Walking around campus today in this horrible weather actually got me thinking about math. Within a three hour period there had been sleet, rain, ice and snow. Now all of these are forms of percipitation but they're all slightly different. What exactly makes them different? There's probably differences in tempurature when each type was formed. Each type probably has a different weight or velocity when its falling. And each drop of percipitation probably has a different composition. All of these factors are math related in some way.
Before we got the snowstorm, I walked around a little bit and saw a few things that reminded me of math. I saw a tree stump that had about 27 rings on it. If I'm not mistaken (though I probably am), every ring represents a year the tree was alive. So mathematically, I calculated it to be about 27 years old. The sunlight also reminded me of math because the beams of light are really particles that can be measured and calculated. So math is everywhere, apparently.
The other day when I was walking around campus I noticed I could actually see the sun in the sky. It look really pretty because you could see seperate rays of light shining through the cloud. I counted 5 different rays shining through one of the many clouds in the sky.
I have walked around the campus a bit and paid attention to my surroundings. The ground is slippery and I almost slipped a few times. So, I started the walk with deliberate steps and looked up. I remembered looking at the cones in class and how there were spirals in the design and started to look at trees. They are all shaped like a big circular arms reaching up the havens and I could almost imagine that there might be vortexes in the design of the trees. It is all circular and three dimensional. Nature looks so artistic, so random and beautiful, we think that creation is creative and math is the antithesis of creativity. Math, however, can explain the weight, volume and other characteristics of all creation; from the pebbles on a beach, to the stars. I started to think how if art and faith can be considered the expression of the universe, then Math and science could be considered the explanation of the universe. If you look at a flower, you can see geometric shapes, if you look at waves you can see force in action, which can be explained through math, but praised through poetry.
Taking a walk outside today, I allowed myself to think about the mathematical aspects of nature. I looked at the snow on the ground and thought about the intricate fractals that each individual snowflake makes. I saw a rabbit and thought about the presentation we saw about the Fibonacci sequence's relationship with rabbit reproduction. Perhaps the most interesting thought that came to mind was about the branching of plants, particularly trees. Because the leaves have fallen off of the branches for winter, you can get a much better look at the shapes and lengths of each individual branch. While I always just assumed the branches were totally arbitrary, my nature walk got me thinking that maybe the branches were made that way in a far less random formation.. perhaps they were even formed somehow using the progressive numbers in the Fibonacci series.
I went for a walk outside and I ended up observing a lot of things that reminded me of math. I saw a tree stump with lots of rings, which are of course circles which are related to math. I also passed a puddle and I threw a small stone into it, and noticed the perfect circular rings moving out from the center. It started snowing, and every single snow flake had a different geometric pattern. I looked for pinecones but I didn’t see any. It was really cold so I had to go inside. However I came to the conclusion that math is pretty much everywhere if you really try to look for it.
I find it hard to actually visually find math in the natural world, as nothing in nature is ever exact. Math is however, everywhere as a concept. Gravity, and the forces that hold our known world together have predictable values, which we become familiar with early in our lives. We use math to separate our sensual input into categories, and to rationalize our surroundings into objects, shapes, and beings, which we might otherwise see as just another part of a moving picture.
Basically there is math in anything and everything. (especially in nature). Its all about your interpretation. Well lets see. On friday when I was going out it was wicked slippery and slushy out. I slipped and fell (of course) when I got up I looked and saw the slip marks I had made with my feet. They extended for about triple the size of my foot. I thought that was interesting? Also by the end of the night the saturation of water in my hair was probably at a ratio where the water was a higher number in comparison to the dryness of it? I dunno.. kind of a stretch? Also when I looked at leaves on trees it got me thinking about the different shapes, contoures, and different number of sides each different kind of leaf has (or even each individual leaf has). awesome
This is not very exciting, but math related none the less. I was driving to Wegeman's and looking for a parking spot. I noticed a good spot near the entrance. There was a car coming from the opposite direction. I had yet to turn into the lane, waiting for cars to pass before i could turn. All the while i was internally calculating my slimming chance at getting the spot. I thought the spot was gone for sure, yet i turned anyway, and the car i was waiting for got cut off by a pedestrian, and i got the spot.
I took a walk today, up to a garden on my parent's property. I wish that I could have had an ariel picture of where I was walking... now that I have learned about the Golden ratio places which are somewhat visual stimulating and I feel have good energy lead me to question if there is something aesthetically perfect about them.
