ABSTRACT
For a complete picture of structural behaviour, as this book wants to give, the use of mathematics for the understanding of structures has to be included. Whilst research into the applications of mathematics for the description of structural behaviour continues, the basis was laid at the beginning of the 19th century which led to three things:
• methods of carrying out predictive calculations became available • the separation of structural concepts from architectural concepts began • the excessive interest in theory by engineers reduced their design capacity
This is not to say that there is anything wrong, as such, with the use of mathematics as a tool for predicting structural behaviour, in fact it is essential. The ever increasing use of mathematics as a tool is part of technological advancement. However it should be generally available and not restricted to a small group. The reasons for this are buried deep in societies’ view of mathematics in general. As mathematics is a demanding subject there is a predominant idea that only a chosen few are capable of using mathematics for anything; nothing could be less true. In mathematics, as with structural behaviour, it is the concepts that have to be grasped, after which calculations become arithmetic.
