trobar-me una novel·la que parla tant de matemàtiques, com la de l'apunt anterior, m'ha fet pensar en
una altra que vaig llegir fa molt temps que deia:
Do you know what the
foundation of mathematics is? ... The foundation of mathematics is numbers. If
anyone asked me what makes me truly happy, I would say: numbers. Snow and ice
and numbers. And do you know why?
Because the number system is like human life. First you have the natural numbers. The ones that are whole and positive. The numbers of a small child. But human consciousness expands. The child discovers a sense of longing, and do you know what the mathematical expression is for longing?
The negative numbers. The formalization of the feeling that you are missing something. And human consciousness expands and grows even more, and the child discovers the in-between spaces. Between stones, between pieces of moss on the stones, between people. And between numbers. And do you know what that leads to? It leads to fractions. Whole numbers plus fractions produce rational numbers. And human consciousness doesn't stop there. It wants to go beyond reason. It adds an operation as absurd as the extraction of roots. And produces irrational numbers.
It's a form of madness. Because the irrational numbers are infinite. They can't be written down. They force human consciousness out beyond the limits. And by adding irrational numbers to rational numbers, you get real numbers.
Because now, on the spot, we expand the real numbers with imaginary square roots of negative numbers. These are the numbers we can't picture, numbers that normal human consciousness cannot comprehend. And when we add the imaginary numbers to the real numbers, we have the complex number system. The first number system in which it's possible to explain satisfactorily the crystal formation of ice. It's like a vast, open landscape. The horizons. You head towards them and they keep receding.
Because the number system is like human life. First you have the natural numbers. The ones that are whole and positive. The numbers of a small child. But human consciousness expands. The child discovers a sense of longing, and do you know what the mathematical expression is for longing?
The negative numbers. The formalization of the feeling that you are missing something. And human consciousness expands and grows even more, and the child discovers the in-between spaces. Between stones, between pieces of moss on the stones, between people. And between numbers. And do you know what that leads to? It leads to fractions. Whole numbers plus fractions produce rational numbers. And human consciousness doesn't stop there. It wants to go beyond reason. It adds an operation as absurd as the extraction of roots. And produces irrational numbers.
It's a form of madness. Because the irrational numbers are infinite. They can't be written down. They force human consciousness out beyond the limits. And by adding irrational numbers to rational numbers, you get real numbers.
Because now, on the spot, we expand the real numbers with imaginary square roots of negative numbers. These are the numbers we can't picture, numbers that normal human consciousness cannot comprehend. And when we add the imaginary numbers to the real numbers, we have the complex number system. The first number system in which it's possible to explain satisfactorily the crystal formation of ice. It's like a vast, open landscape. The horizons. You head towards them and they keep receding.
d'aquesta cita ja en vaig fer un apunt fa temps, i allí fins i tot la vaig mig traduir.
el llibre és de peter hoeg (1997). en català no l'he vist però en castellà sí.
el llibre és de peter hoeg (1997). en català no l'he vist però en castellà sí.
del llibre en van fer una peli amb el meu adorat gabriel byrne
5 comentaris:
Com t'ho passes amb mi dolentota... ;)
Vaig veure la peli fa temps, però sincerament no la recordo massa. Interessant aquesta associació dels nombres amb la vida...
Petons!
Rita, que no :-) la peli jo no l'he vist,crec. el llibre em va agradar molt, sobretot aquest trocet, que de seguida que el vaig llegir el vaig copiar... i el vaig traduir en un altre post, ho has vist, no? :-)
He vist "Smila" i em va agradar, i el Gabriel Byrne és un dels actors que (tret de comptades ocasions) em sembla professional i convincent (brutal a "Jindabine" i a "Miller's crossing", la dels Coen).
Però si tradueixes el fragment, ni que sigui al castellà, m'ho posaràs més fàcil. Ja sé que en aquestes altures tocaria poder-lo llegir però sóc així d'imperfecte.
Sí, sí, vaig anar a llegir-me l'altre apunt de seguida... :)
Lluís, la cita la vag traduir en un altre apunt fa un temps. aquest és el link
http://kikaslog.blogspot.com/2008/12/stardate-senars.html
Rita, aquest cop tot estava preparat :-)
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