"I had a tumultuous relationship ... with a girl in college and I couldn't understand what she was doing to me. Whenever I seemed to get closer to her and try to show her how much I loved her, she would back away. And then when I realized that I better give up,= this isn't going anywhere, she was st rangely attracted to me. This push and pull felt to me, and this is why I probably had so much trouble with her, it felt to me like a mathematical equation."
- Dr. Steve Strogatz, Cornell University
Though I've never thought love could be described by math, Steve is hardly alone in thinking that everyday, natural phenomenon often begins to resemble discrete (though often complex) math. It's the backbone of Mario Livio's book on the number phi. This particular quote is related to the small world theory (better know as six degrees of separation - who knew Kevin Bacon would ever contribute something meaningful to science?), but I found it amusing in a way much closer to home. Although I was never a strong math student in college, I used to spend a lot of time, especially on sleepless nights, playing math games in my head or on scrap piece of paper, always wondering if some random set of numbers or equations would turn into an interesting pattern.