The crazy amount of ice everywhere in Ithaca created some problems for me this weekend-some of which I could relate to math. When I fell because obviously heels were not a good choice, I wondered how hard I hit the ice and how much my weight and shoe choice impacted the fall. Also, when walking up my friend's driveway to her house which was completely covered in ice, I realized that walking very slow and to the side was the only way to approach this without falling--direction&speed...math! In my car I also noticed something-usually when I put my car in reverse it just goes, I don't have to push on the gas unless I want to go fast, but when I was leaving my house after the ice storm, I realized I had to push on the gas more to get out of the spot- not sure exactly, but I'm sure this is related to math some how.
I'd initially intended to write something about the natural world but later thought that an examination of human nature (namely that of my peers) can be equally full of math.
This weekend I observed many college students meandering around the campus and around the streets of Ithaca in order to find a full filling social gathering. A frequent stipulation of an enjoyable social event is the number of people who are present. Largely, the gatherings with the highest number of visitors are considered more popular and often more enjoyable than those with lower turnouts. In reference to the weather, the temperature had to be below a certain degree number before being able to attain the slippery qualities of ice. Further, as is widely known, the average student will devote a portion of their weekend evening to increasing their inebriation. This is accomplished as their B.A.C number increases. To show the intertwining nature of the math in the social realm, one can observe the consequences of combining a high B.A.C with a low enough temperature that the roads upon which a given inebriated student walks upon then becomes icy.
Often the result is the said student plummeting down. Depending on the mathematical angle of the student's fall in relation to the ground level and slope of the ground, the individual may get back unharmed or sustain potentially severe injuries.
I had to think about math a little too early on Friday morning due to the ice storm. My car was impossible to clear off due to the amount of ice that accumulated on the windows overnight, and in my head I had to calculate how thick I thought the ice was (I estimated half an inch) and how soon the temperature would begin to rise in order for it to hopefully begin the melting process. These are very basic math concepts, but mathematical nontheless. As I was walking outside this weekend I couldn't help but realize how elements of math really are everywhere, especially when you can feel them. The temperature is what I kept taking note of as I was outside, how the sleet changed to rain and many things seemed to be melting yet so many parts of the ground were still slippery and solid ice. It was as if the rising temperature and the surrounding earth were never quite balanced.
I was walking through the woods, thinking about those plants that make the annoying burrs that stick to everything. I noted how successful they grew in certain areas, and I started wondering how generation to generation these plants wander through the woods. How their seeds disperse and regrow into plants to make more annoying burrs to stick to my shoelaces and get carried to new places. I kept walking in the woods, enjoying the pleasant weather. I saw a herd of deer as they first noticed my approach and then reacted. They clearly were picking me up from sounds mostly. It was a decent sized herd and I counted how many. 7? No, 8. That's math - right? Then as I kept walking, I had to consult my internal compass to figure out I didn't know where the heck I was. Luckily there was this convenient snow on the ground, keeping track of my footsteps and chaotic meanderings, guiding me back to a recognizable place.
I was walking through my backyard the other day, attempting to find something worthwhile to write on this blog. The harder I tried to find something related to math around me, the more impossible it seemed to find it. And then I realized...as i can see a couple other people did...that math really is all around us. Whether its the snowflakes and how they basically are fractals, or the patterns the ice made when it froze, math is completely inescapable.
I noticed angles and symmetry in my math-observing walk. Symmetry. Branches grow out from the tree trunks in a symmetrical way. The weight of one branch is balanced by the weight of another branch growing in a counter-direction. This gives symmetry to the tree. Angles. Each branch forms an angle with the tree trunk and with the other branches. These angles make the branches grow in seperate directions. Yet, when you look at the whole tree, with its web of branches growing apart and interweaving, there is a return to unity and symmetry.
I was walking down from campus to the commons the other night and thinking about this assignment, wondering which of the things I saw reminded me of math, when I realized almost everything did. From the snow flakes, though after melting and refreezing they were losing their shape, to the fallen leaves, full of veins. I kicked an old pine cone out of the way, and was reminded of the Fibonacci sequence. And as I looked up at the stars I was struck by the enormity of the distance between us.
As we all have seen from this exercise, math is everywhere...especially in nature. As I took my walk in nature I knew I would be able to find endless examples of math, how each section of a branch from a tree would measure out to each other, or how the trees themselves were spaced apart from each other. How fast each snow fall fell from the sky, or how their mass depended on the rate at which they fell. Let alone the math involved in it's design. I felt the wind pushing me back, how fast it was going, or it's direction depends on math, especially considering how temperature plays into its course and strength.
