Wednesday, August 31, 2011

My So-Called Numeric Life

Decades ago I set a goal for myself which was to probe as far into the mystery of the qualitative aspects of numbers as I possibly could. At the time I made that pledge I was a successful mathematical professor of mathematics and so naturally working hand-in-glove with their quantitative side. Yet, I intuitively knew there was much more to numbers than I was seeing through my quantitative lens, and so I began to employ a qualitative lens as well.

As the years progressed one could say I began to lead a “double life,” dwelling simultaneously in those two number worlds. Both lives were exciting and rewarding, but after my retirement from teaching my interest became unexpectedly singular. I completely abandoned numbers in the way I had worked with them in my profession for 36 years, except of course for those times when mundane duties such as preparing taxes called me, or when a youngster asked for my help with their mathematics homework.

This blog will share little in common with blogs and webpages that either focus on numerology as the term is commonly used, or with those sites that simply catalog everything that one can say about a particular number. Wikipedia and other sites can offer that. My blog will instead be an attempt to share with you how numbers intimately weave into the fabric of daily life. My hope is that by following this blog you will begin to see the footprint of number all around you in ways you never imagined possible before. I believe you will come to realize that number magic is constantly offering us clues to life’s mysteries, mysteries that are unfolding in our personal lives, our immediate environment, and within ever widening environments from the social to the national to the global to the celestial.

It will not only be restricted to number, but everything that will appear within it will in some way have number as the foundation. .