Or at least that is what René Descartes said. You may ask, “What does René Descartes have to do with anything?” The answer is, he is the father of the Cartesian Coordinate system.
The invention of Cartesian coordinates in the 17th century by René Descartes (Latinized name: Cartesius) revolutionized mathematics by providing the first systematic link between Euclidean geometry and algebra. Using the Cartesian coordinate system, geometric shapes (like curves) can be described by algebraic equations involving the coordinates of the points lying on the shape. For example, a circle of radius 2, centered at the origin of the plane, may be described as the set of all points whose coordinates x and y satisfy the equation x2 + y2 = 4.
Algebra and Geometry. As an engineer I love these subjects. They are the language we use to describe our creations, like notes on a staff to a musician or colors and textures to a designer. Kids are often not so excited about this language. I mostly think it is because no one shows them how you can describe the world with math and it actually makes sense. I wish they made the connection to the narrative sooner.
Maybe things are changing. My daughter had an assignment to design and describe a logo using conical sections. While working on that, she decided she could use math to describe my T3 logo. I was really excited about this. She is connecting this “foreign” language to objects in the “real” world and it is making sense…
So she did some extra work (yes, you heard that right, extra math,) and created my logo in algebraic equations that she graphed. We took the output of the graphing program and made the requisite T3 wallpaper by adding the equations and tags to connect everything.