#fourier my beloved

[thecolourpurple123]

Fourier Lugunica ramble (with excerpts from Ex 1)

Fourier is, much like all the members of the Lugunican royal family, somewhat airheaded but charming in nature. The Lugunican royals are all genuine and good people, but not particularly skilled stewards―which is pretty much the exact description the LN uses across all the side content I've read recently including Ex 1, 2, and 3.

In his normal state, he's prone to being incredibly impulsive and needy. He rolls up to the Karsten estate at random to bother them with whatever he's fixated on at any given moment and is very good-natured about the teasing he is subject to―not being particularly aware of the depths of Ferris's wit, but always rolling with whatever punches he does see. Fourier's obviously a bit pampered considering how he whines about the cold to the degree that he never goes anywhere without his fancy red coat, but he's not totally adverse to hardship or pain seeing how readily and regularly he challenges Crusch to duels for years of their youth despite never really standing a chance.

Generally, he does not concern himself with his own status, and readily waves it off in pursuit of whatever he's fixated on because he's just that kinda silly goofy guy. At the same time though, he's keenly aware of his status as the fourth prince, and while he does know the kind of effect he can have on people―as seen in how he stalls for time when Crusch is fighting the rabbits by distracting the people at her party with improvised songs and sword demonstrations―Fourier is not one to care for the fact that he's royalty in any ambitious or grand sense. However, as seen in Ferris's unusual appointment as a royal knight, he does know when it can be used to get what he wants/thinks is right and necessary.

Further, Fourier is very much one for bravado and putting on a brave face. He wants to be strong and look cool, especially for Crusch, and in all matters Fourier is one to throw himself headfirst into situations with a high degree of overconfidence. It's actually noted as being part of his charm, the fact that he so readily pretends that he's better than he is and is princely, while also not really caring for being seen as princely and competent, which ends up making those times where he's princely and competent all the more impactful to the people he interacts with.

(here we see Fourier and Ferris discussing after the duel with Crusch to make her wear a dress, for a more relaxed example of Fourier being both overconfident and not caring for how he appears which Ferris takes advantage of to tease him)

(this one is of Crusch talking to Fourier about Ferris's family history that he pretends to already know about and lies to Crusch about blatantly to save face, only to prove himself unknowingly in her eyes in the next breath)

(and this one is Julius talking to him later in Ex 1 for a more serious example of how Fourier views other's views of him)

Ultimately, Fourier is a bit of a walking contradiction. He's oh! so jolly yet still respectable and competent when the need arises. He doesn't care for status yet walks around with overconfidence. He's keenly aware of social dynamics at times when it counts, yet often blunders his way through conversations in a way that's disarmingly absent-minded.

It's a contradiction explained by the fact that Fourier is one of a rare few of his family to be a "master of the blood" as Miklotov puts it, or the Lion King's Blessing as the fandom has come to call it. He's able to just… intuit things, a lot of the time. He knows what moves to play to win at games, knows answers to obscure questions his tutor asks without knowing why, is able to only ever show up to the Karsten estate when Crusch and Ferris aren't too busy to see and hang out with him, and of course is able to coordinate several royal knights to rescue Crusch from Ferris's dad while also setting Reinhard as insurance for stopping Miles (a spy he doesn't know exists, just has a hunch exists based on pretty much no evidence at all) from escaping back to Vollachia all without ever knowing the full scope of his own machinations.

I think the most iconic moment of Fourier is this:

In one move, Fourier pushes Crusch to accept her dual roles of being a Lady and being the martial heir to house Karsten, thrusts Ferris into knightship in a way that doesn't leave him insecure or gives him any room for doubt, and saves Crusch's dad's life from the rabbits―only to after Crusch and Ferris leave, tell a servant Crusch tied up that he has no idea what's going on and that they should probably figure that out.

Fourier is effortlessly foundational to Crusch and Ferris's entire worldviews, and he doesn't even know how or why he just follows his instincts and garners their total respect and admiration. He's humble in an unspoken way that leaves his dramatic overconfidence as endearing instead of irritating. He's a royal with once in a generation blood, yet all he cares for is to see the buds in the garden that are those he holds dear in his life bloom into their own.

