Filbert C.

Gudisan BS Biology-1
Just How Important Are Numbers?

People sometimes get intimidated by numbers just by looking at them, especially in

numerous trailing digits. Oftentimes, the majority of humans just ignore the value of
numbers. But are numbers really that important or are they just mere numerical digits which
were just created out of human boredom?

Numbers primarily existed in human lives for counting, measuring, and labelling
things. They were made to quantify observations in our natural world during the ancient
times until today. Through the concept of mathematics, numbers constantly evolved from just
simple to a more complex idea making it dynamic and greatly significant to the ever-
changing world.

Mathematics utilizes numbers to represent and explain figures and concepts that are
quantifiable. With an era of gadgets, advanced communication, technology, and a vast
diversity of transactions, it is quite undeniable that humans greatly rely on the concept of
mathematics and numbers. Even in fields such as sports, arts, weather, social sciences,
medicine and life sciences, and any other fields you can think of, mathematics is undoubtedly
helpful and useful. Mathematics is really ubiquitous in nature even if it is not really felt in the
most obvious of ways.

Oftentimes we use numbers to calculate the budget for food, transportation, electricity
and water, to keep track of time, or for cooking. And with that, it can be said that
mathematics is indeed crucial to our daily routine.

Mathematics used logic in deciding whether a statement is true or false. It is necessary

in comparing usual things and phenomena as it relates to numbers. If one is vastly aware and
knowledgeable about logic, then he or she can provide a just resolve or judgment on the
given arguments that need validation.

Another concept in mathematics is the rules or axioms. In order for numbers to be

calculated logically or any other mathematical claims to be accepted, it must be proven
through the principle of axioms.

Sometimes, numbers, geometric figures, and functions are grouped or form collections
because they share a commonality of characteristics. A set is a well-defined collection of
objects. An element of a set is an object which belongs to the given set. An empty or null set
is a set without elements. On the other hand, a set is called universal if the set consist all
elements.

Mathematics also involve patterns along with numbers. They are used as tools for
prediction and analysis which explain the trends in science, technology, economics, politics,
and other human activities. Notable examples for patterns are Golden ratio and Fibonacci
numbers which are relevant in nature, beauty, and art, among others. To say the least,
numbers and patterns are omnipresent concepts that can give meaning to areas of learning
and development.

The notion of numbers includes the numeration systems. It is a writing system for
expressing numbers; that is, a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set,
using digits or other symbols in a consistent manner. There are six numeration systems which
existed as time went by such as: Tally Marks System, Roman Numeration System, Egyptian
Numeration System, Babylonian Numeration System, Chinese Numeration System, and
Hindu- Arabic Decimal System.

The Tally Marks System is commonly used in settings or situations where objects are
counted per item like counting the scores in athletic games such as volleyball or basketball or
doing an inventory of products in a store. It is the most basic way to assign symbols to
quantity. Its main advantage is its simplicity, however, it is only limited when expressing
large numbers.

The Roman Numeration System is a system devised by Romans to measure quantities

during the Roman Empire which were adapted until this present era. The use of certain
consonants in the alphabet is remarkable for this type of numeration system. In this system,
the letters I, V, X, L, C, D, and M, represent 1,5,10,50, 100, 500, and 1000, respectively. The
fall of Roman Empire did not hinder the numerals to become prevalent in Europe until 17th
century. In modern times where the Hindu-Arabic system is preferred, the Roman numerals
are the primary symbols to refer to monarchs or popes. For example, Queen Elizabeth II and
Pope John Paul II are second, not eleventh, in the line of queens and popes with the same
name. These numerals can also be seen to denote the year of construction in buildings or the
hours on a clock.

Another type of Numeration System is the Egyptian Numeration System. This

numeration system used special symbols known as hieroglyphs. Each power of 10 had its
own hieroglyph. For example, a bent finger is used to represent 10,000, while a coiled rope is
used to represent 100. This system does not use a place-value type of interpretation but
employs an additive approach.

The Babylonian Numeration System has a concept of base 60 system, referred to as the
sexagesimal system. Compared to the decimal system we use today where we have ten
different symbols, the Babylonian system it does not utilize 60 different symbols to represent
its digits. Instead, they have two symbols to represent a ‘unit’ value and a ‘tens’ value which
they repeat to express 60 distinct digits in their base 60 positional system.

