WNYC's Radiolab is one of my favorite podcasts. My sister introduced the show to me several years ago, and now that I'm hooked, I tend to reference stories and facts from episodes a bit too often in daily conversation. One day, after discussing the video below (from Open Culture), my friend Alexa and I decided to email Radiolab with an idea for a show. Many thanks to Rose for responding!
Dear Radiolab,
We (Alexa and Elizabeth) have been devoted listeners of your radio show for quite some time now, and we constantly refer to stories from various episodes in our everyday conversations. Radiolab has truly enlightened our understanding (or, sometimes, perpetual misunderstanding!) of the world around us.
Although you have already produced a "Numbers" episode, we recently came across a video that we believe could lead toward a possible "Numbers Pt. 2" followup. The video (seen below) sparked a debate that we cannot resolve--what came first, math or nature? How is math so organically integrated into the natural world? Did we discover the math--was it always there?--or did we create the theory based on scientific observations?
http://www.openculture.com/2010/03/nature_by_numbers.html
Marcus du Sautoy's books, particularly The Number Mysteries, bring up similar issues, and are worth investigating!
Looking forward to the next episode!
Best regards,
Alexa and Elizabeth
***
Hi Alexa and Elizabeth!
Thanks for writing! Math in nature is totally fascinating, and your "which came first" question is very tricky indeed. A mathematician would probably say that math has always been there, and it is up to us (well, maybe them, I'm not smart enough to be a mathematician) to sort it out and uncover it. Whenever I talk to mathematicians about why they do math they always come back to this one word: beautiful. And it is!
Really great questions you two, this has been a wonderful way to start my slow-going Friday brain up!
Thanks for listening!
Rose at Radiolab
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