Wellness

MATH = BEAUTY FOR BEAUTIFUL MINDS NOW

Today, we are excited to present new ideas about the beauty of math and research that shows how our brains and consciousness equate the two.

THE NEUROSCIENCE OF MATHEMATICAL BEAUTY

A recent study shows a link between mathematical beauty and the mind.

Neuroesthetics, the scientific study of beauty and the brain, can now offer an explanation. Studies suggest that the experience of visual, musical, and moral beauty access the “emotional brain,” found in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC).

Researchers studied one group of postgraduate mathematicians and a separate group of other postgraduates. As the subjects were shown a variety of mathematical formulae, researchers examined their brain activity with the aid of an fMRI scanner.

This equation was most consistently rated as beautiful (Leonhard Euler’s identity):

The scans were repeated while the subjects were were presented with examples of classical art and music.

Certain formulae, including Euler’s formula and the Pythagorean Theorem, evoked similar responses to those triggered by exposure to beautiful art and music. It’s exciting to consider how this phenomenon might help us to understand and improve our lives and our world with the beauty of math.

UNIVERSE IS MADE OF BEAUTIFUL MATH

Stepping beyond the mental beauties of math, one scientist is suggesting that all of the beauties of the world including our entire existence are made of math.

Cosmologist Max Tegmark recently proposed a theory that mathematics does not simply describe the universe, but that the entire universe is built on a complex mathematical structure.

In this theory, Tegmark claims that “both space itself, and all the stuff in space, have no properties at all except mathematical properties.” This theory is based off of the idea that all things, living and non-living can be described in a mathematical way.

From the Fibonacci sequence, observed in Romanesco cauliflower to the parabolic trajectory of a baseball or an extreme sports jump, to the astronomical orbits, we can see the beauty of math everywhere if we open our minds to it.

Tegmark points out that mathematics predicted the existence of the planet Neptune, radio waves and the Higgs Boson particle. He proposes that math is not just a concept, but a reality.

Expanding even further, Tegmark believe that human consciousness is a function of mathematics.

"Consciousness is probably the way information feels when it's being processed in certain, very complicated ways," he explains. He references examples of great breakthroughs in physics which came via the combination of separate constructs, such as energy and matter, space and time, electricity and magnetism.

Tegmark claims that we ultimately have the power to understand and improve our beautiful world. The theory is outlined in Tegmark’s new book, “Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality” (Knopf 2014). And see more new books about the beauty of math here.

VISUALIZING THE BEAUTY OF MATHEMATICS

Perhaps the key to understanding the beauty behind mathematics lies not in numbers themselves, but on how we relate mathematics to the world around us.

Directors Yann Pineill & Nicolas Lefaucheux aim to alter these mental perceptions with their short video “Beauty of Mathematics”.

The video, released last fall, takes you on a journey through everyday activities, comparing the simple beauty of snowflakes and pumping gas to the mathematical intricacies and wonders behind the activities.

BEAUTY OF MATHEMATICS from PARACHUTES on Vimeo.

The mathematics behind these activities and seen in the video provide an entirely new layer of magnificence to everything around us.

The video visualizes equations in motion as well as the tangible object it represents. It shows how we can define our world largely with numbers, symbols and mathematical concepts.

“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty — a beauty cold and austere, without the gorgeous trappings of painting or music.” - Bertrand Russell

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Math in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 09.21.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

Photo: by Kai Schreiber. “Signaling.”
Gif: by Kai Schreiber. “Signaling.”
Photo: by A Health Blog. Exercise Plays Vital Role Maintaining Brain Health.
Photo: by Simona. Math Matters.
Photo: by JeffGamble. Buttonbush Flower @ Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.
Photo: by nutmeg66. Beetle Symmetry.
Photo: by Ron Adams. Bang in the Middle.
Photo: Courtesy of Red Bull. Robbie Maddison Jumps Corinth Canal in Greece.
Image: Courtesy of Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS). Large Hadron Collider Simulated Data.
Image: Courtesy of Nature Photonics. Visualization of Gravity’s Effect on Space-Time.
Image: Courtesy of Knopf Publishing. Max Tegmark: “Our Mathematical Universe.”
Photo: Courtesy of Parachutes. “Visualizing the Beauty of Mathematics.”
Photo: Courtesy of Parachutes. “Visualizing the Beauty of Mathematics.”
Photo: Courtesy of Parachutes. “Visualizing the Beauty of Mathematics.”
Video: Courtesy of Parachutes. “Visualizing the Beauty of Mathematics.”
Photo: Courtesy of Parachutes. “Visualizing the Beauty of Mathematics.”
Photo: Courtesy of Parachutes. “Visualizing the Beauty of Mathematics.”
Photo: Courtesy of Parachutes. “Visualizing the Beauty of Mathematics.”