The Einstein black hole equation got me thinking. In a universe where so many things seem random, unexplained, and misunderstood, how can numbers on a paper explain and predict how the universe works?
It blows my mind that this concept (math) is so young relative to the universe and can be used to explain how and why things happen. Where’s the connection?
In: Mathematics
Our concepts, or our understanding of math is relatively young. But the actual theorems of math are eternal. 2 + 2 = 4 is a truth of the natural numbers that has always been true. The Pythagorean theorem is a true consequence of the axioms of Euclidean geometry, but we’re able to understand non-Euclidean geometries as well.
The universe, or at least many aspects of the universe, behave in consistent ways, making them amenable to mathematical modeling. If the speed or acceleration at which a given rock falls from a given height were to change every time we tried dropping the rock from the same height, our model of gravity would be wrong (and basketball and diving would be different, if we could even have such sports under such conditions).
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