Mathematics: A Gym For The Mind?

Many of us would have come across memes like the one below that make the rounds in social media once in a while

There are many people who would agree with the above memes. Many who feel that all the mathematics they studied in school or college is of no use in real life. This post is to get across my point that, though all that mathematics might not directly be useful to you, they are useful in an indirect way. Though I also have laughed at many of these memes and taken them in a lighter vein, still I feel I have to defend my stand.

The heading is something that I have always felt strongly about Mathematics: “Mathematics is the gym of the mind”. Allow me to explain with the help of a scenario

Suppose a person hits the gym in the morning before heading off to work. For around 1.5–2 hours, he does all sorts of exercises. He does the treadmill, squats, cardio, push-ups and pull-ups and what not. Added to all this, he lifts weights of all sizes and proportions to develop his biceps or triceps.

But once he reaches office, all he does is sit in front of a laptop from 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening. The only exercise that he does is the occasional visit to the restroom or the water cooler or the 500-metre walk to the cafeteria during lunch or tea break. Once he reaches home after a day’s work, he plonks himself in front of the TV or the laptop to watch a football match or finish the last episode of that recently released web series.

I would like to ask you a few questions based on the above scenario:

• Does his office work require him to lift 20kg of weight on a daily basis?
• Is he required to run daily as part of his normal office routine?
• Where has he made use of any of the things he did in the gym?

If your answer is a big NO to all of these, I ask you another question: “Why then, does he go the gym?”. It is a very valid question right? If the workout he does in the gym is not of use to him in his office, why then, does he need to sweat it out in the gym daily?

The main reason why people go to the gym is, to strengthen their body muscles and maintain physique.

Similarly, MATHEMATICS IS THE GYM FOR YOUR MIND which helps in strengthening your brain cells. Doing mathematics for at least 30 minutes acts like a mental workout for your brain everyday and helps in sharpening those grey cells and keeping them well oiled.

This doesn’t mean I ask you to solve questions on calculus, trigonometry or algebra everyday. Mathematics has a lot more to it than these topics. Let me introduce you to 2 “gyms” in mathematics that you could visit:

Puzzles

Who doesn’t like puzzles? There are a lot of puzzles based on mathematics which are fun and interesting which will keep you hooked on to them for hours together. Do buy one of the numerous puzzle books from the market and make it a point to practice for at least 30 minutes everyday. I am sure all of us can allocate 30 minutes of our time from the time we spend on Facebook, Instagram for something more useful

A few books I would recommend which are written by the Human Computer Shakuntala Devi:

Shakuntala Devi’s Puzzles to Puzzle You Shakuntala Devi: More Puzzles to Puzzle You

A few sample puzzles from the above books:

• Only 2 rectangles have dimensions that are integers and their area and perimeter equal to the same number. Can you find both?
• It is a matter of common knowledge that 0oC is the same as 32oF. It is also a known fact that 100oC equals 212oF. But, there is a temperature that gives the same reading in both Centigrade and Fahrenheit scales. Can you find this temperature?
• How can you make a total of 1000 using 16 4's?
• Can you place the numbers 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 — each number in one circle so that any 3 circles in a line has numbers which total the same sum?

Sudoku

Most of you might be aware of this. Sudoku is a very popular mathematics based puzzle that is sure to keep you addicted to it for months together. Though the rules would seem to be simple, solving a Sudoku puzzle can take anywhere between 1 minute to 1 hour. Sudoku consists of filling a 9×9 grid in such a way that each row, column or 3×3 subgrid within the grid, contain all the digits from 1 to 9 only once.

Similar to puzzle books, there are numerous books consisting of 100’s Sudoku puzzles in the market. Also, there are a lot of apps on Google Playstore for Sudoku with varying levels of difficulty. You can download one and start today itself. Start from the easiest ones and work your way up to the difficult ones.

Another “gym” that you could visit is “Chess”. But, that is a more difficult one and requires a lot more hard work.

So, what are you waiting for? Join one of the above “gyms” soon and start developing your brain cells. Unlike physical gyms, these mental “gyms” don’t cost you much.

Also, in future, if somebody were to tell you that mathematics finds no application in real life, you can give them the above scenario of the gym I mentioned.

Thanks for reading!!!

Originally published at http://infinitesimallysmallcom.wordpress.com on October 11, 2020.