The only time he ever really cares for his station, is because Crusch is a little obsessed with the legacy of the Lion King, and Fourier wants that attention on himself (all the while not knowing that he already has it). He makes giving his everything feel like nothing yet still everything―which is all the more tragic, all the more foundational for Crusch going forward, because that very essence of Fourier is exemplified in his death where his very memory is but a footnote in a wider chapter of the nation's history. Everything to Crusch and Ferris, but nothing to a nation in mourning.

This is why, after finishing Ex 1, I have gained an appreciation for Crusch who I'd thought as a very boring character having only experienced her presence in the main series. For years now, I've always looked down upon that short-sighted selfish goal of hers to break the covenant with the dragon, just because she can't get over Fourier's death. But it's deeply understandable if you come to know Fourier, and see it from Crusch's perspective.

Crusch started with this chip on her shoulder regarding needing to be worthy of inheriting this mantle of the lion, and then by the end of the novel she inherits this impossible dream of Fourier's too―where he pictures this future together with Ferris and Crusch as he dies in her arms, not even able to finish telling her that he loves her before he goes.

Fourier was her Lion King, he always was, and in his absence, given this singular opportunity through her candidacy and in the context of the seemingly callous attitude of the Sage Council and the gathered nobles… to me, it just feels so earned that she would despise the Dragon, whose mere promise of protection overshadows the deaths of so many royals who were amazing in their own rights. Ultimately, Crusch's ire does come from misplaced grief, but it's one I can't help but respect now. The path Ferris and Crusch walk is not one that is kind to either of them, but it is one that is quite fitting. One that is lonely by necessity, because even though Fourier told Ferris to rely on his friend Julius, he was unable to finish telling Crusch his full feelings for her, leaving Crusch with an impossible dream and shoes she can't fill even with Ferris at her side.

So basically, all of this is to say that my favorite ferret man Ferrier Lugunica haunts the narrative and after reading Ex 1 he lives in my head as rent free as he does in Crusch and Ferris's.

[zeivira]

I’m finally completely free for a few weeks and ofc first thing i do is post the fifth chapter of Sleep-Talking

Hope the other 2 Fourier fans in this fandom like it (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)

Extra kudos as always to @fleuropixels​ (Marquess) for beta-reading!

[colosseumofblahaj]

i don't know why i chose to fixate on a character who appears once in a franchise and then never again. my brain just be like that.

[very-high-priest]

Call me Fourier the way I deconstruct these mixed messages

[glasses-rex]

Relistening to Wolf 359 like 4 years since the first listen through! I’m midway through season 3 and my main thoughts are:

They start foreshadowing a helluva lot earlier than I thought they did (Fourier’s journals are mentioned in Box 953).

I somehow am attached to Hilbert now???? Terrible horrible man (also a significant inspiration for my current Pathfinder character).

I remembered Eiffel and Hera having a legendary dynamic but I think this time I might actually love the Eiffel and Minkowski dynamic even more.

See also whatever the S1-5 dynamic is.

Minkowski remains my absolute beloved.

Look. I have been into audio drama for many years. I have a great many favourite podcasts. But I think Wolf 359 may just be objectively the best one I’ve listened to? Like there are a whole bunch of podcasts that I love for sentimental reasons, or because I specifically vibe with them, but W359 is just…*so good*. Like the complexity of the characters! The well-written dialogue! The overarching plot where secrets are revealed over seasons’ worth of time! The slow burn of it all!

I am, once again, obsessed.

[heycerulean]

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT CHANGE OF MIND???

(No pressure, of course, I am just curious. I hope you get to pet a very good textured snake soon!)

