* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Mathematics

Blobrana · L

If we ever establish contact with intelligent aliens living on a planet around a distant star, we would expect some problems communicating with them. As we are many light years away, our signals would take many years to reach them, so there would be no scope for snappy repartee. There could be an IQ gap and the aliens might be built from quite different chemistry.
Yet there would be much common ground too. They would be made of similar atoms to us. They could trace their origins back to the big bang 13.7 billion years ago, and they would share with us the universe's future. However, the surest common culture would be mathematics.

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Blobrana · L

Why do astronomers need math? No one could be a professional astronomer today without first mastering the ideas of advanced mathematics.
The truth is that mathematics is woven into all of the modern sciences, astronomy, physics, chemistry; even biology is becoming increasingly mathematical. Without math, we could not do most modern science. Why? What makes math so necessary? What makes math so powerful?

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Blobrana · L

The Dawn of Math
For ancient civilizations, knowing math was a matter of life and death. To build city walls that could repel raiding tribes required geometry. To build irrigation ditches or develop a calendar that would tell when to plant crops required complex calculations.
Some ancients went for extra credit: The Chinese developed an advanced astronomical system; the Egyptians showed off their geometry with the pyramids; the Babylonians cultivated the dry lands of Mesopotamia; the Greeks and Romans built remarkable amphitheaters, aqueducts, arenas and arches. It all took math.

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