Powerhouse Mathematicians

Imagine?

*movie review: Story of Maths- Frontiers of Space

"If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is" ~ John Louis Neumann

Want to be inspired? Read this! Want to relate? Watch the movie. I’m serious.

           As I see it, it’s not purely math, it’s more about life. Their thinking affects the world, it just that they were into math. But no matter what you’re into, it depends on how you’ll deal with your thoughts. Whether you’ll take it seriously or not, whether you’re into influencing others or not. Honestly speaking, I really admire this movie not so much of the math concepts but the people behind.

First hear on the title, "Frontiers of Space", sounds interesting. Genius like feeling. I was attentive to the whole duration. Great pacing.  

Art fits well with math, the perspectives. I love this part. I have a little knowledge about arts and humanities, paintings: 3d, 2d, plane and all sorts. Thanks in math, 3 dimensional paintings can be done in a 2d canvas. It was like seeing a real image in a plane wall. A new way to appreciate the world. Cool.

         
         The movie mainly talks of the giant mathematicians after Europe regains its victorious progress and had taken over Middle East. Going back into their times, reminiscing. It got into my nerves. I had fun digging up their lives. It sprinkles inspiration.

Most of the mathematicians in Europe considered math as a passion, hobby and not a profession. The eagerness for math flows into their blood. No matter what profession they take, an army, magistrate, mercenary, merchants, minister, etc., math is still there. Their sickness, blindness, and tragedies in life, never interfere to study math. You can’t take it away from them, worst they’ll die for math.

          
          Great story of René Descartes, he was able to do complicated math, linking geometry with algebra, in spite of having a sick condition. Imagine! Which I think his sickness endured him to do so, or just he’s really a math geek or maybe just got bored. Bored in a nice way.

I was hooked by this one mathematician, Marin Mersenne, which primarily a god believer before a mathematician. He perceived mathematics and science, and maybe the other disciplines as an evidence of the existence and greatness of God. Sounds weird (for me), well I see mathematicians as atheist. Mersenne proves me wrong.

Next in line was Pierre de Fermat who’s behind the prime numbers and was fun of searching for new patterns in numbers, playing with math seriously.

Isaac Newton, which I considered to be the greatest of all, did really great in math. I first met him in Physics then in math- calculus. From a less fortunate background into a big ONE. He managed to explain things he saw around. "People see the apple fall, Newton asks why". He’s not contented to just see it, he want to know how and why this happens. Here comes Gottfried Leibniz, who also discovered calculus shortly after Newton did. He invented calculating machines. Since Leibniz was happy to share his thoughts, the people first know calculus from him than Newton. Well, that’s hurting for Newton but it was Leibniz who formulated simple approaches in Calculus compared to the complicated piece of Newton.

The Bernoulli clan was really great. They were able to further develop calculus. Leonard Euler was behind of the Riemann hypothesis, modern mathematics, topology and analysis, number e and i, symbol pi.

Last but not the least in my list is Carl Friedrich Gauss. At an early age of 10 he was into deep math, criticizing Euclid’s geometry. Then into discovering new other patterns in prime numbers at 15. At 19, the discovery of the 17-sided figure. He’s really big. He have ideas which are 100 years apart from others understanding on math. He was into imaginary numbers. Really amazing but not so amazing personality. There are other mathematicians after Gauss. Studying mathematics sees no age!

Some of the technologies: MP3 from Fourier analysis and codes for credit cards from Fermat are really applied in the modern time.

One thing also, the Europe’s giant mathematicians, have different attitudes, there were nice, uneasy, very open, interactive, preserving the image, maybe because they are critical thinkers, they think differently, but in math they speak the same language, make the impossible possible, deduce complicated into simple.

During their times, they treasure math as their wealth which is very opposite at the present time. People get to ignore math, never bothering to discover one, or at least wonder. Just go with the flow. Waiting until the few discover some, then the rest used it without even giving credits.

Europe treasures their considered heroes. Just to give back what those MEN did to their state.

The people not sought to be a great mathematician in their future times, did really amazing, a mark of the history, a legend. Feeling inspired, that I CAN be one. From a poor background that turned to be the BIG one. Really unexpected.