IT WAS WONDERFUL FULL RANT BELOW: victoire fourier is actually the best and i love them so much. right up there with minlace now. that scene where hui was in forced corporate space trauma solitary confinement? i am DYING. STILL. that was so well written oh my god lovelace and lambert learning to exist peacefully around eachother is actually my lifeblood fisher deserves an entire bag of dark chocolate covered pretzels i love him so much too the voice acting was so so wonderful THE MUSIC!!! PARADISE VALLEY!!! THE ENDING WITH IT IN THE BACKGROUND!!! that was legit the best part of the episode and it's been playing back in my mind since wolf 359 try not to use the literary device of chekov's gun for one episode challenge (failed) (not clickbait) (don't watch at 3 am) + cutter try not to be a silly little whimsical murderer for one episode (failed) (not clickbait) (don't watch at 3 am) my beloveds it was very good as all of wolf 359 is perfect start to my relisten of the show as always: pryce and carter 614. when it doubt, whip it out, it being hydrochloric acid i hope you recognize a constellation that makes you happy next time you look at the sky :)

[dooareyastudy]

Ah oui, et des bouquins à conseiller pour mieux comprendre la politique ? Merci :)

Je m'excuse par avance - je suis de gauche (d'extrême-gauche du coup, vu la distinction que je fais ici) donc mes recommandations seront... peu diverses !

Il y a des classiques de la théorie politique qui peuvent être intéressants à lire mais honnêtement je ne trouve pas la lecture du Léviathan de Hobbes des plus stimulantes (un petit résumé peut suffire à se faire une idée de ce que c'est). Parmi les fameux contractualistes, on cite aussi Locke (que j'avoue ne pas avoir lu du tout). Au détriment de la chronologie, lire Machiavel (Le Prince) ça peut être intéressant par contre (en tout cas, c'est une lecture que j'ai appréciée).

L’œuvre politique de Rousseau | le troisième grand contractualiste (cf. mon prof d'histoire des idées politiques de L1 que j'écoutais d'une oreille). C'est sur ma liste de lecture depuis un moment, j'ai à peine le souvenir d'avoir lu Du Contrat social, tant ça remonte... Je pense que ça peut être intéressant pour commencer à lire des ouvrages politiques !

Socialisme utopique et socialisme scientifique, Engels | un petit texte qui explique la différence entre les projets utopiques socialistes (Owen et Fourier notamment) et ce qu'on appelle aujourd'hui le marxisme. Un très bon ouvrage pour commencer l’œuvre de Marx et d'Engels.

et donc logiquement... l’œuvre de Marx et Engels ! | Le Capital au moins, c'est une lecture hyper instructive. Le Manifeste aussi évidemment !

Pour deux références parmi tant d'autres, un peu plus complexes : Le Nouvel Esprit du capitalisme, Boltanski et Chiapello | (trop) long donc ça peut décourager donc je comprend les gens qui en lisent des résumés (et il doit y en avoir des très bien en ligne). La thèse du bouquin ne me semble pas très novatrice mais c'est un très bon état de l'art comme on dit & Les intellectuels contre la gauche, Christofferson | pour un exemple d'ouvrage plus complexe. C'est un livre dense et plutôt compliqué. Il remet dans son contexte le déclin du communisme en France au profit d'une gauche libérale modérée (celle qu'on connaît aujourd'hui en bref). Très intéressant mais je ne le conseille pas pour débuter !

Deux réf davantage axées sur l'économie : Libres d'obéir, Chapoutot & La Société ingouvernable, Chamayou.

Mention spéciale pour Bernard Friot, dont les ouvrages (en tout cas ceux que j'ai lu : Émanciper le travail & Enjeu des retraites) sont clairs et agréables à lire. C'est un auteur qui travaille sur le système de Sécurité sociale (my beloved), notamment les retraites. Enjeu politique de premier ordre et d'actualité donc je recommande forcément.

Il ne faut pas oublier que l'éducation politique passe aussi par d'autres ouvrages que ceux de "pure" politique : des ouvrages d'histoire peuvent être très éclairants (pour comprendre pourquoi les références aux révolutions françaises sont structurantes par exemple). De même, la philosophie vient nourrir la réflexion politique (quand on lit Marx, on finit par avoir envie de découvrir Hegel et là... c'est le drame). La sociologie et l'économie aussi peuvent fournir des pistes intéressantes - tout dépend de ce qui te donne envie !

