Hello, world, It's a new year, and as part of my quest to constantly annoy you, let's do some math! It's going to be interesting, I promise.
For such a long time, mathematicians have sought ways to find the areas of various shapes. For rectangles, they came up with Length * Width For circles, they came up with pi * r^2. For triangles, you guessed it, 1/2 * base * perpendicular height.
But calculating the area under curves proved to be a herculean challenge - one that had baffled them for centuries.
For one, curves did not have a definite shape so coming up with a single working formula wasn't a feasible option. A slight change in variables would render the whole formula useless.
To calculate the exact area under a curve was virtually impossible and your best bet was to approximate. You approximated by dividing the curves into lots of small rectangles and calculating the areas of those small rectangles (as shown in the figure).
You use the familiar to find the unknown. Although this kind of worked, it didn't provide the exact solution mathematicians needed. Math is all about precision and this method did not work. It was flawed - fundamentally.
Then in the 17th century, 2 scientists (working independently) came up with a very brilliant approach. Their approach was to answer a very simple question. "what if you could calculate the rate at which the shape of the curve changes from point to point?"
The answer to this question marked the remarkable birth of the beautiful field of calculus! Newton and Leibniz had independently discovered calculus. The simple answer to this question has gone on to solve much of the world's complex problems and has found its way into every single aspect of life - talk of physics, chemistry, geography, economics. Just name it!
As much as this may seem like a beautiful story, that's not the point I'm trying to make. Can you imagine what would have happened if either of them decided to ignore the intuition they had, or not publish their findings? Someone else would have found it. It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when.
In this instance, someone else found it at the same time - in the same generation, just a few years or even months apart! Newton and Leibniz probably didn't really know where or how what they discovered would be applied. All they did was to bring it out of them.
There might be an idea you have or a burden in you to solve a problem or bring something into existence. Do not be selfish about it. Pursue it. Chase it. Bring it out of you. Share it. Let it impact others.
Because even if you don't, it would be done anyway. How brilliant would it be to have that excellent idea or its implementation written in your name? How beautiful would it be to have your name etched in the records of history, unerasable like the 4 faces on Mount Rushmore?
Ladies and Gentlemen, stop dreaming. Stop ignoring those dreams. Get to work. Start that project, continue that project, Finish that project!!!
(dramatic pause)
And on this note, happy new year! Let's get this year done with, shall we?
