When mathematicians got tired of waiting for the next season of "Game of Thrones"

When mathematicians got tired of waiting for the next season of "Game of Thrones" to be released, they figured out the most important heroes, made a list of those who will survive by the end of the series and analyzed the diseases that the heroes suffer from. Parents often ask us lately how math is useful for their children in real life. In such a non-obvious way, it can also come in handy. And the level of development of mathematical thinking affects society and the standard of living, says Alexander Vasilyevich Spivak, a mathematics teacher, lecturer and organizer of the Moscow State University Maly Mehmat lecture hall.

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- What is the use of mathematics and geometry? Parents often think about this: if the child does not succeed, maybe, okay, let's not torture?

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- If you walk along the streets of Zurich, you will see a huge number of geometric ornaments on bridges and buildings. Switzerland is a country with a very high standard of living. This is the benefit of mathematics. In the Florentine Uffizi Gallery, you will find a Renaissance mathematics study. And this office is not even accessible for visiting, you can only look through the open doors, but you cannot enter. There is a table of precious stones, floors, walls - everything is fantastically expensive. The idea is that a mathematician's office should be worth millions of dollars.

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- How can this be applied to our life?

- Florence was a wealthy state at a time when they respected mathematics. It is enough to respect mathematics less and the standard of living falls automatically. This is no coincidence and here's why. What is mathematics in school for? For honesty. I will explain.

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Take a school subject, for example, astronomy. What is there? Stargazing that has been done for centuries. You cannot let a student go to real large telescopes, because they are in observatories and are not available in class or even fly in space. The teacher says: “Scientists have proven…. There are comets, planets ... ”- children have to take their word for it. If a good teacher and a good textbook, the student will understand what and how they proved. But a huge amount of facts are missing - the school curriculum does not contain everything. And there is no space to draw your own conclusion or discovery.