L'intérêt, c'est d'identifier un point de départ et à partir de là, découvrir de plus en plus d'auteurs, d'idées et d’approfondir et affiner ses positions (c'est pourquoi partir de Marx peut être intéressant car il a pléthore de continuateurs : Lukacs, Goldmann, Debord, Clouscard...).

[yellowpaperdaisyy]

fourier transforms my beloved <3

[benz-503-wordsaday]

November 3rd, 2022

He just had too... William Gibson, gibbons and jamming late night on an Ibsen, Ibis, iris, sly and fly and stylish, pattern recognition - re: ip slash config slash migs and hornets and jets, sonic booms, fingers flying, weaving looms, loam, soil, Egyptian banks... Fit it all in: flesh in Spanxs, Spock talk, live long and prospie forever and ever, Neverland, and neuroromancer, pirouette, midnight dancers. Clocks, balk, fox trot fox trot. Blood clots, crib talk, baby babble/saber rattle, tiger tooth and whiskey tango, go, go.   At the point in my mathing where I'm finally encountering squiggles. Similar deep sigh, big exhale, and bewilderment middle school me felt upon discovering imaginary numbers and letters in equations (nbd tbh). Squiggle functions and equations named like streets and theaters after remarkable humans. Head hurting, but it's pretty awesome stuff. Shout out to engineers and physicists. I feel like an absolute dummy.   [------] Finally worked through my first fourier series example equation. Simple triangle function. Ouch. Oof. Math muscles very weak. Trigonometry, integrations, derivations, series, fractions... Time to make amends with old foes.   Year 5 - Benny Z and the Order of the Arkys Wish me luck.   First Attempt at Poetry em Portuguese Esta sonhei com fantasmas, eles disseram, 'gostava de ir com vocês mas não posso.' Novamente, eu acordei com apenas nós, em nossa cama viva. - BZ August 12th, 2022 Ben, Neb, Zen, Beez, and Benjamin missed repenting in the hidden digital public confessional. They missed the sorting and disentangling of thoughts, impressions, impulses, reactions, responses, ideas, hunches, feelings, experiences, sights, moments, interactions, and recollections that constituted waking conscious life. Something to the offloading of the open tabs - cache is king - of the mental landscape. Reviewing (gerund) Portuguese Grammar workbook and re-remembering one of the two things Ms. Stemmler said that are still indelible in the hippocampus. It was Sophomore year first period Spanish, second year, and we were learning or trying to learn how to conjugate verbs. After the worksheets were handed out she foreshadowed the complexity of the language and in a under the breath type of toss away comment said something to the effect of, ‘if you finish these worksheets don’t worry there are nineteen more tenses to learn.’ It was one of those hammer blows to an insecure student not yet comfortable with trying hard on something challenging. There were only three tenses, I’d thought, past, present, future, what could the other sixteen conjugations be about? The memory was stored in the circuit responsible for maintaining subtle hints from teachers alluding to what we don’t know about what we don’t know and recalling it must have jostled another electric impression, the time Ms. Taylor, beloved third grade teacher with a convertible, mentioned the oxford comma and the grammatical controversy surrounding its use or the lack of it. How could a ten year old imagine legions of prescriptivist and descriptivist grammarians savagely debating a punctuation mark? The mother tongue lives in the heart and habit, not yet cerebral and if it sounds right, if it reads right, it’s right whether or not anyone done got anything nice or nasty to say about it. Cookie Monster be eating cookies. A smidge of pidgin, the language arts neglected and the language of the other left unknown and unfelt and like certain fungus fear grows best in the damp and dark. They snatched children. Took them from their families. Boisterous warriors bragging about going medieval on so-and-so and a abstract understanding of the nature of the world that provides moral justification for brutal acts prevents a corrosive cognitive dissonance and what are guilt and shame and what is wrong and right and what is good and evil and who gets to be human and how many truly believe in an ontologically level playing field. Past more than perfect tense, an action in the past completed before another action. Gerund form, -ing, running, walking, thinking, talking. Past perfect: they had done what needed doing. She had loved to the best of their ability. In that same Spanish class one student jumped out the window and went to Starbucks when the teacher wasn’t paying attention. The Spanish teacher from Mexico cried in class when I was in 7th grade and the Iranian chemistry teacher cried my Freshman year when one of the students spewed some vitriol and it was embarrassing to be associated with him, though I didn’t confront him or call him out. Melting pot or quilted patchwork of cultures or something else entirely. 

