Math.. The way to intimately understand the universe?

[OrbitalConfusion]

I was a total flunky in highschool. Ended up dropping out and getting a GED. Between living on the my own at the age of 16 and dealing with life problems I just could juggle school and my learning issues. I crumbled and failed like no other.


The one subject... Space was something no matter what I LOVED hearing about. a few years ago, I found a math book. I bough it for 50 cents and took i home to learn from it. As time went I the idea in my mind was by learning math I would get some better understanding of the universe and the things around me.


Fast forward to now. Everytime I figure something out Im left with more questions than answers. Yes, math does answer a lot but with a price... More questions beeing added to the queue.

Does anybody feel this way? Its like a sickness. I spend 1 hour each nigh working on math. When a major step has been accomplished and I learn I then take what I have learned and try to apply it somewhere. But it seems like this question "problem" is getting worse and worse. I find myself thinking about things all throughout the day now and I am wondering if its time to take a break or put a leash on myself.

....

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Does anybody feel this way? Its like a sickness. I spend 1 hour each nigh working on math. When a major step has been accomplished and I learn I then take what I have learned and try to apply it somewhere. But it seems like this question "problem" is getting worse and worse. I find myself thinking about things all throughout the day now and I am wondering if its time to take a break or put a leash on myself.

....

Ummm...

You mean you have difficulty finding applications for the math? Or you have an addiction... ?

I can imagine there could be much worse things in life than mathematics...

 

[Linguofreak]

Fast forward to now. Everytime I figure something out Im left with more questions than answers. Yes, math does answer a lot but with a price... More questions beeing added to the queue.

This is normal, not just on a personal level, but on the level of the combined knowledge of all humanity. Quantum physics has raised at least as many questions as it's answered, for example.

 

[sorindafabico]

I think this is some kind of blessing. Imagine a time when all knowledge of the universe is learned. So...

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

I think this is some kind of blessing. Imagine a time when all knowledge of the universe is learned. So...

Exactly. Whenever I manage to wrangle a "don't know" from a prof, I write alongside the topic in my notes "Here there be Dragons"

May we never run out of blank spaces in our maps. :thumbup:

 

[insanity]

Edna St. Vincent Millay's Eucild Alone Has Looked on Beauty Bare:

Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare.
Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,
And lay them prone upon the earth and cease
To ponder on themselves, the while they stare
At nothing, intricately drawn nowhere
In shapes of shifting lineage; let geese
Gabble and hiss, but heroes seek release
From dusty bondage into luminous air.
O blinding hour, O holy, terrible day,
When first the shaft into his vision shone
Of light anatomized! Euclid alone
Has looked on Beauty bare. Fortunate they
Who, though once only and then but far away,
Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.

 

[N_Molson]

Just don't forget that mathematics are a tool (amongst others) we use to understand the universe.

 

[MikeB]

It's not only math - it's knowledge of any kind.

David Deutsch, in "The Beginning of Infinity" points out that "Problems are inevitable" and "Problems are soluble", and that every solution to a problem expands the boundary of knowledge. But the boundary consists of problems.

It's an interesting book (though perhaps dwells too much on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics).

You can be sure that if math isn't the subject you want to study, there are plenty of others on the boundary of knowledge. (But math is necessary for many of them.)

 

[OrbitalConfusion]

It's not only math - it's knowledge of any kind.

David Deutsch, in "The Beginning of Infinity" points out that "Problems are inevitable" and "Problems are soluble", and that every solution to a problem expands the boundary of knowledge. But the boundary consists of problems.

It's an interesting book (though perhaps dwells too much on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics).

You can be sure that if math isn't the subject you want to study, there are plenty of others on the boundary of knowledge. (But math is necessary for many of them.)

before I even attempted ANY of this... I was told by an old man that I hate and had to much baggage to learn and understand. Perhaps a left over from my Military enlistment. The hardest part was sorting through all of that so I could accept certain answers as truth and be able to set time to start at 10 grade level math..


Everynight I look up at the stars. Everynight. I dont know how most people cannot look up and not feel that sense of peace, warmth, love... A sense of belonging. Perhaps its the light pollution.. It just seems we go about our daily lives and our daily fights and in reality it means nothing. Nothing we can do at this point will have any real impact on the universe. We could be wiped away in an instant and it would be like we were never here.

Uhgg.. Back on topic... Back to math. I want to ask you all this. How many of your "personal" Big question did math answer for you? I guess in a loonie way I looking for it to give me enough that I can put a few questions to rest and move on knowing I made the right choices.