The Chinese Numeration System used an arrangement of small bamboo rods

torepresent the numbers 1 to 9. These were used as digits which were then placed inthe units,
tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. It is quite similar to the decimal system we use today.

Hindu mathematicians during the 6 th or 7th century devised numerals that we use today.
During the 800 AD, the Arabs adapted the Hindu numerals which gave rise to a change in the
numerals’ appearance. The name Hindu-Arabic was coined in order to credit both the
originators and the propagators of the said numeral system. A decimal number is formed
using the symbols 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and 0, called thedecimal digits. Each position in a
decimal numeral has a position value which is apower of 10. One position to the left
increases the place position value by a factor of 10, one position to the right decreases the
place position value by a factor of 10.

Since mathematics is the science of patterns, it is inevitable to learn the concept of

Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio. Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio are
considered magical values in the sense that they consistently and inexplicably appear in
nature like leaves, flowers, fruits, and shells. The secret of knowing these patterns is to open
our eyes and really scrutinize things logically and critically.

Fibonacci was actually named Leonardo of Pisa, and these numbers appear in his book
"Liber Abaci," which taught the Western world the methods of arithmetic that we use today.
In terms of applications, Fibonacci numbers appear in nature surprisingly often. The number
of petals on a flower is typically a Fibonacci number, or the number of spirals on a sunflower
or a pineapple tends to be a Fibonacci number as well.

Symmetry is such an amazing idea that is evident in nature, art, and design. We
observe symmetry in Pascal’s triangle and binomial expansion, in butterflies and snowflakes,
and in designs like the Oblation. Symmetry can be: Reflectional, radial, or trasitional.
 Reflectional symmetry happens if points on the figure are equally positioned about a
line. This line is called the axis of symmetry. This axis paves way for the separation of figure
in equal parts which also serves as a mirror to half of the figure. This can be observed on the
feathers of peacocks or on the bodies of butterflies.

Radial symmetry occurs if the points on an object are uniformly situated around a point
that serves as center of the object. A figure with rotational symmetry appears the same after
rotating by some amount around the center point.

Translational symmetry happens if an object is translationally symmetric if it can be

drawn in its entirety by taking a portion of the figure and shifting it along an axis. An
example of translational symmetry can be seen in the way leaves are aligned along branches
of a plant.

Numbers were also used for counting the sides of an object. Furthermore, they were
used to measure the area and volume of the said object. This is done in the branch of
geometry. In a bold move, Erathosthenes was recognized as the first mathematician to
calculate the circumference of the Earth. Also, Pythagoras utilized numbers to determine the
hypotenuse of a right triangle.

The most significant contribution of Greeks were the discoveries of irrational numbers,
such as the square root of 2, which cannot be represented as a fraction the digits go on
infinitely but there is no pattern to them. Also, they introduced the idea of the value of pi and
the Golden ratio.

One of the most famous Greek mathematician of all time is Euclid of Alexandria who
described a mathematical system known as Euclidean geometry. It is the oldest geometry
conceived that is why for more than thousand years, there was no need of calling it
“Euclidean” geometry.

As time goes by, humans enhanced their awareness and knowledge about the concepts
in mathematics and because of that, utilization of letters and numbers happened which is
known as algebra.

Algebra introduced the idea of functions. This branch of mathematics introduced the
concept of functions. Function in mathematics is defines as a relationship or expression
involving one or more variables. The variable x is the input into the function which are often
real numbers. The variable y is dependent on variable x.
 Functions are quite useful in describing a quantity in terms of other quantities. For
example, the distance covered by a moving car depends on the speed of the car and the time it
has traveled.

There are types of functions and some of it are constant function, linear function,
quadratic function, exponential function, logarithmic function, and trigonometric function.

Functions are used to describe a quantity in terms of another. For instance, the train fare
or the bus fare depends on distance travelled or the cost production is a function of the
quantity on raw material/s used or the interest earned depends on the rate of interest and the
length of investment period. Thus, functions are also used to describe models of behavior. If
the behavior is said to be an inevitable consequence of antecedent sufficient causes, then we
have a deterministic model. Now, if the behavior has that property of different chances of
occurrence, we have a probabilistic or stochastic model. This model possesses some inherent
randomness. The same set of parameter values and initial conditions will lead to an ensemble
of different outputs.

