SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

I really enjoyed this reading. It's impressive how much we depend in mathematics, how much we have since very ancient times. Pythagoras was a truly brilliant man and I admire all of his work.

"Pythagoras was perhaps the first professional..but he wasn't very good at fractions." It's kind of amusing that brilliant as he was, Pythagoras wasn't very good in one concept of mathematics. I can relate to him, in the sense that I am pretty good at some concepts of mathematics, but on the other hand, am terrible at others. Before this chapter, I had only read about men that were geniuses at mathematics, born with some supernatural might that enabled them to work through any unimaginable mathematic problem. Though Pythagoras still was as great as could be, it kind of makes me feel better that he wasn't as excellent in one little petty problem that did not hold him back from achieving so much. It might be foolish. It makes me feel good that I might still be good and succeed in math class despite not being as good in some of its concepts. I don't mean that because I'm not a genius like these men and because Pythagoras wasn't good at one thing I'm not going to try hard myself. It makes no sense, right? So why even have this mindset in the first place? I'll try hard to get better at things I don't understand, catch up with what I need to catch up on.

I like how important little numbers like...0.000000000000000.....1 are. I mean, people wouldn't usually imagine what an important role they play in our lives. But, this reading shows that it's one of the fundamental things in not just in math, but physics, science, you name it. As I read more and more of these chapters, I understand better how math is incorporated to the real world, what place it takes, which is pretty much everywhere. Not that I don't know what math is used for, mind you. The things I read in these chapters only surprise me because they further explain the way mathematics is employed, and yes, does enlighten me with new mathematic information.