I read a wonderful article on the weekend, an interview with Lily Serna, the delightful mathematician from the SBS (Australia) show Letters & Numbers.
What I loved about the article was Lily’s reference to the creativity in mathematics. The interviewer states she is not really a numbers person, to which Lily responds…
”I don’t think there are necessarily solely arts people and solely mathematically minded people,” she responds. ”I think there’s a lot of creativity in mathematics and there’s a lot of problem-solving in arts. There’s more overlap than what people might think.”
When I add that I particularly enjoyed watching Serna’s process of writing out the solution to a puzzle on L&N, she says, ”That’s what maths is I guess. It’s how you get there … it’s not the solution itself.”
And there for me is the secret to creativity – whether it be creatively innovating a new idea or concept or process, or creating an artwork or story. The journey, the process, the ‘how you get there’ is the important part of the exercise.
Not so much in the early simple maths problems, but for anybody who has had the ‘joy’ of university level maths (and I say joy in inverted commas) you know what Lily means – perhaps when I was studying maths if I had have had the wherewithal to approach the creative angle I might not have struggled so much – unfortunately buying in to the ‘I’m not a numbers person’ myth!
Given that so much focus, in education particularly, is on analysis and correct answers – it was a great ‘yeeehaaaa one for creative thinking’ air punching moment for me to hear this very clever mathematician talk of creativity as a necessary skill.
So, I’ve been saying all along, hone your creative thinking ability and see how many areas of your life are enhanced by it….oh and if you’re still on the fence then go grab yourself a free copy of my mini-festo 9 3/4 reasons why being more creative will rock your world!
Read the full Good Life Lunch With Lily Serna here: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/lunch-with-lily-serna-20120809-23v80.html#ixzz23Nh4z3ph