Principles Underlie Behind Everything

The principle behind the mechanism of protein denaturation is what kills bacteria. Understanding this principle is what biologists study and analyze. Since high school, I have been very interested in mathematics. I joined competitions, I get high grades, and I became competitive. But I had this feeling of incompleteness and discontentment. Going back to the first two lines I have mentioned, through the years of loving this body of knowledge, I haven’t asked what the principle behind addition is, I haven’t asked why a fraction became a fraction, I haven’t asked how mathematical processes work. I did not realize that principles and basic concepts existed why mathematical equations work. I did not even wonder where these concepts originated. This very realization is what the documentary “The Story of Maths” inculcated in me.

In the first part of the series, ancient Egypt was featured. I then remembered learning Egypt civilization in Asian history way back in high school. Thinking that in today’s world, man’s needs have triggered development in technologies and societies, the same is true with what I saw in the development of Mathematics in Egypt. Egyptians have been able to generate a counting system as they studied the patterns of different seasons and also the flooding of the Nile in response to their economic need. It’s amazing to think that they didn’t have the idea how big the impact they have imparted to us is.

Suddenly, I became sleepy and I began checking the time so as to know how long it would take until I can go out. And I realized I still need to wait for about 40 minutes. That would be 2400 seconds. The Babylonians sure are wise in setting time. Since they have a base-60 number system, they’ve thought that a minute will have 60 seconds and an hour will have 60 minutes. So what if they had a base-20 number system instead? Can I go out of the room in 800 seconds now? I was again amazed by the Babylonians of how they created this system. And until now, their contribution is being used globally. Another big impact the ancient people didn’t know they’ve imparted.

I admit, I know nothing about Greek gods and goddesses, their names, titles and whatsoever. “Okay, I’m stuck with Greece again,” I said to myself as the narrator moved to Greece. I didn’t expect that this part of the documentary was the most interesting for me. I love geometry. Analyzing triangles would always put a smile upon my lips. I learned a lot with Greek Mathematics through the documentary. I was even more astonished when I learned that Pythagoras even assessed and put his concepts in music. Impressive.

Bias is natural in human nature. Well, after the Greek Mathematics part, I has fully contented and happy that I became passive and only listened selectively on the next parts of the documentary. However, I am expecting that the next episode will be interesting as the narrator will be tackling about algebra, Indian Mathematics, and many more. The documentary ended up for me as one of the most informative and interesting I have ever watched.

The core of my reflection after watching the documentary was that the evolution of mathematics is what every math student has to know. I have been answering mathematical problems since my mom asked me how much will I have if I buy 2 candies for one peso each if I had 5 pesos, but I haven’t even wondered the concepts behind subtraction and multiplication originated. Indeed, the complexities in Mathematics came from the very basic concept that the ancient people, long ago generated in response to their needs. What’s unique with Mathematics is that it started with its applications, through the applications, concepts were generated, and these concepts have been used to more applications.

To end up, I believe this statement would sum up my reflection of what I learned from the documentary, “Bacteria will not be killed when exposed to alcohol without the mechanism of protein denaturation, as well as, an hour will not have 60 minutes without the concept of base-60 number system, everything has an underlying principle.”