Math is everywhere, and it would be impossible to find something in nature that couldn't be related to math in some way or another.
Walking around campus this weekend, I noticed many things that related to math. However, I would not have noticed these things, had I not been thinking about them. Subconsciously, we all use math in our everyday lives, we just dont all notice we are doing so. While walking through the woods behind my building, I noticed many trees that had either fallen, or had been cut down. I counted the rings within each one, and compared the ages. 2 trees lying side by side had a 8 year age difference! The temperature outside relates to math as well, in that it needs to be a certain temperature in order for the rain to freeze, causing the sheet of ice that is in front of my building.
It's interesting to notice the angles of shadow that are created according to the sun's position in the sky. It also fascinates me that snow on the ground looks to be one thing, but it's really made up of countless numbers of individual snowflakes.
I went for a walk down the rec path on Saturday before it started to get really cold. I noticed the blotchy patches of dirt and earth and immediately was reminded of how little snow we have had this year. I have memories of what winter was like some years ago back home in Vermont - when the snowbanks were taller than cars and the river by my house was a desert of thick ice chunks and snow. This got me thinking about the statistics of weather over the past years, the mathematics of climate change and how different the numbers must look now from what they were. I also started thinking about the rate of change that needs to occur in order for things to reach a sort of balance in the environment, and if it is still possible when the evidence of unbalance is even here in Ithaca, a place known for its cold and blustery winters.
Walking to school the other day I noticed how the stream by the path I walk up wasn't entirely frozen any longer. The top layer was frozen in a static state while the water underneath was dynamic and flowing. This made me think about the temperature from the day before to this day, and made me realize that the temperature must be higher and that it has been melting the chills of winter. What this further made me consider is why it was getting this hot in Ithaca in late January, and that made me think of the increasing percentage of Greenhouse Gasses that are being let into our air by automobiles and industrial farms. This then made me think about the amount of years that scientists say we have left until all of the glaciers in Alaska are melted. This further made me wonder the increase that this world has seen overall climate temperature. I think that this could go on forever. Math lead to math which lead to math which lead to even more math!
22 comments:
Walking around campus today in this horrible weather actually got me thinking about math. Within a three hour period there had been sleet, rain, ice and snow. Now all of these are forms of percipitation but they're all slightly different. What exactly makes them different? There's probably differences in tempurature when each type was formed. Each type probably has a different weight or velocity when its falling. And each drop of percipitation probably has a different composition. All of these factors are math related in some way.
Before we got the snowstorm, I walked around a little bit and saw a few things that reminded me of math. I saw a tree stump that had about 27 rings on it. If I'm not mistaken (though I probably am), every ring represents a year the tree was alive. So mathematically, I calculated it to be about 27 years old. The sunlight also reminded me of math because the beams of light are really particles that can be measured and calculated. So math is everywhere, apparently.
The other day when I was walking around campus I noticed I could actually see the sun in the sky. It look really pretty because you could see seperate rays of light shining through the cloud. I counted 5 different rays shining through one of the many clouds in the sky.
I have walked around the campus a bit and paid attention to my surroundings. The ground is slippery and I almost slipped a few times. So, I started the walk with deliberate steps and looked up. I remembered looking at the cones in class and how there were spirals in the design and started to look at trees. They are all shaped like a big circular arms reaching up the havens and I could almost imagine that there might be vortexes in the design of the trees. It is all circular and three dimensional. Nature looks so artistic, so random and beautiful, we think that creation is creative and math is the antithesis of creativity. Math, however, can explain the weight, volume and other characteristics of all creation; from the pebbles on a beach, to the stars. I started to think how if art and faith can be considered the expression of the universe, then Math and science could be considered the explanation of the universe. If you look at a flower, you can see geometric shapes, if you look at waves you can see force in action, which can be explained through math, but praised through poetry.
Taking a walk outside today, I allowed myself to think about the mathematical aspects of nature. I looked at the snow on the ground and thought about the intricate fractals that each individual snowflake makes. I saw a rabbit and thought about the presentation we saw about the Fibonacci sequence's relationship with rabbit reproduction. Perhaps the most interesting thought that came to mind was about the branching of plants, particularly trees. Because the leaves have fallen off of the branches for winter, you can get a much better look at the shapes and lengths of each individual branch. While I always just assumed the branches were totally arbitrary, my nature walk got me thinking that maybe the branches were made that way in a far less random formation.. perhaps they were even formed somehow using the progressive numbers in the Fibonacci series.
