Futurism logo

Math Morals (Part 4): Equivalent Fractions

The Philosophy Hidden in Mathematics

By BasilPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
Like

Fractions are equivalent to each other when they have the same value. So for example, 1/2 is equivalent to 5/10, since both equate to 1/2. What can we learn from this?

So let us suppose that there are two groups. Group A has 2 people while group B has 10 people. When we divide both these groups into 2 equal halves, the two equal halves of group A have 1 person per half, while the two equal halves of group B each have 5 people. So when group B got divided, it had more people per half. This shows us the importance of unity. It shows us the stregth of living together and bonding. Even if we are broken down, we will still have some strength. But those who live in less numbers are alone and such groups can easily be broken down.

Also, consider a cake which is cut into two halves and a cake cut into 10 pieces. 10 people can enjoy from the cake with 10 pieces, while only 2 people get the cake with 2 pieces. Although the 10 people get small pieces, but at least no one was kept from getting a piece.

Also, having many people has less effect when one is affected or harmed. There are others to take his place. But if there are few people, each person has a great value and any harm has a large impact on the society.

One very important lesson we learn from equivalent fractions is that our value/presence is determined by our society as well. By this, I do not mean that others have a right to judge you or other's opinions are necessarily correct, but what I mean is that if we have more people around, we are less noticeable. In fractions, if there are only two people around, our value is half (1/2), but if there are 10 people around, we become less noticeable since our presence is now one-tenth (1/10). This can be a good or a bad thing. This is a good thing for things like education, we're we try to achieve a higher student-to-teacher ratio so that students can get more attention.

Also, the more the value of the denominator, the lesser the value of the fraction. This means that the more we divide something, it's value get lesser. This shows us that the more we divide our attention, the less value production we can do. The value of our creativity, attention, production and focus goes down. A mind that wanders all over the place cannot think in an organized way for a long time and thus loses it's production value. So, in order to be productive, we need to learn to focus. Also, this shows us that we need to learn to specialize in one field only or keep our fields of specialization limited. We shouldn't try to become a jack of all traits because then we'll be a master of none.

Lastly, equivalent fractions teach us that not everyone has to have the same thing to be happy, sad, frightened etc. Different things make people happy, sad, frightened etc. A simple example is that a toy car makes a child happy, while an adult needs a real car. But even in the same age group, people have different interests. Similarly, different people come to the truth in different ways. But all reach the same conclusion from their own points of view. A medical researcher sees the medical miracles in the nature around him, a geologist sees geological miracles all around him, the philosopher sees the philosophical miracles around him, a historian studies history thoughtfully to search for truth etc. But all of them reach the same conclusion about the truth of the reality. May we all strive to reach the truth and find peace through it.

unsplash.com/photos/fsJB3KT2rj8

intellect
Like

About the Creator

Basil

A passionate student of Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering and the Arabic Language

Follow me on motivationformuslims.home.blog and mathmorals.wordpress.com

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.