Mariel Deanne S.

Brizo BS Pharmacy 1B

Mathematics in the Modern World Adam Renz V. Sullaga, LPT

MATHEMATICS HELPS PREDICT THE BEHAVIOR OF NATURE

Mathematics doesn’t organize patterns – the patterns are already there but it permit people

who have done the analysis of such patterns to express those patterns and regularities in terms of

mathematical rules. Mathematics can be a useful tool for identifying patterns. For example: the

Nautilus shell existed long before Fibonacci’s sequence did, but the latter describes the structure of

the inner chambers of the shell. Mathematics is not only a useful tool but a description of the patterns,

it is the “picture” of the relationships of real and virtual elements that describe thing, objects and

ideas.

On the other hand, why is the universe so mathematical? This question, is one of the stickiest

philosophical conundrums nowadays and even before. Even mathematicians don’t even know why

mathematics – an invention inside our head – so accurately describes the physical world, the

independent world outside.

Eugen Weigner, a Nobel laureate in Physics, put the same question 35 years ago in an essay

titled, “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics”. Since then, no one has been able to

advance the ball.

It appears to us that the Universe is structured in a deeply mathematical way. Falling bodies

fall with predictable acceleration. Eclipses can be accurately forecast centuries in advance. Nuclear

power plants generate electricity according to well-known formulas. But those examples are the tip of

the iceberg. In “Nature’s Numbers,” Ian Stewart presents many more, each charming in its own way.

He shows, for example, how the oscillations of fireflies follow the same mathematical rules as the

gates of horses.
 Stewart added that the Nature’s Numbers is the deep mathematical regularities that can be

detected in natural forms. Natural patterns include symmetries, trees, spiral, meanders, waves,

foams, tessellations, cracks and stripes.

But how can mathematics predict the behaviour of nature and phenomena in the world? Does

mathematics really predict? In what instances?

Mathematical Modelling is the field wherein mathematics can predict the behaviour of nature.

An example would be the whole field of Physics, from Newton’s Law of Motion to Electromagnetic

Equations, these are all mathematical in nature. What happens is, researcher observe nature and

phenomena and try to make a mathematical model that works their observation, and makes sense.

Basically, they try to generalize or find a rule, for what they observe. After that, these models can be

used for simulations which can help predict what will happen.

For example predicting the calamities and weather forecast. Meteorologists used mathematics

as a tool to forecast the weather. But how? Meteorologist can’t able to predict the size, location and

timing of natural hazards but with the aid of Mathematics they can able to forecast the calamities such

as hurricanes, flood, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires, and landslides. Using mathematical

tool we create models which correspond to what we can measure and observe in the world of reality.

In the other way, weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the

conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. Human beings have attempted to predict

the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19 th century.

Therefore, Mathematics play an important role in any aspects in life not just in organizing

patterns and regularities in the world but also predicting the behaviour of nature through working with

a set of equations that would determine the possible outcome. On the other hand, understanding the

world together with the subjects such as Physics and biology allows us to see the world and

understand how does it all works and connected.