Beauty and the Broccoli

When someone talks about beauty they usually have a finite object in their mind such as a flower, a painting, or anything that else that is in the natural world. While people define beauty differently, many do not immediately think of Math as being beautiful. This is very strange to me because it contains some of the best examples of beauty known to man. I completely agree with Hardy on his claim that some of the greatest Math has no application but that does not mean that it is useless. “A mathematician, like a painter or a poet… they are made with ideas.” (Hardy 13) These ideas are stronger than in other art forms for a few reasons.

So, I ask the question, why is Math beautiful?

I believe the reason for this is that Math has no limits. It is the only discipline that is limitless. Physics is constrained by Laws (even though Math has laws, they only apply to certain parts), art is limited by different media, language is limited by human capacity. Math will never cease to grow and this relates to applied and pure math.

One of the most beautiful things in the world, to me, is Romanesco Broccoli. This special type of broccoli has the shape of a natural fractal and is demonstrated by Fibonacci’s number. How can something in nature that is so complex be described better than with an equation? Languages lack proper adjectives to describe this natural beauty but Math explains it and lets nature show its beauty by. This is just one example of how math can explain natural phenomena. Is there any other tool that can do so as accurately or as clearly?

Math can explain or be explained. Math creates and destroys. Math is infinite and finite. Math is tangible and abstract. How can Math be so many things at once? That is the beauty of Math.