Sacred Mathematics Notes

About two years ago, I stopped teaching and was looking for a new direction in my career. I was thinking of pursuing mathematics full time but had to find a way to do this.

I loved the why behind mathematics, and when I came across Prof Keith Devlin’s course, Introduction to Mathematical Thinking, I decided to enrol.

I loved every minute of it and decided that I definitely wanted to go much deeper into what he was teaching. I wasn’t sure what form this would take.

Eventually I decided to start a Substack blog focusing on exploring the why behind mathematics. I called it Sacred Math – eventually it became Sacred Mathematics – and started extensive conversations and research with ChatGPT around this topic.

This led to the first articles on Mathematics and Language and Healing Our Relationship with Mathematics. This in turn led to the series of articles on Euclid’s Elements, Book I.

These articles grew into a substantial body of work tracing the development of mathematics from the formation of words to axioms, postulates and definitions, and the building of mathematical systems where conclusions can be derived from logical assumptions by following logical rules.

I started thinking about how different my mathematical journey would have been if I had been taught these things during my school years.

And I started wondering: what would be the best way to make this knowledge available, not only to matric students, but to anyone who wanted to understand the bigger picture when it comes to mathematics?

Eventually I decided on two avenues.

The first avenue would be the articles. The direction here is to map the history of mathematics and its development, and secondly to continue exploring mathematical thinking through the study of Euclid’s Elements.

The second avenue would be the development of a course to aid the transition between school mathematics and university mathematics.

This led to the creation of the course – Awaken Your Inner Mathematician.