I went for a walk outside and I ended up observing a lot of things that reminded me of math. I saw a tree stump with lots of rings, which are of course circles which are related to math. I also passed a puddle and I threw a small stone into it, and noticed the perfect circular rings moving out from the center. It started snowing, and every single snow flake had a different geometric pattern. I looked for pinecones but I didn’t see any. It was really cold so I had to go inside. However I came to the conclusion that math is pretty much everywhere if you really try to look for it.
I find it hard to actually visually find math in the natural world, as nothing in nature is ever exact. Math is however, everywhere as a concept. Gravity, and the forces that hold our known world together have predictable values, which we become familiar with early in our lives. We use math to separate our sensual input into categories, and to rationalize our surroundings into objects, shapes, and beings, which we might otherwise see as just another part of a moving picture.
Basically there is math in anything and everything. (especially in nature). Its all about your interpretation. Well lets see. On friday when I was going out it was wicked slippery and slushy out. I slipped and fell (of course) when I got up I looked and saw the slip marks I had made with my feet. They extended for about triple the size of my foot. I thought that was interesting? Also by the end of the night the saturation of water in my hair was probably at a ratio where the water was a higher number in comparison to the dryness of it? I dunno.. kind of a stretch? Also when I looked at leaves on trees it got me thinking about the different shapes, contoures, and different number of sides each different kind of leaf has (or even each individual leaf has). awesome
This is not very exciting, but math related none the less. I was driving to Wegeman's and looking for a parking spot. I noticed a good spot near the entrance. There was a car coming from the opposite direction. I had yet to turn into the lane, waiting for cars to pass before i could turn. All the while i was internally calculating my slimming chance at getting the spot. I thought the spot was gone for sure, yet i turned anyway, and the car i was waiting for got cut off by a pedestrian, and i got the spot.
I took a walk today, up to a garden on my parent's property. I wish that I could have had an ariel picture of where I was walking... now that I have learned about the Golden ratio places which are somewhat visual stimulating and I feel have good energy lead me to question if there is something aesthetically perfect about them.
The crazy amount of ice everywhere in Ithaca created some problems for me this weekend-some of which I could relate to math. When I fell because obviously heels were not a good choice, I wondered how hard I hit the ice and how much my weight and shoe choice impacted the fall. Also, when walking up my friend's driveway to her house which was completely covered in ice, I realized that walking very slow and to the side was the only way to approach this without falling--direction&speed...math! In my car I also noticed something-usually when I put my car in reverse it just goes, I don't have to push on the gas unless I want to go fast, but when I was leaving my house after the ice storm, I realized I had to push on the gas more to get out of the spot- not sure exactly, but I'm sure this is related to math some how.
I'd initially intended to write something about the natural world but later thought that an examination of human nature (namely that of my peers) can be equally full of math.
This weekend I observed many college students meandering around the campus and around the streets of Ithaca in order to find a full filling social gathering. A frequent stipulation of an enjoyable social event is the number of people who are present. Largely, the gatherings with the highest number of visitors are considered more popular and often more enjoyable than those with lower turnouts.
In reference to the weather, the temperature had to be below a certain degree number before being able to attain the slippery qualities of ice.
Further, as is widely known, the average student will devote a portion of their weekend evening to increasing their inebriation. This is accomplished as their B.A.C number increases.
To show the intertwining nature of the math in the social realm, one can observe the consequences of combining a high B.A.C with a low enough temperature that the roads upon which a given inebriated student walks upon then becomes icy.
Often the result is the said student plummeting down. Depending on the mathematical angle of the student's fall in relation to the ground level and slope of the ground, the individual may get back unharmed or sustain potentially severe injuries.
I had to think about math a little too early on Friday morning due to the ice storm. My car was impossible to clear off due to the amount of ice that accumulated on the windows overnight, and in my head I had to calculate how thick I thought the ice was (I estimated half an inch) and how soon the temperature would begin to rise in order for it to hopefully begin the melting process. These are very basic math concepts, but mathematical nontheless. As I was walking outside this weekend I couldn't help but realize how elements of math really are everywhere, especially when you can feel them. The temperature is what I kept taking note of as I was outside, how the sleet changed to rain and many things seemed to be melting yet so many parts of the ground were still slippery and solid ice. It was as if the rising temperature and the surrounding earth were never quite balanced.
