My Inner Geek

Those who know me know I’m addicted to matters scientific. Always was.
I’m particularly fascinated by quantum physics. No doubt, my fascination is fueled by the fact that “I don’t get it”. Quantum physics is the realm of higher mathematics. Now (pardon my hubris), I did well in math...simple math: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Fractions, too. I excelled in algebra, plane and solid geometry. I faltered a bit in trigonometry, but then met my match in advanced calculus.
My sojourns into the world of higher mathematics revealed it was a language all its own, a language incomprehensible to visual, tactile, aural types such as I. I find myself frustrated whenever I watch any program that tries to explain the mysteries of either the atom or the cosmos. I’d be following along all happy and awestruck until that inevitable moment when I realize I got lost somewhere along the way.
Quantum physicists communicate via equations and algorithms. They viscerally understand cosmic phenomena via numbers and symbols on a whiteboard. I can’t do that. I’m too awed by all that I observe. My awe does not equate to numbers. But there are Nobel Prize winners who aver: “My equation understands far more than I”.
Mathematicians and Physicists...gotta love ‘em. They’re a special breed.

It is the Mandelbulb that illustrates my dilemma. It is a physically rendered expression of a relatively simple fractal algorithm. I’ll never understand the mathematics, but the end result truly delights this mathematically-challenged soul.