Thanks.

 

[Urwumpe]

Uhgg.. Back on topic... Back to math. I want to ask you all this. How many of your "personal" Big question did math answer for you? I guess in a loonie way I looking for it to give me enough that I can put a few questions to rest and move on knowing I made the right choices.

I constantly use math. I can calculate distances to properly cut paper for producing tools. I sum up my purchases in the supermarket. And I earn my money with mathematics.

 

[Enjo]

You know who does the real math? My bosses, because I work my butt out producing math stuff that operates for them all the time after being written, and I get paid only for writing new things while I'm there. Progress? Not for me!

 

[Face]

I want to ask you all this. How many of your "personal" Big question did math answer for you? I guess in a loonie way I looking for it to give me enough that I can put a few questions to rest and move on knowing I made the right choices.

Mathematics is what made me realize that every science is actually more than blabla. In the end it is always numbers, and those make always sense due to the logic behind Math.

In this light, every Big question I got answered was in the end answered by math.

 

[OrbitalConfusion]

Mathematics is what made me realize that every science is actually more than blabla. In the end it is always numbers, and those make always sense due to the logic behind Math.

In this light, every Big question I got answered was in the end answered by math.

Thank you. You picked up on what I was quietly getting at. There are 3 questions that reel through my mind daily. I have to find a way to put these questions to rest... I feel like I'm stunted somehow and everyone else has figured out a solution that is acceptable to them. Maybe I should sit down and put some effort into learning a little more about philosophy as well. There is a video of a 9 year old child and what he had to say really blew my mind and helped me in some odd way. If links were aloud (?) I would post the video.

 

[Face]

If links were aloud (?) I would post the video.

Of course links are allowed as long as it is not to inappropriate content. If you need clarification of this, please read the rules - you anyway had to acknowledge to gain access to this forum - carefully again.

 

[OrbitalConfusion]

Of course links are allowed as long as it is not to inappropriate content. If you need clarification of this, please read the rules - you anyway had to acknowledge to gain access to this forum - carefully again.

Err uhmm.. I quickly scanned the rules, but generally if I apply Net-etiquette I dont ever break the rules.. Anyways, thanks for clearing that up.

Here's the youtube link.

This boy, at the age of 9... I have a feeling he will leave a mark on the world before he is finished. Sorry if you all have already seen this, apparently it is going viral. Anyways, tell me what you think. I was hoping to really spark to conversation on this subject.

 

[Face]

I quickly scanned the rules, but generally if I apply Net-etiquette I dont ever break the rules.. Anyways, thanks for clearing that up.

Just scanning it quickly is not what I meant. Please read the whole thing carefully, it really is not that much.
It is also not containing extraordinary restrictive rules, just things that should be clear to everybody intending to discuss and communicate in a mature and respectful manner on a family-friendly forum.

If you have more questions on the rules, or if you are unsure about a specific situation, you are always welcome to turn to the O-F staff for advice, may it be via report system, email, PM or IRC chat. However, doing so privately is recommended, because public discussion of moderation actions is prohibited by the rules for good reasons.

 

[Andy44]

Mathematics alone is an abstract concept. Math can be used to model the physical world, but alone it is just a thought experiment.

When I was a freshmen in college I was taking a calculus course and a physics course simultaneously. Both professors remain among the very best I ever had. The calculus course was dry at first and hard to pay attention in, until I notice I was actually using all this math stuff in the physics course to solve problems grounded in the real world.

When I showed my calculus prof how I was using his teachings to solve physics problems, he was, to my shock, bewildered! He is strictly a mathematician, not a scientist; he could not see the connection between the math and the world around him.

 

[ADSWNJ]

Mathematics alone is an abstract concept. Math can be used to model the physical world, but alone it is just a thought experiment.

When I was a freshmen in college I was taking a calculus course and a physics course simultaneously. Both professors remain among the very best I ever had. The calculus course was dry at first and hard to pay attention in, until I notice I was actually using all this math stuff in the physics course to solve problems grounded in the real world.

When I showed my calculus prof how I was using his teachings to solve physics problems, he was, to my shock, bewildered! He is strictly a mathematician, not a scientist; he could not see the connection between the math and the world around him.

Same!

I had that experience at secondary school in the UK (~ high school in US). I loved mathematics and physics, and did as many optional classes as they would teach. Beyond the regular mathematics, my courses split into pure mathematics and applied mathematics (and then mathematics for physics). It always felt to me that the teachers of the pure and applied classes inhabited very different worlds, obeying different religions .