Kitty Liu

May 16, 2005

I like math because of its spirit of accuracy. Unlike physics where people assume some of the important factors, math will never surrender to “assumption”. Unlike biology where people study its “unpredictable”, math is always predictable with patterns and theorems. Unlike statistics where people estimate and round up every concept, math looks for the beauty of accuracy. Math, within all the subjects that human being is studying, is the most accurate, objective, and persuasive subject.

Math is everywhere in everyday life. When you wake up in the morning, your alarm clock shows the time that you are supposed to wake up. How do you determine when should you get up? You subtract the time you need for showering, changing, and packing from your first class’s meeting time. Even though it’s simple and trivial, it does involve math calculations. (For me, I have more advanced calculations in terms of setting alarm clock: I get up at 8:30 for MWF but 9:30 for TTh. Each Tuesday and Thursday night, I am too lazy to press the button 23 times to make it go back from 9:30 to 8:30, so instead of doing that, I forward my “clock time” 1 hour. The consequence of doing so is that after a week, my alarm clock shows 3:40 pm while it’s supposed to be 8:40 am. And I am used to wake up with seeing my clock shows “11:30” while it is really 8:30 am.) Without math, our life wouldn’t be so organized and clear. In fact, math does make our life easier. Assume that we don’t have time system—we probably have to measure the sun to tell when we should get up. But what if it’s a rainy day? Math will save you.

Math is the most persuasive subject because it speaks objective truth. Every line written in a math book can be proved by rigorous theorems. It’s like a judge, who decides everything based on law, math demonstrates the world and universe by its undefeatable truth.

Math is also the building block for every subject. It stands behind economist’s market theory and demand function, supporting them by giving mathematical insight. It is the backbone of statistics by providing numerical evidence. It is power of physics by rigorous deduction of formulas. It is even in archeology by giving concrete date calculation. Without math, none of the fundamental subjects would be able to stand on their own. Math makes everyone’s world possible.

I believe that as I am more exposed to mathematic world, I will realize more of the beauty of math. I am always uncertain about whether or not have I met the “real math”, but I think I am on the right track.