Math is the closest thing to God.

I've seen a topic like this before, but never really looked through it.

After looking through my Abstract Algebra and Number Theory book, I realize how mother nature likes to tell us how she works through math. What's more is that I realize that if there was a God that exists, his/his/its language is math(as Unne pointed out...I think).

Being a cashier at Safeway, I just scan the damn thing without much thought. Then as I researched how scanners worked, I was amazed as to how much number theory went into this. Not only that, all credit card numbers, and all check account numbers work like this...along with money orders, and serial numbers, etc. So essentially, with some simple modular arithmetic, I can determine a valid credit card number or a valid bank account number. I even tried this out at work, seeing why an item wouldn't scan in correctly, when I noticed that it did not fit the standards seen in UPC. It was a fake barcode created by a customer in hopes of getting a $60 slab of meat for $10. I brought this attention to my manager but he didn't know what the hell I was talking about...but eh. Too bad I had to give the customer the slab of meat for $10.

Now everytime I scan an item, I think "MODULAR ARITHMETIC!" It's amazing that just over 100 years ago, no one thought number theory would have any useful applications...now I can't imagine life without it. Maybe I'm just a geek and all, but hot diggity, math just rocks.

So yeah, I don't know if people care to discuss this or not...but what the hell.

Yeah, it's pretty close.

NERD.

Someone who was good at math wouldn't say that...

I'm too busy rocking out and being awesome for that jive. :goomba:

Using math I have already calculated the exact day you will realize those things are unfulfilling and shallow.

Math is the closest thing to murder, IMO!!! Has anyone here ever done/taken ADDITIONAL MATHEMATICS as a subject?!? It's HORROR! DEATH! MURDER! PAIN! TORTURE!

Formulas, formulae, theories and theorem. :( But I guess that yeah, maths can be pretty interesting after you've stopped studying it. :)

If math is the language of God then consider me the devil's handmaiden.

Math is a tool used by man to understand the world around him. If we were not around, the universe still would be around, although in theory, in a completely different way because of the whole "if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it" concept of reality.

i failed a-levels maths...what does that make me?

eh... math is not the language.. but the pixels that we see the world through. its our only explanation for why things happen...
its all mad made.. kinda like god eh?

watch the film 'Pi'. thats to do with maths and God. you'd probably like it. :p

maths...god....my maths teacher.....satan.......
aha! god=maths my math teacher cant teach therfore mrs dyers=satan
god>satan
therfore my teacher should be fired!
i am good at maths i supose

Mathematics is the purest science.

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Originally Posted by ShlupQuack

If math is the language of God then consider me the devil's handmaiden.

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Math is NOT my thing.

I am an atheist, and therefore don't believe in math.

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Originally Posted by Czech. Republic

I am an atheist, and therefore don't believe in math.

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:bow: I shall follow your teachings.

i know how to how to check if a credit card/bank card is valid, simple really.

One major problem with your claim is; is..............if math is constantly updated and theories are theorized are you saying that before math existed the earth was in a state of idiocy because mathematics didnt exist? do you need math to start a fire or make clothing. im guessing you would say yes, but: whatever happened to logic. are you saying logic as it being a process is mathematics?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...minusminus.jpg

I took the SAT and was sure God had blessed me because my "experimental section" was a math section. I was happy.

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Mathematics is the purest science.

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technically, you're worng. math is not a science but a magnificent tool for science. my calculus professor once explained it but i forgot. ha, he calls math the queen of science. anyway, math is great. just remember that it took a physicist to invent calculus *cough* newton *cough*.

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Originally Posted by Yamaneko

Math is a tool used by man to understand the world around him. If we were not around, the universe still would be around, although in theory, in a completely different way because of the whole "if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it" concept of reality.

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Simple as. Just like we only see things as certain colours because of the ways our eyes operate, etc.
I think the concept of numbers definitely holds an importance in the modern world that can't be comprehended by many, but, great as it is, it's still merely a human creation at the end of the day.

After getting first place at the regional geometry test today, I'm inclined to agree that math is cool.

(but speaking of which, someone want to tell me how to solve this? it was one of the tiebreaker questions which were like about ten times harder than all the rest of the questions.
http://www.snowy-day.net/stuff/math.png
"a circular table is pushed into a corner in a restuarant. Point P is 8 inches from one wall, and 9 inches from the other. Find the radius of the table to the nearest inch"
)

Maths is the coolest subject ever :D

I just learned about Taylor polynomials on Friday, and I'm still in awe of them. Since the feeling of being in awe is pretty heavenly, I have to say I agree with you.

math owns. i miss math team.

Math sucks. I miss math team, too, though ^^

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Originally Posted by alice

eh... math is not the language..

