The role of abstraction in applied math

Evan Patterson

Thu Jun 08 2023

Why is mathematics so difficult to understand and communicate? Mathematicians and nonmathematicians alike often lay the blame on excessive abstraction. I argue instead that abstraction is essential to the mathematical process, even in applied mathematics, and that it need not be a barrier to comprehension by nonspecialists.

---

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.epatters.org/post/abstraction-in-applied-math