13th International Congress on Mathematical Education

Hamburg, 24-31 July 2016 PAPER TEMPLATE

FROM ESSENCE TO EXISTENCE IN MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

Allan Tarp
MATHeCADEMY.net

In mathematics and its education, the difference between essence and existence is seldom discussed
although central to existentialist thinking. So we can ask: What will an existentialist mathematics
education look like? Thus we close the door to the library with today’s self-referring mathematics
and go outside to rebuild mathematics from its roots, the physical fact Many. Likewise, we can ask
if mathematics is learned by exposure to its outside roots or to its inside essence claims.

BACKGROUND
Institutionalized education typically has mathematics as one of its core subjects in primary and
secondary school. To evaluate the success OECD arranges PISA studies on a regular basis. Here
increasing funding of mathematics education research should improve PISA results. However, the
opposite seems to be the case in Scandinavia as witnessed by the latest PISA study and by the
OECD report ‘Improving Schools in Sweden’ (OECD 2015).
As to the content of education, sociology offers understandings of schools and teacher education,
psychology of learning, and philosophy of textbooks. Focusing upon existentialist philosophy this
paper asks: What will an existentialist mathematics and education look like? The purpose is not to
replace one tradition with another but to uncover hidden alternatives to choices presented as nature.
EXISTENTIALISM
The Pythagoreans labeled their four knowledge areas by a Greek word for knowledge, mathematics.
With astronomy and music now as independent areas, today mathematics is a common label for the
two remaining activities, geometry meaning to measure earth in Greek, and Algebra meaning to
reunite numbers in Arabic and replacing Greek arithmetic (Freudenthal 1973).
The Greeks used the word ‘sophy’ meaning knowledge for men of knowledge, the sophists and the
philosophers, disagreeing on the nature of knowledge. Seeing democracy with information and
debate and choice as the natural state-form, the sophists emphasized knowing nature from choice to
prevent patronization by choices presented as nature. Seeing autocracy patronized by themselves as
the natural state-form, the philosophers saw choice as an illusion since to them physical existence
was but examples of metaphysical essence only visible to the philosophers educated at the Plato
academy having as entrance sign ‘Let no one ignorant of geometry enter.’
Today, the sophist skepticism towards false is-claims is carried on by French post-structuralism and
by the existentialism of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger and Sartre, defining existentialism as
holding that ‘existence precedes essence, or (..) that subjectivity must be the starting point’ (Marino
2004: 344). In Denmark, a heritage allowed Kierkegaard to publish whatever he wrote. At the end,
shortage forced him to shift to flying papers when rebelling against institutionalized Christianity in
the form of Christendom. Focusing on the three classical virtues Truth, and Beauty and Goodness,

