Maths - Is it Art ? Or is it Science ? Or is it the Art without which there would be no Science ?

Or is it just the evernagging pain in the neck.

I know I have touched the sore spot of many including my own.

When I was a kid, my father always used to overemphasize the importance of studying mathematics (logic included) more than anything else. But headstrong lad that I was, I made it a point to shirk Maths even when I had the bent to take it up. I sailed through my formal education always rueing - Ufff, yeh mathematics kab mujhe chhodega??

And so it was that come post-grads, I finally left Maths for good. At least thought that I had. But Maths never left me. Like a long lost friend it kept peeking out of oblivion, teasing me, tantalising me and beckoning me to discover the Wonderland I had always wanted to.

My mind would be hostile to any mention of Maths. I would hate Engineers just because their ilk forced us to study Maths for a career. But sometimes when me mind would be less hostile and more approachable, I would allow Maths to rear its unputdownable head and grudgingly concede its utility. Tentatively I would take up the forsaken tool in my hands and start chipping at me problems. Very slowly at first. Almost as if a small error would bring the house down.

I have been taught to confine myself to three dimensions. So all matter to me is limited to its length, breadth and height. Thats what me eyes tell me. But surely all matter has weight too. I can hold a pebble in me hands to experience the dimension of weight but I cant hold Life in me hands. Worse still, how do I put it on the Graph ? How do I draw a fourth dimension ? And surely there would be other dimensions as well, temperature for instance or Time, the most important of them all. How do I plot "Life" on a graph in all its 6-7 dimensions (maybe more ?) and try to study its evolution/progress through Time. I cant. The ordinary mind can only espy such a thing by replacing height with time (still keeping to 3 dimensions) but it cant detail it in its entirety.

But then Germans arent an ordinary race. They have a mind of their own. I daresay the biggest marvel of engineering is not the German Automobile, its the German mind !! And all that it produces ! Maybe its the ageold paradigm - Only a good tool can produce good replicas. I need a tool to help me in the study of change. Change in Life !! And that brings us to a Mathematician. A chap known to the world as Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibnitz. But whats he got to do with it ?. Well put it simply, he invented the tool. Yes the tool that can help me in my study of change. Change in life !!

Calculus !! The greatest invention of mankind ? Well I wouldnt say no.

I just try making a simplistic model with the dimension of Time included and lo and behold, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I start getting more ambitious. dy/dx !! Lets try measuring change on each of these dimensions with respect to the others. That might help explain Life. And Death too.... Afterall, there's no change Calculus cant measure. But alas, just dy/dx wont do. With Life being a function of so many dimensions, we might need a dz, dm, dn, etc too.

Par kya karun itna Maths to maine kabhi padha hi nahin.

Now I know why Maths is the most important subject in the world !! If only I had listened to Dad....