Math and the Eternal Questions
Failing at Math
In the spirit of full disclosure, I completely failed at my goal this month. I wanted to at least get through one section of the Khan Academy course on calculus. But, I got up to the point of reviewing trigonometry and the unit circle and that’s about it. I just got so caught up with life, moving back onto campus for the fall semester, and other things that I told myself I didn’t have time.
And honestly that’s ok. Not every project has to become a habit. Although I do think I will make an effort to do a little bit of math every day of September just to catch up.
What I did Learn this Month
Although I didn’t really learn (or relearn) calculus this month, I did learn something. In an effort to integrate my monthly projects with my practice of reading, I picked up an anthology called The World of Mathematics by James R. Newman. And this book made me think of the world and mathematics in a whole new way.
The Utility of Math
Growing up and in school I always had the feeling that math was a waste of time. What’s the point of knowing how to integrate some random equation that has no application to my actual life? But in The Nature of Mathematics, Philip B. Jourdain remarks: of course the “higher mathematics” are not practical. They won’t help you mend a broken leg or thread a needle. But at the same time, surgery won’t help you with accounting or sewing with navigating the seas. To ask the question, “What’s the use of mathematics?” without really expecting an answer or having the curiosity to search for one is counter-productive.
Seeking the Truth
So, what happens when you have the curiosity to really seek an answer to that question? For me, I noticed all kinds of parallels between math and life. Jourdain explains that the beauty of math is its ability to economize thought. To distill insanely complex ideas and processes into a simple formula that can then be passed down and transferred from generation to generation.
This refining activity has been going on since humans have existed and is still being perfected today. Just imagine, not having a system of numbers and counting that could condense the concept of “one” or “two”.
Because, in reality, numbers and formulae are just symbols. There is no such thing as “five”. And the symbol we use, 5, could just as easily be written: ٥ as it is in Arabic or be pronounced “wǔ” as it is in Chinese.
But the fact that these symbols are not real does not mean that they are not true. In a sense they are more true than the physical reality of, say, five stones because they can be applied universally to count any type of object and even to measure non-countable substances such as water. And they, as a concept, remain true and stable across cultures and languages.
Truth vs. Reality
Once you grasp this notion of the separateness of truth and reality, it can be applied to almost anything. For me, I’ve been thinking a lot about how it applies to religion.
Nowadays so many people question the utility of religion and mythology since it is not “real”. The Biblical or Quranic stories and myths can’t be historically verified, especially the older ones. So, people ask, what’s the point of religion? We have science. But science is limited in that it can only describe physical reality, it cannot teach truth.
The religious myths may not be real but I think there is a lot of truth within them. Like math, they attempt to answer complex questions. How should we live? Why are we here? Why do we die? Why do people hurt and kill each other? Why must we suffer? People have been asking and attempting to answer these questions for centuries. And they have been distilling the best answers into stories.
Like mathematical formulae, these stories can be more easily transferred from person to person and can be applied across cultures.
And once we grasp the kernels of truth in the stories we can live them out and teach them to our children. That’s why some agnostic or even atheistic parents still bring their children to church and tell them these parables. There is something in them that deeply resonates with us.