What is mathematics?
Review of The Mathematical Experience, by Philip J. Davis & Reuben Hersh (1981)

By Tony LongShanks LeTigre

Several years ago, during a period when my life had taken a strange turn & I began delving into physics books as an inquiry into the deepest ontological & philosophical questions, the question above began to interest me. One book I read was Murray Gell-Mann’s The Quark & the Jaguar, in the course of which he posed the question of whether mathematics was or was not a science in itself; if so, he states, it is “more fundamental than any other.” Gell-Mann deserves some credit for being open-minded enough to even pose the question, for some physicists—as well as logicians, & computer scientists, & engineers, & various others—hold a reductive or belittling view of math as merely a tool or language for other sciences. The more I read about physics, the more fascinated I became by the way that equations like those involved in Einstein’s theory of relativity could tell us things about the nature of the cosmos, could predict things & point to answers of mysteries that would otherwise lie far beyond our present grasp. I didn’t want to do mathematics—solving equations, measuring angles, formulating convergence proofs—but to read about the subject itself in a detached way; if math is the science of numerical abstraction, you could say that I had an abstract interest in an abstract science. I wanted to find a book that would explain the nature of mathematics & mathematical philosophy, if such a thing exists. It turns out it does—or did—& I found the perfect introduction in the form of The Mathematical Experience, by Philip J. Davis & Reuben Hersh, published in 1981.

Who knew the history of math could be so fascinating, so entertaining, even? Davis & Hersh trace that history from its beginnings with Thales (circa 600 BC), Pythagoras, Euclid, & Archimedes in the classical Greek era; into the relative darkness of the Middle Ages, followed by the enlightenment of the 1600s with Kepler, Galileo & Newton; & thence forward via Lagrange, Euler, Gauss, etc. to the modern era.

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Take A Walk in My Scarpa

When one travels to Italy, one luxuriates over leather goods, namely shoes. And anyone who knows me knows I’ve had a thing or two to say about footwear. Alexa took me to two markets and a shoe store to indulge my lust for shoes. She showed me how to look at labels to find the real leather, and to determine which were made here and which were made in China. At one market, we were greeted by a sea of seconds and last season treasures, with leather boots for only 10 Euro (About $15). Alas, they were only as large as a 37, and I start at a 38.

One can hardly afford NOT to buy them!

But we did find a few crazy stylish pairs that fit the parameters. There is no room in Alexa’s legendary shoe closet, but what’s a girl to do when one finds pointy gold leather booties wrapped with little belt things for only seven Euro?

The thing is, I couldn’t get my head around the Italian word for shoes: Scarpa.

I mean, in the country that is known for buttery soft, elegant footwear that fits so comfortably style can be a part of every step, the country that is literally shaped like footwear, and where the most musical of all Romance languages is spoken, why wouldn’t there be a more mellifluous word for shoe? SKARpa. Scar. (ew.) puh. (ugh.) The word has sharp edges and a spitting quality, calling to mind how painful shoes can be. What were Steve Martin’s Cruel Shoes with the right-angle turn and the embedded razor blades, if not scarpa?

I needed some help to understand the magic of this word, and asked Davide (Dáh-vee-day), the Vesuvian Cowboy, to illustrate. Sure enough, when a dashing Italian man says this word, one wants to slip one’s stockinged foot into whatever he happens to be holding in his hand at the moment….

My trophies: a pair of soft grey wedgie boots; some sleek leather Beatle booties; a pair of whimsical felt t-straps with a crocheted flower on the toe, dangerous six-inch heels and red soles (Alexa found a matching pair of pumps in her size… we really need to do an act, right?); and the perfect pair of first pumps for my niece’s Bat Mitzvah. (The girl is smart. She knew just what to ask for as a souvenir.)

And now for some shoe porn. 

The high holy grail of Cinderella shoes appeared in a window in Venice.

(I may have to rewrite my novel around them.)

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Welcome, readers, to March’s issue of Synchronized Chaos Magazine! This issue seems to center on energy in various forms, both literally as a power source and poetically as a metaphor for people finding the inner strength needed to spur them on to greater insights.

Jaylan Salah writes about finding solace and creative energy through the Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall. As a writer and artist and a young person, Jaylan found welcome, affirmation, and thought-provoking ideas in the lyrics and beauty in the voices of her favorite band.

Since ancient times music has punctuated our life journeys and lubricated our experiences, from early hide drums and wooden dulcimers and lyres and chants to modern sounds produced through technology.

Michael Robinson also writes of his poetic inspirations in taut, restrained free verse, using birds and nature as a motif. Seagulls and peacocks have been present during various seasons of his life and thus evoke various emotions.

Joan Beebe celebrates nature’s renewal and beauty during spring. Her work, written with joy and full sincerity, heralds the coming of warmer weather. She also encourages readers to keep track of their pleasant memories by holding onto mementos.

Peter Jacob Streitz contributes a short story on the loss of innocence and natural human life-energy due to repression and fear from people who moved too fast to control what they did not understand. Elizabeth Hughes, in her monthly Book Periscope literary review column, reviews novels from Hazel Boyd which describe how a group of people, friends and lovers, work to maintain the caring and energy in their relationships over time despite the complications and challenges they face.

And, finally, in a writeup from museum docent Cristina Deptula, there’s a discussion of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researcher Dr.Adam Weber’s research into improving the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells. While Weber affirms the promise of this form of energy storage within the next 50 years, the technology will require much thought and effort to bring it to the point where it can become commercially useful. He outlines some challenges researchers are facing and methods they are using to work around these issues.

We hope this issue serves as a kind of ‘muse’ for readers as they continue their own creative and personal journeys.