Mathematics

I like math. Many people assume that this must mean I like numbers, or Sudoku, or programming. It happens that I do like all of those things, to varying degrees, but not because I like math. Many people believe I must like numbers, Sudoku and programming because they're about as close to mathematics as many people get in their daily lives. Some university students obtain a deeper understanding of mathematics from their university courses, yet very few people have any understanding what mathematicians do.

What I actually love about mathematics is its ability to describe things. I say things because mathematics can 'describe' a great deal: You can use math to forecast weather patterns, or to model the motions of stars and galaxies, or to predict the growth of populations. All of these things fall into the mathematical field of 'modelling': using mathematical theory to explain the behaviour of natural phenomena. Of course, some of the mathematics of modelling falls into other categories as well - the varying mathematical fields are nothing if not incestuous: The mathematics of weather prediction also falls under the field of dynamical (chaotic) systems; the motion of stars and galaxies has applications in algebra and topology; and the growth of populations sees use in economic theory.

But it goes deeper. There are very esoteric and highly advanced branches of mathematics that on the surface have absolutely no bearing on our reality, whatsoever. Or so it seems, initially. Probably the best example of an unexpected use of mathematics is number theory in cryptography. Number theory is the branch of mathematics that seeks to understand the properties of numbers; a very old and deep field of study that I can't do justice explaining in a single blog post. Suffice to say, that the 'properties of numbers' has confounded and fascinated people for thousands of years - all the way back to the early Greeks. Cryptography, the practice of hiding information, has been around for almost as long; but modern cryptography - without which, you wouldn't be able to use a debit card - is less than a century old. Modern cryptography makes extended use of advanced number theory, drawing on the properties of numbers to disguise important information - like a debit card PIN.

It's pretty cool to be able to describe things with an abstract tool like mathematics. Some might say that doing so takes magic away from the experience - the Northern Lights are beautiful to behold, but to reduce them to a set of equations is to diminish their splendour. However, I believe there is beauty in both - in fact, I believe both are necessary. There is an elegance to the mathematical form that can't be achieved through a verbal or written description; yet there is nothing to compare to the experience of actually seeing the bright ribbons of green light arcing across the northern sky.

So I like numbers, Sudoku, and programming. But what I really like is nature, natural phenomena, and complex behaviour. And most of all, I like to obtain a deeper understanding of how those things work by describing them with mathematics.