In admiration of Charles Eppes

We are Newtonian creatures, blessed (or cursed) to live in this 3-dimensional world of ours, thus physics comes intuitively, because it is the rationalisation of the natural world. It is simpler, because the 3 spatial coordinates can be visualised. That is why Einsteinian physics is mind-boggling, as the fourth coordinate is not as obvious and tangible as the rest. But mathematics comes in many, many more dimensions, as many as we can imagine; it is the rationalisation of our mind, it is putting on paper something indescribable and limitless. As a result. mathematics, the Queen of Sciences, is often seen as abstract and complicated. Mathematicians, on the other hand, don’t have to be so.

Sometimes I envision mathematicians to be like Charles Eppes, the mathematician from Numb3rs: nerdy, geeky, talented a bit disconnected with the real things in life (such as getting a girlfriend), bursting into exuberant jargon, getting Eureka moments, ferociously – even obsessively – curious. The staccato clacking of the chalkboard is the soundtrack of his life, the simple “Q.e.D” its last crescendo. He is, in my way, cool. He is problem-solving personified, using those cheeky analogies to metaphorically represent real-world events and factors.

I have never been attracted to ivory towers, because I believe the great men and women of science must devote themselves into solving practical problems in life, and not be too concerned with abstractions. (Although I concede that things like Supersymmetry do spice up the otherwise rather boring scientific newsreel) Mathematicians, who wield the tools which empower the scientific pursuit, should be even more so. They simply the sophisticated, enumerate the innumerable, rationalise intuition. They have the talent and the power to condense the world onto a chalkboard, and write the equation for a better future.