Language and Mathematics

Mathematics is often designated as its very own language, with its own symbols and grammatical rules constantly testing individuals’ fluency; however, despite language and mathematics different intellectual and practical functions, Marcel Danesi, PhD. explores the fundamental truth that Mathematics is indeed a language.

Language and Mathematics: An Interdisciplinary Guide, written by Marcel Danesi, PhD, explores the many disciplinary and theoretical links between language, linguistics, and mathematics. Noting their differences, similarities, and the way they all intertwine, readers are led through the many nuances within the world of numbers and letters.

With an experienced eye, Danesi examines trends in linguistics, such as structuralism, conceptual metaphor theory, and other relevant theories, to show that language and mathematics have a similar structure, but differential functions. Through numerous in-depth chapters and over 250 pages, Danesi ultimately concludes that without one the other would not exist.

Professor Marcel Danesi, PhD. is a Professor and undergraduate coordinator in the Department of Semeiotics and Communication, and Anthropology at Victoria College in the University of Toronto. He also holds an appointment at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) as a professor and researcher in bilingual education, and is a director at the Research in Forensic Semiotics (RIFS) Unit at Victoria College. Previously, he has held positions at Rutgers University, University of Rome, and the Catholic University of Milan, and the University of Lugano. Professor Danesi is interested in the ancientness of puzzles and their use in cultures and role in human affairs as tests of intelligence; and popular culture and how they inform social evolution. In addition to teaching, he is an author and editor, having penned several textbooks and books that have been featured in the New York Times, and Toronto Star, including the best-seller The Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human Life. In 1998, Professor Danesi was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.