It’s Only Logical

Windows & Mirrors for All

Anecdotally, a large number of adults will readily admit to disliking math. This is unfortunate. A basic/better grasp of the study of statistics is invaluable when judging the sense or nonsense of the many numbers flying around the soundbite world.

But that is not what I want to ponder today. I want to think about math and DEI. I always liked math. It was almost like a set of puzzles to solve. It had rules to help you. The earliest flow state I recall came from solving a complex math problem in high school. That did not lead me to pursue math after high school calculus.

I recently came across the mathematician Eugenia Cheng. Her current job as the scientist in

residence at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago is a good clue that she is an interesting person. My first exposure was her guest essay in the New York Times, “What I Got Wrong About DEI.” I cannot explain her math specialty, Category Theory, but I can tell you that there is a clarity to her thinking about how to apply the orderliness of math logic to other aspects of life that I find fascinating.

As she writes, “Math is not just a way of calculating numerical answers; it is a way of thinking,

using clear definitions for concepts and rigorous logic to organize our thoughts and back up our assertions.”

Anyone who has ever had to divvy up cookies among children knows that 2x3 may be equal to 3x2 arithmetically, but that two packages of three cookies and three packages of two cookies present different issues at the snack table if the cookies are not all identical! Numbers are only one part of the decision-making process. As Cheng notes “We make choices about how to determine equality. This is relevant to how we evaluate what people have achieved and make predictions about how well they will do.”

On her own academic path, she always wanted to be “judged on the merit of [her] mathematics alone.” She only slowly realized that “DEI initiatives helped others see value in my abilities and experience that would have been missed otherwise. And it was through the lens of math that I came to understand this.”

How is this? My simplistic recap is that the rules of math in areas such as metric spaces

highlight that to measure distance you need both a starting point and an ending point. This is true for people and their accomplishments, too. One must also look at relevant features of a path. Are there obstacles? Open water swimming is not the same as pool swimming and will have different record times. Her career as a woman in mathematics, where the currents of

Windows and Mirrors for All negativism towards women in the field had to be overcome was open water swimming fighting strong currents. Ultimately, she realized that “the support of some senior mathematicians… wasn’t extra help because I was a woman; it was help in overcoming the extra obstructions I faced as a woman.”

I have neither the space to include her explanations of the math, nor the expertise to condense them, so I hope that this sampling entices you to read the original essay.

“It shouldn’t be called sexist to help people overcome sexism, and it shouldn’t be called racist to help people overcome racism, but if we give this help too crudely, then we leave ourselves open to these criticisms. Math teaches us that D.E.I. initiatives should be about carefully defining the metrics we use to measure how far people have come and thus how far they have the potential to go. They should be about uncovering when some people are constantly running uphill or against the wind, which can inform us how to give everyone an equal tailwind and an equal opportunity to succeed.”

She has written many books, mostly leveled for the lay reader. Here are more places to explore the world of Eugenia Cheng online: NYT-In conversation with Katrina Miller; On YouTube: How does maths influence our daily life? This is a lot of fun, and yes, maths. She is British. On Late Night with Stephen Colbert, number song, and cooking with Colbert. NYT-How to Bake Pi; Her own website.