Overview:
Math and Literature share core skills like logic, creativity, and problem-solving, demonstrating how connecting the two disciplines can deepen student learning and engagement.
Some educators may balk at combining English and Math under the heading of language arts, while some students might unhappily conclude that learning math is like learning a foreign language. There’s truth in the latter view considering, for example, that the basis of solving word problems algebraically is translating words into math expressions. Math is a language that uses numbers and symbols to communicate instead of words. It’s a language that, like English, tells a story and reveals in a compelling way truths about human existence, nature and the universe. Moreover, Math and English share important skills.
Mathematics as a Language of Meaning
Math and Literature both rely on logic, employ creativity and follow rules to create elegant mathematical proofs or literary classics. Both enlighten us. Sharing with students the similarities between math and literature increases their appreciation for and interest in both subjects, enhancing their performance and helping them become more well rounded people. As the British mathematician Sarah Hart wrote, “By seeing mathematics and literature as part of the same quest – to understand the world and our place in it – we can add to our experience of both…”.
“Math and Literature both rely on logic, employ creativity and follow rules to create elegant mathematical proofs or literary classics.”- Francis Martini
My place in the world changed in 2017 when I retired and volunteered as a tutor at St Michael-St Clement Elementary/Middle School. The middle school’s cornerstone was laid in 1950, the same year I was born. In other words, we’re both quite old but still striving to be useful. I’ve tutored Simone in math since 2022. She is remarkable for many reasons: her well-honed math skills, determination to improve, initiative and acceptance of responsibility. Since the end of her final year of middle school was fast approaching, I offered some optional topics for our remaining tutoring sessions. These included helping her improve her writing skills, since she had mentioned that reading books and writing assignments based on what she read were not among her favorite activities.
Simone’s Choice to Strengthen Her Writing
Given Simone’s determination to improve, it came as no surprise that she opted for help in improving her writing skills. To prepare for our first writing session, Simone gave me a copy of The Giver by Lois Lowry, which her class had just finished reading. The assignment was to rewrite the ending. In part, the instructions read: “…many people were frustrated with the ending as they were often left with unanswered questions… This is your chance to make things right and rewrite the ending!” Being asked to find the “right” ending to a story is like being asked for the right answer to an equation, with one major exception. While equations have a right answer, much to the chagrin of some students, the same is not true of literature.
The extent to which literature is appreciated and valued depends upon the reader, who is both judge and jury. Lois Lowry put it this way, “The Giver is many things to many different people. People bring to it their own complicated beliefs…hopes…dreams and fears…”. Simone embraced the challenge of writing, if not the “right” ending to the story, then one that provides its readers greater meaning and more satisfaction. The instructions also advised that the “…ending wrap-up The Giver in a way that made sense.” That allowed Simone to employ one of her foremost math skills. For if ever a discipline was based on “making sense”, it’s mathematics. To all who’ve studied math, its requirement that students’ think logically is one of its greatest gifts since logical thinking is nearly universally required to improve whatever task we undertake.
The Giver and the Challenge of Rewriting an Ending
After I also read The Giver, Simone and I began to discuss the assignment. The key portion of our discussion focused on Simone’s response to my question: How many endings can you think of that are consistent with the story? We discussed several different endings and then Simone shared how she thought the story should end. It was an ending that I had not even thought of and so impactful that I was both awestruck and reminded how important it is to actively encourage students to propose solutions – whether to a math problem or an English assignment. In story telling there are many paths to a memorable ending, just as in math there are often many ways to the right answer.
Simone shared her draft ending the following week. Although the instructions called for “at least two paragraphs”, Simone wrote five and filled two pages with single-spaced type. (I neglected to mention that among Simone’s qualities is a commitment to do her very best and not simply meet the minimum requirement!) Her ending was compelling, thoughtful and emotional. It also reflected skills that math teaches – logic, structure and creativity.
How enlightening for both of us that Simone decided to gain a better understanding and appreciation of what I hope will be a lifelong love for the written word! How illustrative of the connections that unite one form of thought and expression to another. How important it is to help students see that math and literature are, as Sarah Hart wrote, “…part of the same quest – to understand the world and our place in it…”. By sharing these truths and all they imply, educators help increase students’ interest in both subjects and encourage them to appreciate the awe-inspiring nature of math and literature.
