The Canvas of Axioms and Logic

By Joel Vasanth

On a warm day, I hear the birds chirping

I hear the might of the ocean waves

I smell the sweet roses and jasmines and feel the soft grass

At night, I hear the crickets' poetry

I see the tiny stars and the moon

When it rains, I feel the drops on my skin

I watch lightning in awe and shriek at thunder

I observe ants marching along

I see the wasp making its nest

And in all these, I observe mathematical structure

A structure so profound and yet so difficult to fathom

But what is mathematics?

Does it exist just for adding numbers?

Is it a tool to calculate area?

Does it care who solves a problem first?

Or is it more than that?

Does mathematics exist to instill fear?

Or does it exist to cause insanity?

Many view it as being illogical

For how can there exist numbers going on forever?

Why is mathematics granted this immortality?

Why are equations and theorems true for all time?

Why is there a relation between the seemingly unrelated?

And what lies at infinity?

Mathematics does not have a face nor body

It cannot display emotions

It does not have weapons to hurt

Nor does it seek to do harm

Yet it in the hands of humans it causes destruction 

While causing joy to the few mathematicians who don't misuse it

Why must mathematicians care if two abstract objects are the same?

Why care about how big the universe is?

What is it that they're trying to tame?

Why search for the next largest prime number?

Why does it matter if pi is irrational?

Why does mathematics matter at all?

Who is a mathematician?

Is it the teacher or the student?

Is it the brightest or the average?

Who decides how a mathematician should be?

Mathematics cares not for color, gender, intellect, or nationality 

For it is the great leveler

It is not subject to human conditioning 

It exists on its own and presents itself to those with patience, curiosity, and persistence

Yet everyone is a mathematician in some sense

For are we not logical beings? 

Are not our minds raging with a desire to know the unknown?

To experience the thrill of proof

Do we not make deductions from statements?

Do we not question? 

Do we not think? 

Do we not create languages with structure?

Do we not create with reasoning?

Do we not make peace using logic?

Is it not philosophical?

Is mathematics not an art?

Are we not painters on the canvas of axioms and logic?

For in chaos, we find symmetry

In symmetry, we find solace

We are but travelers in the realm of the unknown

Searching with an open mind

And hoping to be satisfied with proof

The heart, mind, and soul become one with mathematics 

It rewards not with material things

But with a sense of having understood

That which was deemed impossible 

If only it were taught well

If only it were not forced upon humans

But gently shown its glorious beauty

A beauty that transcends all space and time

If only hands were held

And not hit

If only red ink were used to help

And not intimidate

That blinding red ink

The real reason for fear of mathematics 

If only judgement were not passed and fate were decided

Then, maybe then, we would have more poets of mathematics and writers of logic

And somewhere beyond the distant and cold abyss of space and time

Lies infinity

Not to be seen 

Not to be felt

And not to be understood 

It is this immortality that makes the mortals dance with mathematics 

We may never learn every secret of it

Nor can one person master everything in it

But we seek to understand the world better

We seek to identify, to create, to love, and to live

It is here, on this planet, that we insignificant beings

Discover proofs of nature and argue existence

For mathematics is and will always be a language to communicate, to address, and to explain when all others fail.

By Joel Vasanth