Rey Joyce B.

Abuel Math 4 ACB

The Nature’s Numbers: Mathematics and Science

Mathematics can look at a single snowflake and deduce the atomic geometry of
its crystals; it can start with a violin string and uncover the existence of radio waves.
Indeed, Mathematics still has the power to open our eyes to new and unsuspected
regularities; the secret structure of a cloud or the hidden rhythms of the weather. There
are patterns in the world we are now seeing for the first time – patterns at the frontier of
Science.

Science without Mathematics is totally meaningless, because chemical reactions,

scientific theories and detail of elements are only generated with the help of
Mathematics. That beauty of the interrelatedness between Math and Science was not
something that occurred to me, but this book helped me to see that relationship. I was
not at all sure where Stewart was going in the book as we explored Math, Geometry,
Physics and the universe– all to consider the shape of a snowflake. But I felt as if I was
taken on an adventure through the strange realities of the universe, and I didn't want it
to end.

Mathematics has given a good proof to the occurring events in the world and
nature. Not only with the formulas and ideas that could decipher problems, but also as
to the origin of every single thing in this world. Significantly, Newton’s law of motion
have greatly contributed to solve complexity in nature. The applications of these three
laws are literally endless: from the planets moving through the cosmos to the first
seconds of a car crash to the action that takes place when a person walks. Stewart also
points out the meaning of "solve" has undergone change over time. His comments on
Keynes' comments about Isaac Newton as the last wonder child of the old order, rather
than the first of the new, reminded me strongly of Arthur Koestler's comments on
Copernicus in the brilliant, The Sleepwalkers.

Moreover, Stewart devotes one delightful chapter to explaining how the

Mathematics underlying the acoustics of a Stradivarius violin is the same as the
Mathematics underlying television. If you stop to think about it, that is a stunning idea.
What's the connection between violins and television? A lot of physicists and
mathematicians played a role in cracking the 1D wave equation of a violin string. This
was extended to the vibrations of the surface of the drum which is a 2D. Finally, it
showed up in the areas of Electricity and Magnetism. Michael Faraday and
subsequently Maxwell came up with electromagnetic forces which was a giant leap in
the advancement of scientific understanding.  Visible electromagnetic waves with
different frequencies produce different colors.

Nature's Numbers is not simply about numbers, but also about shapes, patterns,
regularities, transformations, and evolutions. Predominantly, the importance of modern
mathematics in particular chaos theory, symmetry breaking, and pattern analysis in the
study of biological and physical science. 

Most people look at math these days– or I did, at least, for a long time– as
something alienating and cold. But at this point it simply appears to me that the universe
is structured in a deeply mathematical way; falling bodies fall with predictable
accelerations, eclipses can be accurately forecast centuries in advance, and nuclear
power plants generate electricity according to well-known formulas. But those examples
are only the tip of the iceberg.