The Mathematical Experience Plaza opened in October 2013 under the director of Honorable Professor Emeritus Jin Akiyama, a mathematician. Its main purpose is to develop teaching tools and materials that make learning mathematics fun for children through adults, display these, and disseminate the results both in Japan and overseas. At the same time, it aims to enhance college freshman education in mathematics at the university and improve students' motivation to learn and educational skills.
This philosophy embodies the words of mathematician Ogura Kinnosuke, a graduate of the Tokyo Academy of Physics, farmer Tokyo University of Science, before the world war II, who said, “No matter how highly abstract mathematical research may be, ultimately it is for the happiness of humanity.” After the war, the first president of Tokyo University of Science, Honda Kotaro, was taught by Nagaoka Hantaro, a leading physicist in Japan during the Meiji period. Kotaro Honda's favorite phrase “Carpe Diem” is the Latin phrase “Seize the day”.
Teiji Takagi, one of Japan's leading mathematicians, taught mathematics at the Tokyo Academy of Physics before the war. In his collection of essays, “The Freedom of Mathematics”, he wrote, “The essence of mathematics lies in its freedom (quoting Cantor), and it is precisely because of this that both humans and mathematics (science) have continued to evolve”. Furthermore, Hideki Yukawa, who won Japan's first Nobel Prize in Physics after the war, and Shinichiro Tomonaga, who was the second recipient of the prize, both took mathematics lectures from the mathematician Kiyoshi Oka while they were at Kyoto Imperial University before the war. In his collection of essays, “The Heart of Japan”, Kiyoshi Oka, introduced the French mathematician Henri Poincaré and the Kamakura-era Zen master Dogen's “Shobogenzo”, and wrote, “What is the most important thing when studying mathematics? It is to purify your emotions. I believe that emotions (the human heart) are a fragment of life.”
The predecessors who have contributed to the development of Tokyo University of Science have fundamentally viewed mathematics and physics (science) as something that enriches the human heart. This has been the foundation of science education at Tokyo University of Science, from the Tokyo Academy of Physics established in 1881 (Meiji 14) to the present day. The Mathematical Experience Plaza of Tokyo University of Science is one of the missions that convey to our future generations.
Please come and experience the joy and fun of mathematics at the Mathematical Experience Plaza, Tokyo University of Science.
This philosophy embodies the words of mathematician Ogura Kinnosuke, a graduate of the Tokyo Academy of Physics, farmer Tokyo University of Science, before the world war II, who said, “No matter how highly abstract mathematical research may be, ultimately it is for the happiness of humanity.” After the war, the first president of Tokyo University of Science, Honda Kotaro, was taught by Nagaoka Hantaro, a leading physicist in Japan during the Meiji period. Kotaro Honda's favorite phrase “Carpe Diem” is the Latin phrase “Seize the day”.
Teiji Takagi, one of Japan's leading mathematicians, taught mathematics at the Tokyo Academy of Physics before the war. In his collection of essays, “The Freedom of Mathematics”, he wrote, “The essence of mathematics lies in its freedom (quoting Cantor), and it is precisely because of this that both humans and mathematics (science) have continued to evolve”. Furthermore, Hideki Yukawa, who won Japan's first Nobel Prize in Physics after the war, and Shinichiro Tomonaga, who was the second recipient of the prize, both took mathematics lectures from the mathematician Kiyoshi Oka while they were at Kyoto Imperial University before the war. In his collection of essays, “The Heart of Japan”, Kiyoshi Oka, introduced the French mathematician Henri Poincaré and the Kamakura-era Zen master Dogen's “Shobogenzo”, and wrote, “What is the most important thing when studying mathematics? It is to purify your emotions. I believe that emotions (the human heart) are a fragment of life.”
The predecessors who have contributed to the development of Tokyo University of Science have fundamentally viewed mathematics and physics (science) as something that enriches the human heart. This has been the foundation of science education at Tokyo University of Science, from the Tokyo Academy of Physics established in 1881 (Meiji 14) to the present day. The Mathematical Experience Plaza of Tokyo University of Science is one of the missions that convey to our future generations.
Please come and experience the joy and fun of mathematics at the Mathematical Experience Plaza, Tokyo University of Science.
The Director of Mathematical Experience Plaza, Tokyo University of Science
Minoru Itoh
