Visually Representing the Landscape of Mathematical Structures

Abstract

The information technology explosion has dramatically increased the application of new mathematical ideas and has led to an increasing use of mathematics across a wide range of fields that have been traditionally labeled "pure" or "theoretical". There is a critical need for tools to make these concepts readily accessible to a broader community. This paper details the creation of visual representations of mathematical structures commonly found in pure mathematics to enable both students and professionals to rapidly understand the relationships among and between mathematical structures. Ten broad mathematical structures were identified and used to make eleven maps, with 187 unique structures in total. The paper presents a method and implementation for categorizing mathematical structures and for drawing relationship between mathematical structures that provides insight for a wide audience. The most in depth map is available online for public use [1].