Connection Blog #4

As we began covering the Enlightenment means of thinking, our class began speaking of mathematics. It upset me that people thought math was only 2+2=4 and simple stuff like that. In reality, math is so much more. Since I am going to do math for the rest of my life, I’m going to go ahead on a rant and prove how math models our reality, and I will argue that higher understanding of math will improve morals and outlook on society. First of all, we will examine the ability to understand reality through math. We know that the earth, through gravity, has an inherent pull on on all objects, with an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second squared. Through calculus, we can integrate that and find that the velocity is equal to 9.8 times time, all that in meters per second. Integrating again, we can find that the position of the velocity is equal to 9.8 multiplied by the time squared, with other variables tossed in. This is obviously quite simplistic, but the general idea is there. We can model quite literally anything in the real world with math, so it does not seem like that much a leap to model things in the subjective world. Say, for example, emotions. There are ups and downs, so we could model them with a sin function, which is a trigonometric wave. This does make sense, as the time between highs and lows can be adjusted graphically. We could also use mathematical functions to determine one’s values, with variables such as role models and upbringing. In fact, we already have a similar function with determining one’s political ideology. We can determine ideology with variables like age, family, race, gender, class, education, and the like.