Mathematics

Imagine taking a class in integral calculus, frustrated and puzzled. A long exhale. "What the heck is the point of studying mathematics?"

That's what Jordan Ellenberg is showing in his book How Not to Be Wrong.

Right now, I'm learning from this professor of mathematics why mathematics is the extension of common sense by other means. Soon after borrowing his book from the public library, I found mathematics everywhere.

It happened to be the numeracy week in my daughter's school; there were number games here and there.

And then our family had a weekend holiday at the Discovery Bay. My daughter pointed to the seashell spirals on the hotel elevator door, and said something I haven't heard before. A foreign and recondite name, somewhat resembling Leonardo da Vinci. A big word that left me in a quandary: Did she refer to the name of the nautilus? But is it?

Ah I think hard, trying to google a word or two, here and there, and soon the word "Fibonacci" pops up. That's what my daughter was talking about. Fibonacci Sequence, as what her teacher taught her.

Another mathematics stuff, again. Everywhere.