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Math is a language. Haven't you ever seen the movie Contact? In my opinion, math is one of the only universal languages (unless you count music, but what may be music to us is torture to someone else). You go to another country (or another planet even) and you can't speak to the people, you can barely make yourself understood, but most people understand that one finger plus one fingers is two fingers. And i've heard of autistic children communicating with each other through the usage of numbers or prime numbers. Sounds like a language to me.

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Originally Posted by Angra Mainyu

if math is constantly updated and theories are theorized are you saying that before math existed the earth was in a state of idiocy because mathematics didnt exist? do you need math to start a fire or make clothing. im guessing you would say yes, but: whatever happened to logic. are you saying logic as it being a process is mathematics?

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What you are talking about isn't logic so much as basic instinct. Without mathematics, man is a simple being. Economics, chemistry, biology, etc is nothing without mathematics. So yes, before math 'existed' the earth was in a state of idiocy. Just because you can make fire or clothing doesn't mean that you are not an idiot.

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Originally Posted by radyk05

just remember that it took a physicist to invent calculus *cough* newton *cough*.

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Haven't you ever taken Calculus II? Calculus IS physics.

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Originally Posted by Chemical

1 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 8 - 13 - 21 - 34 - 55 - 89

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Ah, the Fibonacci sequence. That was what I was expecting to see in this thread. If you want to talk about mathematics explaining God or nature then you look to them. I could go on and on about that sequence, but i'll leave that to another day.

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Originally Posted by Halan

Math is a language. Haven't you ever seen the movie Contact? In my opinion, math is one of the only universal languages (unless you count music, but what may be music to us is torture to someone else).

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Music is very much based on math, which is a good explanation as to why it is so universal. But it is true. Math and music are one of the few constants that exist through out our global community. Representational signs also are pretty frequent, but much less dependable.

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Ah, the Fibonacci sequence. That was what I was expecting to see in this thread. If you want to talk about mathematics explaining God or nature then you look to them. I could go on and on about that sequence, but i'll leave that to another day.

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Indeed.

Mozart (tieing back into music being universal) utilized the Fibonacci series in his sonatas. Which exact ones, I am unsure of.

Artists (Rennaisance mostly) also utilized the Fibonacci series in their paintings to create more realistic images. They called it the Golden Sect. It used the Fibonacci series to explain the relation between anatomical parts.

The Fibonacci Series and Golden sect are considered godly for this reason. They are re-occuring patterns that occur in our seemingly chaotic worl, nay, even universe.

From the relation between our forearms to our whole arm. From the relation between the architecture of classical Rennaisance Buildings and even more anicent b uildings. From the relation to how a flower blooms, to how the universe spirals... all of these relations coincide with the Fibonacci Series and Golden Sect.

Disney did a cool little cartoon featuring Donald Duck on the Fibonacci series/Golden sect. It was neat.

Mathematics is the quantification of logic and the basis for progress.





















Seriously, no one bothers reading a post that's actually backed up, so I figured I'd just rip out all the subtleties and nuances from my argument and just present a barebones statement you all can rip at. In fact, why are you even reading this part? Go get high and eat sour gummy worms or something.

as much as i don't like math, i'm going into video game designing, and i'll have to put op with it for the rest of my life. take it with a grain of salt (or in my case down the whole ****ing shaker) and do what needs to be done to do what you want to do.

Proofs make me want to be a heathen. What, prove that some act of God exists? No, thanks, I'll dance around this fire of burning math books instead.

Yeah, proofs are pretty bad, though necessary. I'd much rather use it.

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Originally Posted by Del Murder

Yeah, proofs are pretty bad, though necessary. I'd much rather use it.

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Proofs are really one of the most fundamental bases of math. Without them, anyone can come up with anything and claim it's true through specific examples.

As for anyone who said a Physicist invented Calculus, that's a lie. Anyone who is a scientist of any kind is a mathematician first, and a scientist second. Newton didn't really invent calculus, but he did progress calculus more than anyone ever did in recorded history. The ancient Greeks already knew of infinity, by dividing a round segment of a circle into infinitely many pieces to calculate its area.

I'm glad this thread spawned off more responses that I had initially hoped. Hopefully anyone reading this thread will get an idea that math is the fundamental base for advancement in life.

Calculus was one of the few things that caused me to be truly miserable my senior year.

Math, what a detestable subject.

Math is interesting to think about, but hell for most to learn. Myself included.

Actually, the statement that man invented math is fundamentally flawed. We did NOT invent math, we DISCOVERED it. Then we named it and studied it and discovered more about it, that's all. The mathamatical constants are as fundamental to this universe as gravity and superconductive electromagnitism. We sure as hell didn't invent either of those. Same thing as genetic sequencing. We didn't invent DNA- all we did was give it a name and start poking at it. Wich we humans are good at. All we do is invent ways for us to quantify it.

I wouldn't doubt that the universe is one big math equation. I skipped school a long long time in my lifetime so i'm just starting back up again, but i aint dumb, just made bad descisions. I learned geomotry in less then a day. (Which by the way kicks ass.) so i figure algerbra can't be too far off..

