The Relationship Of Mathemathics And Beauty

There are many ways to measure beauty which depends on our various standards, personal beliefs and perspectives but none of these can really explain what makes something appear beautifully to everyone in a manner of similarities. According to an English dictionary, Merriam-Webster (2018) - Beauty is the capacity of a specific thing or being which is good and attractive to watch, it could also be something that gives human pleasure and feeling of delight over a thing or being. For me, there are categories needed to be pass to consider things - beautiful. Some of these are having the quality of being extraordinary, having the value of attached sentimentality, the deep emotions it possesses and could be the perfection it holds. However these categories are of no equal when comes to mathematics. All we can see are numbers, formula, equations, figures and never ending methodology of solution. Although if check into its deepest parts, you can see more than just the literal numbers. In which the discovery of something interesting and beautiful is yet to be found. Yes, mathematics creates beauty that I could never find something amazing to compare with. Mathematics can be found everywhere in the universe; in nature most probably is one of my favorite. The simple figures found in nature can all be explained by science but the funny thing is, these are all images which exactly recognize and represents through the use of mathematical figures. For example, the milky-way, the universe, the stars and even the snow fractals when winter season comes- those are geometric shapes. Also the spherical, cylindrical and spiral figures that can be seen in nature. These never ending patterns gives us the impression of beauty beyond compare, a breath taking view, an eye catcher, and a hooker. So, I bet you’re curious and eager to know the reason behind why mathematics creates beauty maybe I can help you with that.

According to a video clip I watched, these weird pretty figures is a representation of mathematics known as a product of Fibonacci sequence. The man who discovered this brilliant idea is Leonardo Bonacci back on 1202. The sequence is simple, the constant number is one then repeat that number and the sum of that two is the third number. (One, One, Two, Three, Five, Eight) whereas one plus one is equal to two; one plus two is equal to three and so on. Late mathematician Mr. Bonacci had given various of examples for his Fibonacci sequence formula but the idea of using nature as its representation is a contribution worth giving a two thumbs up. His contribution to the field of mathematics brings out a lot of facts and mind blowing ideas. Speaking of which, Fibonacci sequence is also portrayed using the prediction of a living organism’s offspring in his illustration by using a rabbit which leads him to a great deal of success. There is no such exact definition of why anything related to Fibonacci is weird yet perfectly beautiful until the discovery of the “Golden Ratio”, or the building block of all the factor of elements that possesses unmitigated perfection. However, the beauty of mathematics doesn’t end with the geometric shapes and Fibonacci sequence it also has to do with the proportion, size, length or what usually known as the measurement of things. I’m not saying that everything should be perfectly measured in order for it to appear beautiful because even abstract designs can also be considered beautiful in a different way and level of quality. Beautiful things in the world are not all created by our God Almighty but also products of humans’ diligence and perseverance into creating something new and extraordinary.

The greatest examples I can cite is the structure of the Eiffel Tower in Paris which is made entirely of Iron, According to Nick Shelton on Prezi (2013) this infrastructure are closely related to mathematics which indicates that if you conduct an examination you can overview the geometrical four side pyramid shape, also the tower’s railing have hundreds of parallelogram, triangle and rectangle patterns that represents mathematics throughout the entire structure.

Other example I can cite is the Australian Sydney Opera House constructed years ago by a Danish architect named Jorn Utzon, according to Debbie Mickle (2012) in his article entitled the “Sydney Opera House: It’s all about math” Mickle states that the architects and engineers were doubtful of what planning design was best to apply, then in one of their meeting sessions a very simple geometric shape in a segment of an orange was agreed upon approval of all the engineers and architects which results to an unusual other representation of mathematics.

The last example of man-made infrastructure that proved mathematics really creates beauty is the Pyramids of Egypt built by our Egyptian brothers and sisters, this was considered as one of the ancient people gifts to us but on the reason how it was possibly created is an on-going debate up until now. According to Stephanie Pappas (2015) in her article entitled “Why the pyramids spawn so many wacky theories” Pappas stated that some scientists say it is really not possible to build a pyramid of perfection considering the manner of living in that particular period of time is not highly equipped and the means of technology is very low perhaps none at all. They also presumed that maybe a power, a magic or a great divinity had contributed for the success of its construction. Some scholars also say that maybe aliens helped and interacts to people decades ago. Meanwhile in referring to mathematics no matter what or who built the Pyramids of Egypt, it is very beautiful because the concept of mathematics was applied into it. The Pyramid is a representation of perfection or the golden ratio. According to Gary Meisner (2012) in his article, “The great pyramid of Egypt closely embodies Golden Ratio proportions”. Meisner stated that “Phi” or the golden number is present in the great pyramid found in Giza, Egypt that’s why people find it perfect beyond compare.

In conclusion mathematics is one of the basic standards why something is considered beautiful. No matter it is natural or man-made all things in the world have corresponding mathematical representation like geometrical figures that creates rare and unusual beauty, a beauty unworthy of comparison.