Driven to Discover

Today while I was browsing through the University of Minnesota's Driven to Discover webpage, I came a across a question that instantly caught my attention: "Why is math called the 'queen of sciences'?"  Having graduated from the Institute of Technology with a degree in mathematics, this shouldn't be much of a surprise.

The answer to this question came from assistant mathematics professor, Marta Lewicka, pictured above. (You can find out more about her here, along with 31 other professors in the Institute of Technology who are passionate about mathematics, science and engineering.)

Here's her answer to the question:

"In mathematics, we formulate conjectures and discover principles attesting to the world's order, beauty, and harmony. What is specific to math is that we achieve this through rigorous deduction! One who practices math will know to distinguish between objective statements and guesses or assumptions.  Therefore, mathematics may provide the firm ground to our empirical understanding of the physical phenomena."

Beautifully said, Professor Lewicka-- math is elegant and powerful!

Dani