I've
never thought that mathematics would actually be useful in making masterpieces
of art, but once more a mind-blowing moment of realization shook me back to
reality. And reality, as it seems, is teeming with math.
The
mathematics of the East was very impressive even though they were not that well
known. But as time went on, so did numerous revolutions of mathematics that
sprouted forth in the lands of the West. Our ever so adventurous host, Marcus
de Sautoy, flew us to other side of the globe in his quest for the iconic
figures of mathematics.
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Who knew that mathematics would
become popular in the least expected hobby-painting? I guess Piero did. Piero
della Franschesca was a mathematican, but at the same time he was also a
painter. He use the power of perspectives to give his paintings a sense of
depth and dimesion which, I never expected would come from the world of
mathematics. In short, he was one of the pioneers who tried to tie the knot
between algebra and geometry, though in a more artistic way. The one who
actually did it in the most logical manner was Descartes, known for the amazing
mathematical tool named after him.
I once heard a story from a friend
about how Descartes discovered the Cartesian plane. It goes like this:
Descartes was in bed and meditating
as usual. Then he saw a lizard up on the
ceiling, loitering around. Boredom overtook him and he tried to devise a way
of pinpointing the lizard's position or coordinates. He soon discovered that by
assigning two number lines positioned in a way that they, one horizontal and
one vertical, would meet at one end at a 90o angle. Then the lines were given with values from zero, on where the lines
meet, to infinity. The values of the horizontal, or x, and the vertical, or y,
lines would indicate the position of the lizard. And thus the Cartesian plane
emerged, more likely out of boredom and curiosity.
Going through the documentary, I got to
know some mathematicians who were hiding behind unlikely faces, like the monk
Marin Mersenne or the magistrate Pierre de Fermat. But I was more interested on
how people knew about one mathematician who was famous for the apple and his
law of gravity-Newton. Sir Isaac Newton,
yes he's knighted, was famous not only for his discoveries in physics, but also
for his pioneering venture into calculus. This has been a general fact, but it
turned out that the film showed more, when this man had a rival in the
mathematics race. And on that time, his darker side was unveiled.
Gottfried Leibniz. I wasn't familiar
with this mathematician but then I got to know that he had independently
discovered and published his version of calculus. Let me repeat, INDEPENDENTLY.
By the way, he was a fan of Newton. He might have been the president of Newton's
fanclub. Who knows? So there he was, walking on the red carpet in the Royal
Society and about to receive his award and recognition. But that was just the
icing in the cake. Beneath that was an accusation that he did not expect from
the very least-plagiarism. Who gave the charge? None other than Newton himself.
It was like Leibniz was flying with
joy in the skies until the ground opened up with heavy flak fire. Down he went,
dignity and integrity shredded by shrapnels of criticisms and accusations until
they were gone. Even if it is too late, I felt pity for Leibniz. But in the
end, it was his work that triumphed over Newton's. To the unsung pioneer of
calculus, I salute you. Leibniz's work was not stored in some rusty ol' safe,
but was spread throughout Europe. This was done by his "intellectual
minions" - the Bernoulli bloodline. They themselves were so good at
carrying on Leibniz's work that they had students and followers. One of them was Leonard Euler, who in turn
produced amazing works in mathematics.
There were more well-renowned figures
in mathematics that originated from the Western world, from prodigies to the
professional at heart. Though there may be competitions in this intellectual
rat race, both sides-the East and the West-have worked in unison, just like the
left and right hemispheres of the brain, to accomplish one universal objective
- to be the living elements that translate the ways of the universe through mathematics.
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