Mathematics: A Hidden Beauty

Whenever I hear the word math, I instantly get a huge headache not even Advil could heal. But it wasn’t like that in the past though.  Math and I were already together since my childhood days. Now, we have a love-hate relationship. We started as friends, when my mom introduced me to math by giving me a mini book which had cute little creatures and fruits as numbers, then when I started my kindergarten years, my teacher had a mini introductory lesson about multiplication which I really hated since I couldn’t understand anything after multiplication table 5. We then became lovers when I perfected my math exam on my 2^nd grade and got a huge bag of M&M’s as a prize from my parents. Then everything went downhill after that, when I learned about x, THE X, Math’s x! The bane of math’s every problem. I seriously don’t even know why math even wastes it’s time on finding x. What’s so special about x that I don’t have? Even after all the efforts I’ve done, Math still goes back to X.

I admit, I miss the relationship we had, when everything was still simple and happy. When Math and I had no misunderstandings. Good thing there are people willing to help mend broken relationships. Prof. Marcus Du Sautoy is one of them. Math is a beautiful subject and has been on Earth longer than I have. Math has evolved and conquered hardships throughout the past and has helped develop and improve what we are today. We just have to understand math to see its beauty and Prof. Marcus Du Sautoy is here to help and be our guide.

                Math first started in Ancient Egypt particularly in the Nile, where the Egyptians recorded and computed the days before the next flooding which was essential for the growth of their crops and became the mark of the start of a new year. As their civilization grew, they then started to count and measure their lands, taxes and crop yields. And their need to solve for these everyday solutions made them the first mathematical innovators. The Egyptians were using a Decimal system that was inspired by the ten fingers in our hands. They also gave birth to fractions and multiplications that was essential for everyday trade in the market. And through this such seemingly mathematical problems, we start to see a more abstract mathematics developing. They then needed to apply their knowledge through shapes that they encounter through day to day and which then lead to the birth of Geometry.

                We then proceed to another civilization that rivalled that of Egypt’s mathematics, and that is Damascus. The Babylonians became masters at managing and manipulating numbers. Even at a young age, these Babylonians were already practicing and mastering mathematics and solving everyday solutions. They also used base sixty inspired by the twelve knuckles on one hand and five fingers on the other which we are still using even today, in telling the time. The Babylonians also recorded the days between the next full moon. This is also where the zero first appeared. The ancient Babylonians enjoyed problem solving for its own sake. I can’t even stand one problem set let alone enjoy them at my leisure.

                We then travel to Greece, where some of the greatest mathematician could be found. Just like the Babylonians, the Greeks were also passionate about math. These Greeks gave us the power of proof which gives mathematics the strength and truth about its present up to its past. The theorems today are as the same as 2000 years ago.

The whole universe was built for numbers and became the bedrock of knowledge. Numbers can also be even seen on music. And according to Plato, knowing more about mathematics, we know more about reality.

                Prof. Marcus helped me hat math a little less. Whatever we are today, it is all thanks to math. It helped shaped our world and improve our way of living. Through mathematics, we now have a systematic way of living. We can now shop, own our land, and create new technologies and discoveries. It may be the most popular source of headaches for students, but no matter how much we avoid it, it is still as important as or life and probably much more. Life without math might have been more chaotic. No system on trading, collecting taxes and owning land, and etc.

                I do believe that the video could be further improved. Since the host had a British accent that can’t be understood by our Filipino ears that easily, they could have had put a subtitle for the viewers. And since it is math we are talking about, the narration could have been taken on a bit slower for the viewers to understand it more. But as a whole, the video was okay and educational. The viewers just need to open their minds to math and understand their beauty.