“Many mathematicians
derive part of their self-esteem by feeling themselves the proud heirs of a
long tradition of rational thinking; I am afraid they idealize their cultural
ancestors.” – Edsger Dijkstra
Behind
every mathematician, there is a story of great challenges and a journey to the
world of mathematics along with self-discovery. A mathematician started off as
an everyday casual person who, by influence or circumstance, finds himself
drawn to mathematics and its magic.
In
this fictional creation called “A Certain Ambiguity” written by Gaurav Suri and
Hartosh Singh Bal, Ravi Kapoor takes us along for the ride of his life. It all
started on the day his grandfather gave him a calculator for his 12th
birthday. His grandfather showed him some number magic on three-digit numbers which
stoked his interest and left him astonished and dazzled. Mathematics has that
effect on most people, how it can lead you to where you go and leave you amazed
at how you got there in the first place. It leaves you breathless. Ravi felt
this way but he didn’t stop there, he wanted to find out how, so he did long
divisions by hand and ended up believing that what he was witnessing was a
property of all three-digit numbers. But he wanted to know why this was
happening and what was behind this problem. Later, days after his birthday, he
had a sudden insight of an idea or that Eureka moment. His realization came
from the fact that division was a reverse of multiplication and this unlocked
the solution to the problem. And after telling his grandfather, they both started
their passion for mathematics.
When
his grandfather died, he was devastated. It was only years later that he found
out how his grandfather believed from the start that he would be a great
mathematician. The calculator his grandfather gave him was to mark this path
for him, this path to mathematics. His grandfather used to challenge him with
mathematical questions and problems everyday and they would bond over the
solutions and insights of the case. His grandfather had a very important role
in his mathematics. When his grandfather left him money for college in America,
he worked hard and excelled in all his subjects yet he saw beauty in none.
Losing his grandfather affected his passion for mathematics. Before his 18th
birthday, he got a letter from Stanford University. It was there that he met
Peter Cage whom he became friends with and who ended up being his roommate.
They were opposites but it was Peter’s determination that drew Ravi to him. As
he went through college life, he had this lack of interest and certainty until
Peter introduced him to Nico Aliprantis, a math teacher who taught math as a
natural thing instead of a bunch of rigid rules. Nico invited them to join his
Math 208 class. In his class, Nico tackled topics such as infinity, geometry, sets
and so much more. He talked about different mathematicians like Georg Cantor.
As the sessions went on, Ravi found interest in mathematics again. Nico had
reintroduced him to the excitement and pleasure that the mathematical hunt or
puzzle brings. He then found a friend in Adin Kaminker and Claire Stern.
After
meeting with Nico, Ravi found out that his grandfather went to America and was
imprisoned in Morisette, New Jersey in the year 1919. His classmate, Claire,
and her mother helped him find out what happened and why his grandfather was
imprisoned. With the newspapers of the town of Morisette and the help of Claire’s
mom, he discovered that his grandfather, Vijay Sahni went to jail on the
charges of blasphemy. He found recordings of the conversations between his
grandfather and a judge named John Taylor. Though the two men have different
philosophical views, they somehow bonded through mathematics. The judge
believed that in order to understand why Sahni said what he said about
Christianity, he should indulge Sahni through mathematics as how he thinks normally
is connected to mathematical thinking. They went to Peter’s house to celebrate
him getting a job and they also attended the performance of Adin’s band. Later
on, Ravi, Adin, PK, Peter, Claire and Nico went to Redwood Park where they
talked about Ravi’s grandfather and the points that he was making. It was then
that Adin understood Ravi’s grandfather and how he thinks. He believes Vijay
Sahni was driven by a quest for meaning and that he wanted to acquire that
through a process he could feel certain about. After reading the last newspapers on his
grandfather’s release, he went to New York for his job interview where he was
asked an odd mathematical question. In the end, he was able to crack it and was
offered the job. But at the same time, Nico arranged him for a full scholarship
to study mathematics at a graduate school. And just as he was having difficulty
on making his decision, Claire brought him the journal entries of John Taylor
which talked about how he and Sahni bonded over mathematics. After much
deliberation, Ravi chose mathematics and ended up publishing papers and being a
teacher. He later on lived with Claire.
This book was a
pleasant read. It brought the classroom to the reader. I learned a lot on
different topics on mathematics like infinity and geometry. It was very informative
but not in a way that seemed boring. It felt like I was interacting with the
book and that I was learning with the characters. This was by far the most
entertaining book on mathematics that I have read. It pointed out certain
topics on mathematics and proved it using mathematical thinking but unlike the
other books, this one incorporated that into a story. It was fun seeing how the
characters observe and perform mathematical thinking on a day to day basis. I
learned about how mathematics has a different meaning or use to different
people. I understood from the book that by stripping mathematics down to its
core, you see its true beauty just like a musical piece. Just as a painter creates
patterns with shapes and a poet creates patterns with words, a mathematician
creates patterns with ideas. The book taught me about the aesthetic sense to
use different words or ideas to create a beautiful piece of work and this is the
connection between poets and mathematicians. It shows how mathematics provides
a different way of comprehending the universe. Reason is its foundation and
leads their thinking to certainty; this type of thinking can be problematic for
some people because their world view might end up offending others. Mathematicians
are exceptional thinkers but just like other geniuses of different fields, they
face great challenges and scrutiny. Some even end up in jail for standing by
their beliefs but it is their passion and determination to their craft that
gives them glory. Mathematics has power over people especially with its promise
of certainty.
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