Maths is the most logical of sciences. It is a language that allows us to translate complexities into manageable form
Mathematics is abstract, objective, and brusquely devoid of sentiment. Right? Wrong. Maths divulges to have the astonishing power to teaching us how things work and what the universe could reveal if we would only listen.
It is agreed that mathematical tools cannot substitute for creative insights, but they can certainly provide fresh perspectives when required. Finding out what's true is, thus, a pulsating goal for most of us. Maths offers a singular set of tools for seeing this truth. It brings surprising clarity to a whole range of issues - from cosmic questions to specific matters of policy. Yet, people outside of the sciences seldom embrace such tools. Most people think of maths as something that is intimidating, and even if they are conscious that such tools exist, they don't know how to apply, or use, them.
Maths is the most logical of sciences. It is a language that allows us to translate complexities into manageable form. According to Bill Thruston, the celebrated geometer, maths is a kind of 'mindware' that enables us to perceive and articulate concepts we can't handle any other way. To scholar Ingrid Daubechies, maths is akin to poetry.
Mathematicians, of course, do not see their art as a way of simply calculating reality. For them, maths is a telescope, a sieve for sorting out the signal from the noise, a way of seeking and validating truth. It is something that articulates reality and allows us to seeing otherwise invisible patterns. Some paradigms - maths has revealed hidden trends (HIV infection), new kinds of matter (quarks, dark matter, and anti-matter), and crucial correlations (between smoking and lung cancer). Most importantly, maths goes deep into the hidden complexity of things.
When used correctly, maths can interpret the glitches in perception that lead to illusions. It is essential knowledge. As physicist James Jeans concluded, "The Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician.'' Yet, maths is far from being foolproof. Like all sciences, it grows and thrives in cultures and is influenced by their peculiarities.
That maths is also a thing of beauty is the core of a fascinating, good, old book, "The Universe and the Teacup." Written by K C Cole, a distinguished science writer and professor at USC's Annenberg School of Journalism, "The Universe...," demystifies maths and explores its applications, using real-life examples, such as risk, scale, cause-and-effect, and probability. In so doing, it elevates our perceptions to a new level on the subject. It also breaks down the mind barrier and shows how maths can simplify problems, so that we can understand and solve them.
John Allen Paulos, the 'mathematically spunky' author, looks at maths differently - he suggests that newspapers will always be new with an element called maths, which is so replete with eternal romance in them. Paulos' classy book, "A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper," is structured like your morning newspaper: fresh, dainty, and as serene as the first, gentle dew. "Despite talk of the ascendancy of multimedia," says Paulos, "and, the decline of the print media, I think rational tendencies that newspapers foster will survive, and that in some form, or the other, newspapers will remain our primary means of considered public discourse."
He adds, "In addition to placing increased emphasis on analyses, background, and features, there is another relatively unappreciated way in which newspapers can best fulfil this responsibility." Paulos's explanation is logical, also seminal: "It is by knowledgeably reflecting the increasing mathematical complexity of our society in its many quantitative, probabilistic, and dynamic facets," can one expand the number of stories and regularly support 'people stories.'
Mathematics, in Paulos's view, isn't a matter of plugging numbers into formulae and performing rote computations. It is a way of thinking, of questioning - something not familiar to many of us, although the fundamental idea, or its motif, is available to most of us. Picture this: William Shakespeare and Isaac Newton barely fit in the same sentence. So, also newspapers and mathematics, right? Wrong. This is primarily because the mind-numbing way in which mathematics is generally taught, as Paulos -whose rivetingly perceptive string of books sculpts, 'Pythagoras to orchestrate with Pulitzer' - points out that most people have serious misconceptions about it and fail to appreciate its wide applicability and roseate transcendence.
Maths, explains Cole, has more to teach us about ourselves than any other discipline. It can also take us from the tiniest particles that make up our world to the farthest reaches of the universe. Maths could tell us how to build a bridge, or put a vehicle on Mars, where to save our money, or how best to elect a government. Cole emphasises that our search for the truths of the universe cannot succeed without maths.
"Beauty in the mathematical sense,'' explains Cole, "is a lot more than a pretty face. It is a way of distilling the essence of things out of the messy mix that nature presents us.'' She adds, "Symmetry, therefore, lends a satisfying concreteness to the vague sense that there is beauty in truth and truth to beauty."
Cole also highlights numbers as an integral part of our own brain and heart, and not as something that may be perceived as daunting to our intellect. Her bottom line - the same properties that make a snowflake appealing upholds the laws that control the universe. Her leitmotif - truth and beauty are the two sides of the same coin as maths, and vice versa.
Cole's eminently readable work brings about a perfect balance. Her book, "The Universe...," has one great quality nobody can fake - a remarkable examination, a panoramic view of maths and its applications, to areas not thought to be (in)vulnerable to the art and science, grammar and syntax, of her subject, or its proponents - to eliminating your 'animosity' for the subject and elevating your love for it.