Arguing with Numbers: The Intersections of Rhetoric and Mathematics

Published by Penn State University Press 2021

Arguing with Numbers

The Intersections of Rhetoric and Mathematics

Edited by: James Wynn and G. Mitchell Reyes

Volume 16 in the series RSA Series in Transdisciplinary Rhetoric

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271089232

Overview
Contents

About this book

As discrete fields of inquiry, rhetoric and mathematics have long been considered antithetical to each other. That is, if mathematics explains or describes the phenomena it studies with certainty, persuasion is not needed. This volume calls into question the view that mathematics is free of rhetoric.

Through nine studies of the intersections between these two disciplines, Arguing with Numbers shows that mathematics is in fact deeply rhetorical. Using rhetoric as a lens to analyze mathematically based arguments in public policy, political and economic theory, and even literature, the essays in this volume reveal how mathematics influences the values and beliefs with which we assess the world and make decisions and how our worldviews influence the kinds of mathematical instruments we construct and accept. In addition, contributors examine how concepts of rhetoric—such as analogy and visuality—have been employed in mathematical and scientific reasoning, including in the theorems of mathematical physicists and the geometrical diagramming of natural scientists. Challenging academic orthodoxy, these scholars reject a math-equals-truth reduction in favor of a more constructivist theory of mathematics as dynamic, evolving, and powerfully persuasive.

By bringing these disparate lines of inquiry into conversation with one another, Arguing with Numbers provides inspiration to students, established scholars, and anyone inside or outside rhetorical studies who might be interested in exploring the intersections between the two disciplines.

In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume are Catherine Chaput, Crystal Broch Colombini, Nathan Crick, Michael Dreher, Jeanne Fahnestock, Andrew C. Jones, Joseph Little, and Edward Schiappa.

Author / Editor information

Wynn James :

James Wynn is Associate Professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University. He is the author of Citizen Science in the Digital Age: Rhetoric, Science, and Public Engagement and Evolution by the Numbers: The Origins of Mathematical Argument in Biology.Reyes G. Mitchell :

G. Mitchell Reyes is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Media Studies at Lewis and Clark College. He is coeditor of Global Memoryscapes: Contesting Remembrance in a Transnational Age.

Reviews

“Arguing with Numbers is a major contribution to the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine and is full of important resources for teaching communication to math and engineering students. We can only hope, too, that it will become a foundational book, fostering the further growth of a rhetorical subfield investigating mathematics, related formal systems, and the disciplines that study them.”
—Randy Allen Harris, editor of Rhetoric and Incommensurability

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction James Wynn and G. Mitchell Reyes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part 1 Framing the Intersections
1 From Division to Multiplication: Uncovering the Relationship Between Mathematics and Rhetoric Through Transdisciplinary Scholarship James Wynn and G. Mitchell Reyes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2 In What Ways Shall We Describe Mathematics as Rhetorical? Edward Schiappa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Part 2: Rhetoric, Mathematics, and Public Culture
3 The Mathematization of the Invisible Hand: Rhetorical Energy and the Crafting of Economic Spontaneity Catherine Chaput and Crystal Broch Colombini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
4 The Horizons of Judgment in Mathematical Discourse: Copulas, Economics, and Subprime Mortgages G. Mitchell Reyes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
5 The Ourang-Outang in the Rue Morgue: Charles Peirce, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Rhetoric of Diagrams in Detective Fiction Andrew C. Jones and Nathan Crick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
Part 3: Mathematical Argument and Rhetorical Invention
6 Rhetoric and Mathematics in the Saturnian Account of Atomic Spectra Joseph Little Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
7 The New Mathematical Arts of Argument: Naturalistic Images and Geometric Diagrams Jeanne Fahnestock Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Part 4: Mathematical Presentations: Experts and Lay Audiences
8 Accommodating Young Women: Addressing the Gender Gap in Mathematics with Female-Centered Epideictic James Wynn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
9 Turning Principles of Action into Practice: Examining the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Reform Rhetoric Michael Dreher Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	252
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285

Language: English
Publisher: Penn State University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 302
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 17
- Images: 17
- Other: 17 illustrations
Keywords: Rhetoric; mathematics; algorithms; transdisciplinary; economics; education; science

eBook

Published: May 14, 2021
ISBN: 9780271089232