Areas of Knowledge: Invented, Discovered, or Both?
Areas of Knowledge: Invented, Discovered, or Both? One cannot say with certainty that specific areas of knowledge are invented nor can one say with certainty that areas of knowledge are discovered. Two areas of knowledge that deal with this topic are mathematics and natural science. In my opinion, I believe that mathematics is an invented area of knowledge with some discovery whereas science is a discovered area of knowledge with some invention. Certain topics and categories of mathematics might be created based on the need during the time. For example, accountancy was invented due to the fact that people needed a way to keep track of profits (Friedlob and Plewa, 1). Accounting is a form of math used to record data regarding business-like matters. The earliest form of accountancy was in Mesopotamia. It arose more than 7,000 years ago (Friedlob and Plewa, 1). This form of math was used among people in order to record the growths of their crops and also keep track of their herds of animals. The people during the time used clay coins, or tokens, in order to keep track of the information (Friedlob and Plewa, 1). This form of math is an example of how math is invented. Accountancy was invented based on a need of a process or way to keep track of certain information. Not only are subtopics in mathematics created, but methods of showing and representing mathematical data can be created as well. William Playfair, a Scottish engineer, is credited with the invention of graphical ways to display data (Maas, 224-225). Graphs can be used to demonstrate the relationship between variables or to show certain statistical data. William Playfair was inspired by the invention of timeline charts, which were developed by Joseph Priestly (Wainer, 47). Timeline charts used bars in order to record the lifespan of people. They could also be used to compare the lifespans of people. With that, Playfair created the first bar chart in order to display statistical information. He, then,
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