The Equation Called Life

Mathematics is one of the purest interpretations of human intelligence. And human intelligence is an inseparably integral facet of human existence. Hence mathematics, even in its most basic metaphysical form, abstracts the foundations of human existence.

I remember being introduced to the beautiful world of calculus at age of 15. It was suddenly bewildering to shatter the discrete bounds of known mathematical logic, and form a ‘naturally intuitive’ way of appreciating the larger picture. This was a realization of negative infinity on one side, and positive infinity on the other. A few days back, as I was walking bare-footed on wet morning grass in a garden alongside my home, this innocent appreciation unexpectedly exploded into a moment of an almost-enlightenment.

I saw life in Math and Math in life - Isn’t life but a Mathematical problem? It starts in childhood - with understanding various symbols associated with the problem. Identifying and isolating the constants and variables; appreciating the power that operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division possess; their impact to the foundations of the equation. We appreciate the constancy of action-reaction – that if you add ‘x’, an equal amount gets subtracted as well, and the equation never changes.

We grow up, and as teenagers we stop just-looking at the equation, but begin our journey to find answers – the Solution of the mathematical problem cast in an equation. We learn strategies, apply them, win or fail to simplify the equation, and evolve gradually. There are times when an approach strikes the bull’s eye, and you’re filled with jubilation – the equation suddenly feels much straightened out than before. And then there are moments when you’ve complicated it so much, you’re almost on the verge of giving up. It might have been because of a bad strategy, a wrong move, or focusing on the insignificant variables ignoring the primary weighty ones. Regardless, the process is dynamic, and so life keeps moving ahead.

And then comes that revelation – your equation doesn’t exist in isolation. You connect with people whose problem looks similar to yours, with similar solutions, or similar approaches towards the solution. Maybe you even end up with someone whose equation has the same ‘roots’. With these people, like magic you see both equations unwinding and simplifying with mysterious spontaneity. Life would suddenly appear much simpler and happy, with the best part that you didn’t need any forced effort for it. On the other hand, with few others your effort for a common solution seems to go round and round till you reach a point where there is no solution. You explicitly cast common variables to – Not Defined, and though at later stages this step might probably simplify your problem, there is equal probability of it making the path terribly complicated. In any case, throughout this journey you keep learning what to do and what not to do. This makes you short-circuit strategies in your mind, which is good and bad at the same time. You apply learning, but restrict creativity and appreciation of newness. It isn’t strange then to digest the fact that a lot of elderly gentlemen always go ‘Ek tha humaara samay jab <Include random-most comparisons here>’.

With advancing steps towards simplification, you come across moments when you have to consider certain Assumptions in order to simplify the equation more. These assumptions, at times, work out perfectly. But if proved false later on, they have the capacity to screw up your whole strategy. Additionally, in an urge to reach the conclusion faster, we short-circuit assumption phases with overwhelming spontaneity. Hence, we form presumptions about people, places, situation, time, etc. This does not need too much of mental capacity, as we become champions of prejudice, that is most clearly missing in children. But even the 6^th grader knows Math is not supposed to be done that way.

So what do we have to learn from Math that can make our lives simpler and happier? First, it’s okay to fail today, but incessant continuity is the key which defines whether you ‘slowly and steadily’ reach the solution or perish trying to. Unsolved problems are ugly. So does become the lives of those who just give up.  Second, a lot of times the perfect way-to-things strikes you purely by chance. Imagine the probability of the person who invented the concept of probability actually finding it probable to invent probability. I bet all innovations are children of this mystic Aah-moment, and so it’s okay to keep walking on, knowing with positive gut that one day soon your ‘Aah’ will hit you and transform your life – another step towards the solution. Third, unless your assumption is calculated, you are destined to be deadlocked and get back to amend your assumption. So being open to creatively, to newness of life, to everything that exists ready to be absorbed, is a way to walk the journey with a smile, and a hope that one day when you put down your pen, it is not to follow the easy path and give up, but to end your bare-footed walk on the rocky bed of thorns and bushes; to place below the equation a golden mark that’ll sparkle as a ‘Q.E.D.’

*Q.E.D. Quod erat demonstrandum – which had to be demonstrated