才变得如此脆弱。

We have a global talent pool of mathematical geniuses at our fingertips. We can not afford to let them slip through.

我们拥有触手可及的全球数学才华人才库。我们不能让他们溜走。

I am a research mathematician turned educator working at the nexus of mathematics, education and innovation.

我是一名研究数学家，后来成为从事数学，教育和创新研究的教育家。

Come say hello on Twitter or LinkedIn.

来Twitter或LinkedIn上打个招呼。

If you liked this article you might want to check out my following pieces:

如果您喜欢本文，则可能需要查看以下文章：

These four visuals dispel the myths we’ve been fed about maths educationThe case of Nancy and Liammystudentvoices.com EdTech’s culture problemEducation is innately cultural. The way we learn is shaped by our environment, our experiences and our belief systems.medium.com Mathematics without history is soullessπ through the ageshackernoon.com

这四个视觉效果消除了我们对数学教育 的迷惑 。Nancy 和Liam的案例 mystudentvoices.com EdTech的文化问题 教育 本质上 是文化。 我们的学习方式取决于环境，经验和信念体系。 medium.com 数学没有历史是没有灵魂的 千古πhackernoon.com