Mathematization of natural sciences

READING PRACTICE

ДОПОЛНИТЕЛЬНЫЙ МАТЕРИАЛ

ЧАСТЬ III

Text 1. 1) Read the text to yourself and be ready for a comprehension check up:

Recently much attention has been given to the study of this phenomenon. In this paper new experimental observations are presented and discussed. The data have been obtained assuming a new model of the mechanism involved, which was suggested in an earlier study by the author. The measurements have been carried out with a conventional apparatus slightly modified by the author. All possible sources of error are taken into account and consideration is given to the advantages and shortcomings of the present approach. The results are analyzed and the analysis is followed by a comparison of the data obtained with those available in literature. It is hoped that the disagreement may be accounted for by an improved experimental technique of the present investigation.

2) Check up for comprehension:

1. Is it an abstract, a summary or a conclusion? 2. What was the author's theoretical contribution? 3. Did anybody else study the phenomenon? (Find two sentences to support your answer). 4. Do the author's results agree with those reported in literature? 5. How does he account for that? 6. How does the author increase the accuracy of his results?

Text 2. 1) Read the text to yourself and be ready for a comprehension check-up:

Exact science in its generally accepted sense can be referred to as a family of specialized natural sciences, each of them providing evidence and information about the different aspects of nature by somewhat different working methods. It follows that mathematics in its pure sense does not enter into this frame, its object of study being not nature itself. Being independent of all observations of the outside world, it attempts to build logical systems based on axioms. In other words, it concentrates on formulating the language of mathematical symbols and equations which may be applied to the functional relations found in nature.

This “mathematization”, in the opinion of most specialists, is witnessed first in physics which deals with general laws of matter and energy on subatomic, atomic and molecular levels. Further application of these mathematical laws and studies is made by chemistry and results in structural bonds between the elements of matter being established.

2) Check up for comprehension:

1. What is generally understood by exact science? 2. How does the author describe “specialized” natural sciences? 3. Why does mathematics not belong to this family? 4. What is the objective of mathematics? 5. Is there only one definition of the objective? 6. What does the application of mathematical laws in chemistry result in?

Дата добавления: 2017-01-14