Numbers
What would our life be with out numbers? Every language know to humankind has a set of numbers. How else to keep statistics, track of time, progress and the like? Numbers are our friends.
We I was a student lo these many years ago, numbers intimidated me. And it didn't help that the education system seemed to take all the fun out of the things you most use numbers for. Arithmetic. Algebra. Geometry. Statistics. Etc. It was an exacting science of sorts. Sadly I was never an exacting sort of guy. I love me some glittering generalities and nebulous ideas that were open to interpretation. Numbers seemed overly concrete.
It wasn't until much later in life I discovered that the beautiful way an algebraic formula solved out that I realized that mathematics were so very elegant. Everything could prove out with numbers. How poetic is that?
Numbers are our friends. They are even pretty when written. Like letters, each character has its own personality. And each reflects the personality and character of the writer. That is one thing that gets lost with the algorithms of this computerized age. Much like typing or word-processing. But even then, they are lovely in the way they can express even the most esoteric equations.
So today I give thanks for numbers and all they do for us. Without them we would never know how fast we are going or how much we weigh or even how old we are. And while that sounds like a tempting thing to wish for, it really would make things a bit more complicated to handle.
What would our life be with out numbers? Every language know to humankind has a set of numbers. How else to keep statistics, track of time, progress and the like? Numbers are our friends.
We I was a student lo these many years ago, numbers intimidated me. And it didn't help that the education system seemed to take all the fun out of the things you most use numbers for. Arithmetic. Algebra. Geometry. Statistics. Etc. It was an exacting science of sorts. Sadly I was never an exacting sort of guy. I love me some glittering generalities and nebulous ideas that were open to interpretation. Numbers seemed overly concrete.
It wasn't until much later in life I discovered that the beautiful way an algebraic formula solved out that I realized that mathematics were so very elegant. Everything could prove out with numbers. How poetic is that?
Numbers are our friends. They are even pretty when written. Like letters, each character has its own personality. And each reflects the personality and character of the writer. That is one thing that gets lost with the algorithms of this computerized age. Much like typing or word-processing. But even then, they are lovely in the way they can express even the most esoteric equations.
So today I give thanks for numbers and all they do for us. Without them we would never know how fast we are going or how much we weigh or even how old we are. And while that sounds like a tempting thing to wish for, it really would make things a bit more complicated to handle.
