Mathematics is called the language of science. Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei is said to have made the quote, “Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe.” Yet, is mathematics truly a language, like English or Chinese?
There are many definitions of “language.” A language can be a system of words or codes used in a subject area. Language can mean a system of communication using symbols or sounds. A language expert Noam Chomsky defined language as a set of sentences made using a limited set of elements. Some language experts think language should be able to show events and abstract ideas.
To be called a language, it needs these parts:
A list of words or symbols.
Clear meanings for those words or symbols.
Grammar rules for using them.
Orderly structures to form sentences.
Longer sentences that tell a story.
A group of people who use and understand it.
Mathematics fits all these needs. The symbols, their meanings, the way they are ordered, and the rules are the same all over the world. Mathematicians, scientists, and others use math to share ideas. Mathematics can describe itself (a field called meta-mathematics), things in the real world, and abstract ideas.
But not everyone agrees that mathematics is a language. Some definitions of “language” say it is a spoken way of communicating. Mathematics is a written way of communicating. While it might be easy to say a simple addition statement out loud (e.g., 1 + 1 = 2), it’s much harder to say other equations (方程式) out loud (e.g., Maxwell’s equations). Also, the spoken statements would be in the speaker’s own language, not a common language for everyone.
A good reason to think mathematics is a language is that modern elementary-high school teaching plans use methods from language teaching to teach mathematics. Educational psychologist Paul Riccomini and his team said that students learning mathematics need “a strong knowledge of words; the ability to change and be flexible; being good at using numbers, symbols, words, and pictures; and the skill to understand.”
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