Eugenia Cheng: An unexpected tool for understanding inequality: abstract math
Eugenia Cheng: Uma ferramenta inesperada para entender a desigualdade: matemática abstrata
Eugenia Cheng devotes her life to mathematics, the piano and helping people. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
with divisive arguments,
de discussões polêmicas,
bigotry, blame, shouting
intolerância, acusações, gritarias
that we are doomed to take sides,
destinados a tomar partido,
like a race to the bottom,
ao fundo do poço,
somebody else's privilege
ao privilégio do outro
are the most hard-done-by person
o mais injustiçado na discussão.
que não faz sentido?
this confusing world of ours,
esse nosso mundo confuso
is like the theory of maths,
é como se fosse a teoria da matemática,
to real problems like building bridges
em problemas reais, como construir pontes,
o fluxo de tráfego.
that pure maths applies directly
a matemática pura é usada diretamente
como um modo de pensar.
to help me with my daily life,
não me ajuda no dia a dia,
to help me understand arguments
para me ajudar a entender argumentos
with the entire human world.
me ajuda com todo o mundo.
the entire human world,
that you might think of
que vocês possam achar
by thinking about the factors of 30.
with bad memories of school maths lessons,
das aulas de matemática,
school maths lessons boring, too.
as aulas de matemática chatas.
to take this in a direction
de como o fizemos na escola.
from what happened at school.
We'll work them out.
in a straight line.
are also factors of each other
também são fatores entre si
a bit like a family tree,
quase uma árvore genealógica,
like a kind of great-grandparent.
como se fosse o tataravô.
is not divisible by three,
não é divisível por três,
in a straight line.
There's a hierarchy going on.
há uma hierarquia aqui.
two, three and five,
except one and themselves.
por eles mesmos e por um,
this means they're prime.
we have six, 10 and 15,
of two prime factors.
de dois fatores primos.
de três números primos:
of three prime numbers --
using those numbers instead.
usando esses números.
two, three and five at the top,
at the next level,
at the next level
losing one of your numbers in the set.
de um número no conjunto.
what those numbers are.
something like A, B and C instead,
becomes very widely applicable,
amplamente aplicável,
three types of privilege:
we have rich white people.
pessoas ricas e brancas.
of those types of privilege.
sem nenhum desses privilégios.
the rest of the adjectives for emphasis.
dos adjetivos para dar ênfase.
non-male people,
brancas e não-homens,
não-binárias que precisamos incluir.
nonbinary people we need to include.
with the least privilege,
menos privilegiadas:
of factors of 30
of different types of privilege.
entre diferentes tipos de privilégio.
we can learn from this diagram, I think.
com esse diagrama.
a direct loss of one type of privilege.
a perda direta de um tipo de privilégio.
that white privilege means
que o privilégio de ser branco significa
than all nonwhite people.
condições que todos os não-brancos.
black sports stars and say,
esportistas negros e dizem:
White privilege doesn't exist."
Privilégio de ser branco não existe".
of white privilege says.
do privilégio de ser branco diz.
had all the same characteristics
super-rico tivesse essas características
to be better off in society.
em melhores condições na sociedade.
we can understand from this diagram
compreender com este diagrama
where people have two types of privilege,
têm dois tipos de privilégio,
that they're not all particularly equal.
não são totalmente iguais.
are probably much better off in society
provavelmente estão em melhores condições
somewhere in between.
entre os dois grupos.
between those two middle levels.
entre os dois níveis do meio.
might well be better off in society
podem estar em melhores condições
examples, like Michelle Obama,
como a Michelle Obama
than poor, white, unemployed homeless men.
brancos, pobres, desempregados e sem-teto.
is more skewed like this.
é assim mais inclinado.
of privilege in the diagram
that people experience in society.
vivenciam na sociedade.
why some poor white men
homens brancos e pobres
da sociedade atualmente.
in this cuboid of privilege,
no alto desse cubo de privilégio,
they don't actually feel the effect of it.
eles não sentem os efeitos.
the root of that anger
than just being angry at them in return.
retribuir-lhes o sentimento.
can also help us switch contexts
também nos ajuda a mudar cenários
are at the top in different contexts.
estão no topo em cenários distintos.
our attention to non-men,
non-men are at the top.
ricos e brancos estão no topo.
a whole context of women,
para um cenário de mulheres,
could now be rich, white and cisgendered.
seriam rica, branca e "cisgênero".
that your gender identity does match
que sua identidade de gênero corresponde
atribuído no nascimento.
occupy the analogous situation
brancas e ricas ocupam situação análoga
in broader society.
em uma sociedade mais ampla.
why there is so much anger
por que há tanta raiva
of the feminist movement at the moment,
do movimento feminista atual,
to seeing themselves as underprivileged
a se verem como desprivilegiadas
they are relative to nonwhite women.
em comparação com mulheres não-brancas.
to help us pivot between situations
abstratas para nos colocar em situações
and less privileged.
ou menos privilegiados.
that as an Asian person,
the most privileged of nonwhite people,
provavelmente, dentre os não-brancos,
between those two contexts.
entre esses dois cenários.
who don't have to work.
que não precisam trabalhar.
situation to be in
do que quem passa por dificuldades,
or working at minimum wage.
ou ganhando um salário mínimo.
from other people's points of view,
do ponto de vista de outras pessoas,
possibly surprising conclusion:
inesperada conclusão:
is highly relevant to our daily lives
relevante para nossa vida diária
and empathize with other people.
e a ser solidários com outras pessoas.
to understand other people more
cada vez mais entender uns aos outros
mathematical thinking
matemático abstrato
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Eugenia Cheng - Mathematician, pianistEugenia Cheng devotes her life to mathematics, the piano and helping people.
Why you should listen
Dr. Eugenia Cheng quit her tenured academic job for a portfolio career as a research mathematician, educator, author, columnist, public speaker, artist and pianist. Her aim is to rid the world of math phobia and develop, demonstrate and advocate for the role of mathematics in addressing issues of social justice.
Her first popular math book, How to Bake Pi, was published by Basic Books in 2015 to widespread acclaim including from the New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, and she was interviewed around the world including on the BBC, NPR and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Her second book, Beyond Infinity was published in 2017 and was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment ScienceBook Prize. Her most recent book, The Art of Logic in an Illogical World, was published in 2018 and was praised in the Guardian.
Cheng was an early pioneer of math on YouTube, and her most viewed video, about math and bagels, has been viewed more than 18 million times to date. She has also assisted with mathematics in elementary schools and high schools for 20 years. Cheng writes the "Everyday Math" column for the Wall Street Journal, is a concert pianist and founded the Liederstube, a not-for-profit organization in Chicago bringing classical music to a wider audience. In 2017 she completed her first mathematical art commission, for Hotel EMC2 in Chicago; her second was installed in 2018 in the Living Architecture exhibit at 6018 North.
Cheng is Scientist In Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and won tenure in Pure Mathematics at the University of Sheffield, UK. She is now Honorary Fellow at the University of Sheffield and Honorary Visiting Fellow at City University, London. She has previously taught at the universities of Cambridge, Chicago and Nice and holds a PhD in pure mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Her research is in the field of Category Theory, and to date she has published 16 research papers in international journals.
You can learn more about her in this in-depth biographic interview on the BBC's Life Scientific.
Eugenia Cheng | Speaker | TED.com