Скачать или смотреть Math and Gender (captioned)

In which I found a rather unexpected link between mathematics and gender.

I had an epiphany. More like an insight, but I like the word epiphany slightly better.

Many view math and gender/sex the same way: discretely. In math, there are the integers or counting numbers, maybe with some non-repeating decimal numbers thrown in for kicks. In gender/sex, there is man and woman, male and female. That's the discrete, and wholly incomplete version.

A slightly more complete version is the continuous version in mathematics might involve all rational and irrational Real numbers from -infinity to +infinity, analogous to the stretch between male and female. Nothing ever quite reaches the ends, and there's a whole lot in the middle.

A yet more complete version (but probably still incomplete) involves complex numbers, such as the square root of -1 (x where x^2+1=0). You go from a number line to a whole plain. There are other such numbers, like h where the absolute value of h is -1, or p-adic numbers, which I cannot describe briefly. The analogous gender comparision is that there is more than simply what exists between male and female - there are many dimensions to gender (including or in addition to sex).