The Allegory of the Clever

There are a whole lot of things the subject mathematics can cover. As I have highlighted a few articles ago, Mathematics is the language of the universe or almost everything. Anything that studies the relationships and interactions between variables, quantities, and change is mathematics. It is a very abstract concept.  Mathematics is the expression of the logical concepts and forms more complex concepts out of these basic logic. It is a logical progression.

Out of the book I had read an interesting fact. The logic of something ‘advanced’ is clearly complicated. Intermediate facts are usually simple. However the simple or the elementary facts is actually more complicated than the advanced. It may be the reason why we say that mathematics is a very difficult subject.

                Our notion of mathematics is basically a series of unending computations and all the other boring stuff in blackboard. Every math thing being taught in school is always about the principles, the theories, the calculations, and the algebra.  Mathematics taught in school is always our perspective of mathematics. However, Professor Ian Stewart in his book ‘Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities’ had led my math path to a different, odd way. It is absurd and intriguing as he uses mathematics in games, puzzles, stories, and facts. There I found the fun on using logic, statistics and geometry in situations I have never thought of. I had compiled all my favorites from the book and these are some:

                Extracting the cherry. Well, I think everybody already knows how it is done. It is having the cherry out of the glass figure and the thing you will do is to move two matchsticks. I sometimes play that game when were eating out just to check if I have remembered how it is done.

                Much Undo About Knotting. Knotting, for me, is a Boy Scout thing. The facts raised by Ian Stewart drag my interest in knots. A mathematician’s knot is a different kind of knot having two ends stick together. It was that simple until I found out that the Knot theory is used in the study of molecular biology. It is already used in the mysteries of the DNA and in quantum physics.

                Perpetual Calendar.  It was more like “Great idea. I’m gonna use this on my desk tonight”. I had not really solved the problem.

                Mathematical Jokes 1. It has been hard for me to understand the joke. I was looking for something in that joke to laugh about but then I saw the warning. So, I skipped.

                Why Does Minus Times Minus Make Plus? It is arithmetic. We have already mastered this in school.  The highlighted problem there is how it is applied. He explained the problems in banking and debts.

“Well, if the bank kindly writes off (takes away) two debts of £3 each, I am £6 better off – my account has changed exactly as it would if I had deposited £þ6. So in banking terms, we want (-2)x(-3) to equal +6.”

I may have not thought of that. If we are to apply and use that, we will be confusing ourselves and also complicating arithmetic. The fact is somehow clever and I realized that simple math is more complex than advanced math. Just saying.

      The Bridges of Konigsberg. Ah, the Bridges of Konigsberg. It is somehow famous for having no existing solutions. This simple puzzle works as having to cross one bridge only once. I have also tried the puzzle several times and I had an existing proof that it very impossible. However, Euler, a mathematician, made a point that the geometry is not relevant in this situation. What matters is how everything is connected. Somehow I had made a philosophy that you cannot always have to entertain all people even if it is hard for you to prove your worth. It is very important to just maintain a good connection to these people.

Magic square. It is also famous ancient mathematical problem and a coincidence. The magic square is astonishing in a way that each row and column equal to 15. The ancient Chinese really knows how to play with numbers.

All of these games and concepts are clever. Ian Stewart has brought my mathematical perspective to a different world. Aside from the puzzles, He also had highlighted the concepts and the history of pi, Fibonacci and the golden numbers, Fermat’s theory, Pythagoras and the triangles, Euler’s principles and a lot more. It is a really good read and people might have enjoyed math out of it.