I was walking through the woods, thinking about those plants that make the annoying burrs that stick to everything. I noted how successful they grew in certain areas, and I started wondering how generation to generation these plants wander through the woods. How their seeds disperse and regrow into plants to make more annoying burrs to stick to my shoelaces and get carried to new places. I kept walking in the woods, enjoying the pleasant weather. I saw a herd of deer as they first noticed my approach and then reacted. They clearly were picking me up from sounds mostly. It was a decent sized herd and I counted how many. 7? No, 8. That's math - right? Then as I kept walking, I had to consult my internal compass to figure out I didn't know where the heck I was. Luckily there was this convenient snow on the ground, keeping track of my footsteps and chaotic meanderings, guiding me back to a recognizable place.
I was walking through my backyard the other day, attempting to find something worthwhile to write on this blog. The harder I tried to find something related to math around me, the more impossible it seemed to find it. And then I realized...as i can see a couple other people did...that math really is all around us. Whether its the snowflakes and how they basically are fractals, or the patterns the ice made when it froze, math is completely inescapable.
I noticed angles and symmetry in my math-observing walk. Symmetry. Branches grow out from the tree trunks in a symmetrical way. The weight of one branch is balanced by the weight of another branch growing in a counter-direction. This gives symmetry to the tree. Angles. Each branch forms an angle with the tree trunk and with the other branches. These angles make the branches grow in seperate directions. Yet, when you look at the whole tree, with its web of branches growing apart and interweaving, there is a return to unity and symmetry.
I was walking down from campus to the commons the other night and thinking about this assignment, wondering which of the things I saw reminded me of math, when I realized almost everything did. From the snow flakes, though after melting and refreezing they were losing their shape, to the fallen leaves, full of veins. I kicked an old pine cone out of the way, and was reminded of the Fibonacci sequence. And as I looked up at the stars I was struck by the enormity of the distance between us.
As we all have seen from this exercise, math is everywhere...especially in nature. As I took my walk in nature I knew I would be able to find endless examples of math, how each section of a branch from a tree would measure out to each other, or how the trees themselves were spaced apart from each other. How fast each snow fall fell from the sky, or how their mass depended on the rate at which they fell. Let alone the math involved in it's design. I felt the wind pushing me back, how fast it was going, or it's direction depends on math, especially considering how temperature plays into its course and strength.
Math is everywhere, and it would be impossible to find something in nature that couldn't be related to math in some way or another.
Walking around campus this weekend, I noticed many things that related to math. However, I would not have noticed these things, had I not been thinking about them. Subconsciously, we all use math in our everyday lives, we just dont all notice we are doing so. While walking through the woods behind my building, I noticed many trees that had either fallen, or had been cut down. I counted the rings within each one, and compared the ages. 2 trees lying side by side had a 8 year age difference! The temperature outside relates to math as well, in that it needs to be a certain temperature in order for the rain to freeze, causing the sheet of ice that is in front of my building.
It's interesting to notice the angles of shadow that are created according to the sun's position in the sky. It also fascinates me that snow on the ground looks to be one thing, but it's really made up of countless numbers of individual snowflakes.
I went for a walk down the rec path on Saturday before it started to get really cold. I noticed the blotchy patches of dirt and earth and immediately was reminded of how little snow we have had this year. I have memories of what winter was like some years ago back home in Vermont - when the snowbanks were taller than cars and the river by my house was a desert of thick ice chunks and snow. This got me thinking about the statistics of weather over the past years, the mathematics of climate change and how different the numbers must look now from what they were. I also started thinking about the rate of change that needs to occur in order for things to reach a sort of balance in the environment, and if it is still possible when the evidence of unbalance is even here in Ithaca, a place known for its cold and blustery winters.
Walking to school the other day I noticed how the stream by the path I walk up wasn't entirely frozen any longer. The top layer was frozen in a static state while the water underneath was dynamic and flowing. This made me think about the temperature from the day before to this day, and made me realize that the temperature must be higher and that it has been melting the chills of winter. What this further made me consider is why it was getting this hot in Ithaca in late January, and that made me think of the increasing percentage of Greenhouse Gasses that are being let into our air by automobiles and industrial farms. This then made me think about the amount of years that scientists say we have left until all of the glaciers in Alaska are melted. This further made me wonder the increase that this world has seen overall climate temperature. I think that this could go on forever. Math lead to math which lead to math which lead to even more math!
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