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Kierkegaard left truth to the natural sciences, and argued that to change from a person to a
personality the individual should stop admiring beauty created by others and instead realize their
own existence through individual choices. Of course, angst is a consequence when fearing to
choose the bad instead of the good, and death might follow, but so will forgiveness and resurrection
to a new life in real existence, as promised by Christianity in the Holy Communion.
In Germany, Nietzsche saw institutionalized Christendom as the creator of moral is-statements that
prevented individuals from realizing their true existence through individual choices and action. To
end this serfdom he hoped that someday we will see a ‘redeeming man (..) whose isolation is
misunderstood by the people as if it were flight from reality – while it is only his absorption,
immersion, penetration into reality, so that (..) he may bring home the redemption of this reality: its
redemption from the curse that the hitherto reigning ideal has laid upon it.’ (Marino 2004: 186-187).
Likewise in Germany, Heidegger saw that to avoid traditional essence-claims, is-statements must be
replaced by has-statements so that being is characterized by what it has, ‘Dasein’. Arendt carried his
work further by dividing human activity into labor and work focusing on the private sphere and
action focusing on the political sphere thus accepting as the first philosopher political action as a
worthy human activity creating institutions that should be treated with care to avoid ‘the banality of
evil’ if turning totalitarian (Arendt 1998).
MATHEMATICS AS ESSENCE
Within mathematics, the existentialist distinction is shown by the function concept, defined by
Euler as labeling the existence of calculations combining known and unknown numbers, and today
defined as set-relations where first component-identity implies second-component identity thus
becoming pure essence through self-reference. The set-concept transformed mathematics to ‘meta-
matics’, a self-referring collection of well-proven statements about well-defined concepts, defined
as examples from internal abstractions instead of as abstractions from external examples. Looking
at the set of sets not belonging to itself allowed Russell to show that self-reference leads to the
classical liar paradox ‘this sentence it false’ being false if true and true if false:
If M = A│AA)then MM MM.
The Zermelo–Fraenkel set-theory avoids self-reference by not distinguishing between sets and
elements, thus becoming meaningless by its inability to separate outside examples from inside
abstractions. That institutionalized education ignores this can be seen as an example of ‘symbolic
violence’ used to protect the privileges of today’s ‘knowledge nobility’ (Bourdieu 1977).
Behind colorful illustrations, self-referring metamatics is taught through a gradual presentation of
different number types, natural numbers and integers and rational and real numbers, together with
the four basic operations, addition and subtraction and multiplication and division, where especially
division and letter fractions create learning problems. Equations are introduced as equivalent
number names to be changed by identical operations. In pre-calculus polynomial functions are
introduced as a basis for calculus presenting differential calculus before integral calculus.
MATHEMATICS AS EXISTENCE
Chosen by the Pythagoreans as a common label, mathematics has no existence itself, only its
content has, geometry and algebra, both rooted as natural sciences about the physical fact Many.

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The root of geometry is the standard form, a rectangle, that halved by a diagonal becomes two right-
angled triangles where the sides and the angles are connected by three laws, A+B+C = 180,
a^2+b^2 = c^2 and sinA = a/c. Being filled from the inside by such triangles, a circle with radius r
gets the circumference 2··r where = n·sin(180/n) for n sufficiently large.
Meeting Many we ask ‘how many?’ Counting and adding gives the answer. We count by bundling
and stacking as seen when writing a total T in its full form: T = 345 = 3·B^2 + 4·B + 5·1 where the
bundle B typically is ten. This shows the four ways to unite: On-top addition unites variable
numbers, multiplication constant numbers, power constant factors, and next-to addition, also called
integration, unites variable blocks. As indicated by its name, uniting can be reversed to split a total
into parts predicted by the reversed operations, subtraction and division and root & logarithm and
differentiation. Likewise, a total can be presented in two forms, an algebraic form using place
values to separate the singles from the bundles and the bundle-bundles, and a geometrical form
showing three blocks placed next to each other.
Although presented as essence, ten-bundling is a choice. To experience its existence and the root of
core mathematics as proportionality and linearity, Many should be bundled in icon-bundles below
ten to allow a calculator to predict the result of shifting units: Asking e.g. ‘T = 2 3s = ? 4s’ the
answer is predicted by two formulas, a recount-formula T = (T/b)·b telling that from a total T, bs
can be taken away T/b times, and a restack-formula T = (T-b)+b telling that from a total T, b can be
taken away and placed next-to. First T = (2·3)/4 gives 1.some. Then T = 2·3 - 1·4 gives 2. Si the
prediction is T = 2 3s = 1 4s & 2 = 1.2 4s. Thus with icon-counting a natural number is a decimal
number with a unit where the decimal point separates the singles from the bundled.
With physical units, the need for changing units creates per-numbers as 3$/4kg serving as bridges
when recounting $s in 3s or kgs in 4s: 15$ = (15/3)·3$ = (15/3)·4kg = 20kg. As per-numbers,
fractions are not numbers but operators needing a number to become a number. To add, per-
numbers must be multiplied to unit-numbers, thus adding as areas, called integration.
So relinking it to its root, Many, allows today’s ‘mandarin mathematics’ to escape from its present
essence-prison. For details, see the 2012 videos from MrAlTarp.
LEARNING AS ESSENCE AND EXISTENCE
Constructivist learning theory contains a European social Vygotskian and a North American radical
Piagetian version believing learning taking place through guidance or exposure respectively. The
question now is what is to be learned.
Here Vygotsky accepts the ruling essence-claims about the outside fact Many even if self-reference
makes them meaningless. Learning is seen as adapting to them and teaching as developing the
learner’s mind in their direction using outside artefacts as means. Piaget sees learning as a means to
adapt to the outside world, and sees teaching as asking guiding questions to outside existence
brought inside the classroom to allow learners construct individual schemata to be accommodated
through exposure and communication. So to let existence precede essence, Piaget is useful to
mediate learning through inside exposure to outside existence. Vygotsky is useful if accepting that
outside existence can lead to competing inside essence-claims. However, its lacking skepticism
towards the ruling claim involves a high risk for mediating the banality of evil.