Numbers and mathematics also touch the field of arts and humanities. Some of the
creative disciplines in arts and humanities are music, dance, painting, drawing, architecture,
sculpture, literature, motion picture, theater, digital animation, and other creative disciplines.
The bridge that connects mathematics to art is the concept of patterns. Art forms employ
symmetries and transformations that move an object along a line or in the plane without
changing its size or shape. Math can be keenly felt in the arts in two ways: when its concepts
are used as artistic tools; and when it becomes a major subject of the piece of art.

Artists used patterns to make beautiful masterpieces and artworks. One example for this
is Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher who produced fascinating tessellations using irregular
polygons and vigorously pursued mathematical themes. Another is Playwright Tom
Stoppard’s “Arcadia” which is a theater piece that fuses romantic drama with complex
mathematical concepts, such as chaos theory, fractals, iterated algorithms, Fermat’s Last
Theorem and thermodynamics. Also, Vincent Van Gogh who is a Dutch impressionist painter
recognized the patterns in nature and intuitively used these to depict the difficult concept of
turbulence in his celebrated painting of a skyscape prior to sunrise in June 1889. Another
examples for this are Spanish artist Santiago Calatrava brought the sine-cosine curve to life
with his kinetic sculpture “Wave” which was installed outside the new Meadows Museum
Building in 2002 and Salvador Dali made use of the concept of fractals to convey the
message of the endless misery brought by war in his 1941 painting “The Face of War.”.

Some of the Filipino artists were known to have used patterns in their masterpieces. One
of this is Filipino National Artist for Visual Arts Vicente Manansala applied angles and other
geometric principles in his transparent cubism style of painting.

As odd as it may seem, the concept of mathematics and numbers are also used in the
field of social sciences. The application of mathematical concepts is evident in in the fields of
economics, demography, psychology, and political science, among others. Computational
methods and modern technology such as geospatial information systems are now routinely
used to study and simulate social behavior and social systems. Currently, the Philippines held
a national election for new set of senators, governors, vice governors, municipal mayors, vice
mayors, and councilors. In this manner, citizens of the Philippines should elect their desired
candidates for the said positions through voting. Because of this, voting theory arose.

Voting theory falls under the area of Social Choice theory, which deals with the process
by which varied and conflicting choices (as in elections) are consolidated into a single choice
of the group (or society) that reflects the desires of each individual as much as possible.

The mathematical concept underlying voting systems is that of order. There is an area
of mathematics called Order Theory that studies ways in which objects can be ordered, from
simple ordering of integers from smaller to bigger, or ordering of subsets of a set via
inclusion, to more complicated relations. In daily life, without order, it would be very
difficult for example to find our friend’s phone numbers in our mobile phone directory.

In the fields of science, technology and engineering, mathematics and numbers is used
in order to solve real-world problems. It is done by applying the principles of Polya’s
heuristics. It has four steps such as: 1) understanding the problem, 2) devising a plan, 3),
carrying out the plan, and 4) looking back or checking the validity of your solution.
Reasonableness is usually applied in estimations and approximations.

Mathematics is also significant in the field of medicine and life sciences. Mathematics
has been found to have significant contributions in the development of medicine and life
science, which are seemingly qualitative-oriented disciplines. The mathematical concept
known as fractal geometry, which was developed by Benoit Mandelbrot, highlights the
concept of Mandelbrot set.
 Aside from fractal geometry, there are other examples illustrating how math is applied in
medicine and life science. Reaction-diffusion equations (RDEs), for instance, lead to what
mathematicians call as Turing patterns that can help explain why some animal coat patterns
are in the form of stripes or spots. Also, mathematics is used mimic biological systems and
how possible it is construct the world we are living in using simple mathematical concepts
and how mathematics can be used to predict the outcome of a present situation with an aid of
computer simulation.

Numbers in mathematics are essential to life. It is made not to make life harder but to
make life more meaningful in a logical, critical, and quantifiable way. Mathematics is not just
about discovering the x, it is also worthwhile to know y.