The Beauty Of Math

Here is a fantastic website sight called Dimensions that is beyond impressive when it comes to illustrating the beauty of Mathematics. Watching these videos is like listening to music. You don't have to entirely understand it all to appreciate it.

Next time your middle or high school student is questioning the value of spending another moment of his life devoted to his math homework - just let him watch some of these videos. Or - if you are homeschooling - this is "all you'll ever need" - at least in terms of inspiration - to teach math, math history or anything else to do with math.

Math ultimately is a search for truth and understanding , rather than a form of calculation and measurement. It is the koans in math that really make it interesting. Nothing like math to take us to the limits of logic and therefore beyond the mind itself - much like beauty.

I can even imagine toddlers being fascinated by these videos - like listening to Mozart. One does not need to be able to compose such music in order to enjoy it.

http://www.dimensions-math.org/Dim_regarder_E_E.htm

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole!

I am not up to date on the music scene at all, so this is an old version of an even older song - but this singer was new to me that day. Since I now have a nine-year-old who finally weighs enough to ride in the front seat - he is in charge of what we listen to on the radio when we drive to school. KFOG is his favorite station.

What catches my interest in music is when it communicates humility, gratitude, especially gratitude born of suffering, deep spiritual insight, silence and peace, or any other form of love that lives at a higher level than romance or heartbreak.

Thanks to the digital age the name of a singer and song title appears on the radio display in my car and I can search for the song when I get home. This is what happened with this Hawaiian giant, singing Over The Rainbow and What A Wonderful World. It sounded so genuine and sweet I had to look it up. To sound true, old cliche songs like these have to be sung by very special people. Thank You, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole!

Here it is - with the lyrics below if you want to sing along

Ooh...ooh..ooohh...
Ooooh...oohhh

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
And the dreams that you dreamed of
Once in lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow
Blue birds fly
And the dreams that you dream of
Dreams really do come true

Some day I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind
Me-ee--eee
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top that's where
You'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Blue birds fly
And the dreams that you dare to, oh why,
Oh why can't I?

Well, I see trees of green and red roses, too
I watch them bloom
For me and you,
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world.

Well, I see skies of blue
And I see clouds of white,
And the brightness of day
I like the dark and I think to myself
What a wonderful world

The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
are also on the faces
Of people passing by

I see friends shaking hands, singing,
"How do you do?"
They're really saying: "I...I love you."

I hear babies cry and I watch them grow
They'll learn much more
Than we'll know and I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Some day I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind
me-ee--eee
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top
that's where you'll find me

Somewhere, over the rainbow way up high
and the dream that you dare to why, oh why can't I?

Thank You, Jim

My favorite veteran is Jim. Jim carries a little card in his pocket to remember all of our names at the local diner where we often run into each other for our morning coffee. He must be in his late seventies or early eighties. He arrives on his tricycle his wife makes him ride. He is handsome - with a knowing twinkle in his eyes - and you just know he was dashingly good looking in his younger years because he still has that special something about him.

His son made a video about him and his service in the Pacific during WW II. I am very fond of US veterans of WW II. Thanks to them and their friends who perished, Germany was freed from an insane dictator who the German people somehow could not dispose of themselves, even though they heroically tried several times. As a result I grew up in a wonderful country and was free to marry an American and move to the country of my dreams later in life.

So - on this Veteran's Day - Thank You, Jim, and all of your friends. When I find the little card you gave me with your website I will add it to this post.