Symbolic mathematics and symbolic manipulation are very powerful in some cases. They are not a panacea. In fact, given the current state of mathematical knowledge, they have great limitations. Most people have, use, and rely for their survival on conceptual reasoning abilities every day that we don’t know how to express in symbolic mathematical form or program on a computer, if this is even possible. To make major progress, even in highly mathematical areas like pure mathematics or theoretical physics or power systems, we probably need to make heavy use of conceptual analysis and visualization just as the successful scientists and engineers of the past did.
The site is the responsibility of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, The London Mathematical Society and the Royal Statistical Society.
The AMS Public Awareness Office works with the media, scientific societies, institutes, universities, and museums to promote awareness of mathematics and to publicize meetings, events, prizes, and AMS activities.
These video lectures of Professor Arthur Mattuck teaching 18.03 were recorded live in the Spring 2003 and do not correspond precisely to the lectures taught in the Spring of 2004. Professor Mattuck has inspired and informed generations of MIT students wit
Paul Taylor Cambridge University Press