But i prefer more "magick" then "psionics". IE: Candles, mantra, and emotional connections to harness the idea and philosophy behind God. Not that science and math couldn't conjure The Great Spirit as well, but you have to be that type of person..

EDIT: In my dream talking to God (or atleast some sort of diety.) i had not read hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy prior but now that i think about it the answer to everything COULD be 42..

To put it simply 2 is the universal rule.
So inevitably the rule is 4 right?
But for every universe and it's rule of 2 there has to be a backward.
So the answer is 42.

Math is the closest thing to god, and it's even closer to my D in Algebra :p

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Originally Posted by Lone Wolf Leonhart

Math is the closest thing to god, and it's even closer to my D in Algebra :p

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best post on page 2 of thread

Even if we take away the prospect of a diety...

Does nobody else find it completely amazing that in a world we would like to call chaotic and unpredictable... here it is staring us in the face, math.

One of the most organized and universal systems we can encounter?

Amid Chaos there is a Sense of Organization...

In a way, it's really almost beautiful.

math may be useful, and could have an answer for a lot of things, exept for a method to make me learn it...

My geometry teacher made us look up the number PHI (the "divine proportion) after he read The DaVinci Code. Its supposed to be the basis for physical proportions in life, like figuring out a person's arm length.

Confusing stuff...

Actually, those theories are interesting. As an artist, I'm very familiar with those concepts. Fingertip to fingertip, outstretched, is exactly the same length as the hight of the individual. And dozens of other little things. Our bodies follow certian proportions... and proportion is just math, nothing more or less than. So, even biology obeys math in the end.

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Originally Posted by K-chan

My geometry teacher made us look up the number PHI (the "divine proportion) after he read The DaVinci Code. Its supposed to be the basis for physical proportions in life, like figuring out a person's arm length.

Confusing stuff...

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This relates to the Golden Sect (see previous post on Page 1)

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Originally Posted by udsuna

Actually, those theories are interesting. As an artist, I'm very familiar with those concepts. Fingertip to fingertip, outstretched, is exactly the same length as the hight of the individual. And dozens of other little things. Our bodies follow certian proportions... and proportion is just math, nothing more or less than. So, even biology obeys math in the end.

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Ever wonder why some people are dispreportioned? Some people have legs shorter on one side, or some people seem completely dispreportioned... I think that the ideas of these relations is trying to premote the "Unniversal Man." Or the perfect specimen...

However, I think if you actually took measurements of all your friends and yourself you may find that the relation is not exact. Perhaps close... but probably differs from person to person.

Actually, assuming nothing is wrong with the "specimen"- most proportions are exact. My finger-to-finger span is 6'2", same as my heights. Held strait, and not curved along the face, a handspan is exactly the size of the face. Some things, such as legs proportionately compared to torso, vary from example to example. And, then there are certain hormone (especially growth hormones) that, if in the wrong quantity, alter the body shape.

I'd rather spend my time enjoying the world in the blink of existance's eye that I have than spend it trying to extract and analyse every little detail of it.

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Actually, those theories are interesting. As an artist, I'm very familiar with those concepts. Fingertip to fingertip, outstretched, is exactly the same length as the hight of the individual. And dozens of other little things. Our bodies follow certian proportions... and proportion is just math, nothing more or less than. So, even biology obeys math in the end.

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It does sound kinda neat when you put it that way. ^^

Udsuna

You have to remember, as human beings we are not perfect. There are very limited amount of people who live up to the expectations of being a perfect specimen.

Even though I find the idea of the PHI ratio to be interesting. It strikes me as being pretentious.

When photography first came out it was utilized to categorize criminals and mentally unstable people... and the features amoung these people were measured. Their head size, their facial features... This was just a way of premoting Eugenics. The Superiority of a race.

I find this specimen of the "perfect man" to be equal to these previous observations that were later realised to be flawed. People aren't the same and that doesn't make them flawed. It makes them human.

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Originally Posted by udsuna

Actually, those theories are interesting. As an artist, I'm very familiar with those concepts. Fingertip to fingertip, outstretched, is exactly the same length as the hight of the individual. And dozens of other little things. Our bodies follow certian proportions... and proportion is just math, nothing more or less than. So, even biology obeys math in the end.

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I don't think biology actually follows math in this case, if math you mean by exact. I'm 6' even, but my wingspan is 6'4". My brother is 6'3" yet his wingspan is around 6'1". I'm not sure if that has something to do with my nutrition or what not, but my fingers are just a tad longer than my brothers' also. I think as you get older, your bones begin to separate a little from their joints, giving you slightly longer fingers when you're older, I'm not sure if this is true in general, but you would have to consider age a factor too.

However, I know in botany, certain plants follow fibonacci numbers and such. And obviously, chemical reactions can be measured in a mathematical basis and be concluded to do exactly as that chemical reaction has done before just based on math data.