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INSTITUTIONALIZED EDUCATION AS ESSENCE AND EXISTENCE

Two versions of post-primary education exist, one letting national administration define its essence,
the other letting individual talents define its existence. To get Napoleon out of Berlin, a European
line-organized office-directed education was created that concentrate teenagers in age-groups and
force them to follow the same schedule. To meet the international norm that 95% of an age-group
finishes high school, dropout rates are lowered by low passing grades and by strict retention policy.
In the North American republics middle and high schools teachers teach their major subject in their
own classroom where they welcome teenagers with recognition: ‘Inside, you carry a talent and it is
our mutual task to uncover and develop your personal talent through daily lessons in self-chosen
half-year blocks. If successful I say ‘Good job, you have a talent, you need more’. If not I say
‘Good try, you have courage to try uncertainty, now try something else that might be your talent.’
CONCLUSION
An existentialist view replacing essence with existence exposes today’s mathematics as pure
essence with little existence behind. What has existence is Many waiting to be united by bundling
and stacking into a decimal number with a unit presented geometrically or algebraically as a row of
blocks or digits. Thus mathematics exists as geometry measuring forms divided into triangles, and
as algebra reuniting numbers by four uniting techniques, addition, multiplication, power and
integration each with a corresponding reversed splitting technique. So concepts should present
themselves as created, not by self-reference as examples from abstractions above, but as
abstractions from examples below. And statements should be held true when not falsified. In short,
mathematics should be taught and learned as ‘many-matics’, not as ‘metamatism’, a mixture of
metamatics and ‘mathematism’ true inside but not outside the classroom as e.g. ‘the fraction
paradox’ where the textbook insists that 1/2 + 2/3 IS 7/6 even if the students protest: counting
cokes, 1/2 of 2 bottles and 2/3 of 3 bottles gives 3/5 of 5 as cokes and never 7 cokes of 6 bottles.
As to learning, mediating the ruling essence should be replaced by guided exposure to the roots of
mathematics, the physical fact Many, thus replacing Vygotsky with Piaget. And institutionalized
education using camps to concentrate teenagers in age-groups obliged to follow forced schedules
should be labeled as such allowing mathematics education to avoid the banality of evil.
Christianity’s Holy Communion offers forgiveness to individuals, not to institutions. Instead
institutionalized force should be limited to provide teenagers with daily lessons in self-chosen half-
year blocks to uncover and develop their individual talent, as would be the case if the North
American Enlightenment republics replaced essence with existence in algebra and geometry.
References
Arendt, H. (1963). Eichmann in Jerusalem, a Report on the Banality of Evil. London: Penguin Books.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. London: Sage.
Freudenthal, H. (1973). Mathematics as an Educational Task. Dordrecht-Holland: D. Reidel Publ. Company.
Marino, G. (2004). Basic Writings of Existentialism. New York: Modern Library.
MrAlTarp (2012). 8 Missing Links in Mandarin Math. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJiQEOTpAM
OECD. (2015). Improving Schools in Sweden: An OECD Perspective. http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/
improving-schools-in-sweden-an-oecd-perspective.htm.

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