Why do mathematicians love maths? Each person may give a different answer, and the answer may vary from time to time.
But truly speaking, this question is difficult to answer - for it is a feeling that comes from deep within and it is a bond that lasts a lifetime. We continue to find various reasons to love maths as we go on.
And here I find another perspective - Why do we feel a deep sense of peace and joy watching a beautiful sunset over the calm tides of the ocean?
Why do we vibe with our favourite music tunes?
Why does a baby's innocent smile make us so happy?
All we can say is, that is just how it is...it just strikes a deep chord within our soul..beyond our sense of logic and reason.
Now how do we connect this with maths? Mathematicians feel the same way about maths. Maths, contrary to popular belief, is not a field of pure heartless logic, numbers and data.
Much of maths appear to be an art form to us - so many results make us gape with wonder, how did they figure that out??
Some mathematicians (such as Ramanujam) said that they got their ideas from a higher source, similar to creatives in the field of arts and music.
When we dive deeper into maths, we find that it is not man-made at all, rather its foundations come from the heart of the cosmos...
So many of the results and applications that we take for granted today, came from discoveries of our ancient/classical math forefathers who unlocked the mathematical secrets of the universe.
There are so many ways to look at this, and my knowledge is like that of a simple boatman traversing the boundless ocean.
Here's one way to see it - let's look at the mysterious natural constants that are common in mathematics and in nature.
Pi (π)
The ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.
It's mind boggling how such an innocent looking measure is essential to so many field of mathematics - even in fields that don't use geometry such as statistics and number theory.
Mathematicians have been mesmerised by this irrational constant, devoting so much research, computing power and thought, simply to try and understand the constant Pi much better.
Though disputed, some say the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids of Giza proportional to the constant Pi. That would be fitting indeed - an ancient monument devoted to the constant Pi.
Mathematicians call it a transcendental number - I'd like to think it means that it's worthy of worship. [The technical meaning of a transcendental number is that it cannot be a solution of an equation involving only sums, products, powers and integers].
Euler's constant (e) - the exponential constant
The holy grail of finance, i.e compounding interest; key foundational concepts in probability theory - the exponential family of distributions, the Poisson distribution; the natural logarithmic spiral observed in the curvature of flowers, seashells, the spin of tornadoes, the spin of galaxies, the trails moths follow at night, the rate of radioactive decay....and it goes on! All of these are described using this irrational constant e!
And I'm really only scratching the surface here (and my knowledge is limited too)!
It is as if the Universe is dancing away with an immaculate sense of grace and rhythm, and mathematics is one of the many approaches we can take to appreciate and revere this wonderful phenomenon called life!
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