[hellishfig]

finishing up the first special episode of wolf 359, “change of mind,” for the third time and god i miss the first crew of the hephaestus every day and i only had them for a little over two hours

[equalseleventhirds]

hm. u kno my w359 post-canon fic that doesn't exist where copies of eiffel, kepler, fourier, and eris wake up on a copy of the sol, just bcos i think it would be Fun & Funky Fresh (read: fascinating and potentially heartbreaking) for those four specifically to be in that situation?

the plant monster also is there. bcos it deserves to live, and i think the dear listeners Get That.

[starot]

the yassification of fourier transform

pink ink my beloved! my bottle of diamine sultry strawberry finally arrived, and i just knew it'd be perfect for the platinum little meteor <333 said pen also matches perfectly the muscle melody keychain a friend gifted me, and now i am truly unstoppable 👾

[recurring-polynya]

Hi, I'm late to the party but if you are still interested in doing the bookish asks: 1 and 7 + 13 + 18. I hope you have a good day!!!

It’s never too late!! (the book meme was back here, icymi)

1. Which book would you consider the best book you’ve ever read and why?

“Best” is such a subjective term.

On one hand, every single person who has ever met me in real life would call me a huge liar if I didn’t at least mention Infinite Jest. I love Infinite Jest. It blew my head off my shoulders. I think about it all the time, I talk about it incessantly.  I read it twice in two years and I imagine I was absolutely insufferable at that time. It is a work of genius, an achievement beyond the bounds of normal humans. It is simultaneously extremely prescient (I have thought about the section about masks for video calls literally every day of the pandemic) and spectacularly wrong (the rise of Netflix would make people go watch a duck pond turn over, REALLY?) That being said, DFW was a very troubled man and a deeply problematic one. The book is far too white and male, and it has been championed by a particular breed of Shitty Dudes. To be honest, it’s not even a book. It’s the negative space of a book, a Fourier Transform of a book. I wish everyone would read it, and I make it a personal point to never, ever tell anyone to read it. But if you do, I am absolutely here to discuss the filmography of J.O. Incandenza at any time.

I read The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison shortly after it won a Hugo in 2016, and I knew, upon reading it, that it was the most important speculative fiction book of my generation. It is everything specfic is supposed to be-- to challenge your place in the world, to make you feel both complicit and cheated by the systems around you, to make you rage at injustice, to make you want to change things. It is a very upsetting series-- many awful things happen to the main characters. I don’t recall it being particular gross or gory, just devastating. One of the central themes is the way that mothers try and fail to protect their children, and I read it at a time when I had small babies and I burst into tears constantly. Anyway, it’s an incredible set of books, but it’s not fun to read. As a bonus, as far as I can tell from interviews and her Twitter, N.K. Jemison is a very smart and cool person.

Finally, to round out the set: every time I read Howl’s Moving Castle, I am struck with what a perfect novel it is. It is small and cozy, exciting and sweet and weird and funny. If I could choose any novel in the world to have written, it would be Howl’s Moving Castle.

7. Have you ever despised something you have read?

Oh, boy, have I!

I can hold a grudge against a book much longer than I could ever hold a grudge against a person! In my old age, I have gotten in the habit of giving up on things that I am not enjoying, which has caused me to chill out a lot, but I do have some old hate-faves!

I used to hate Game of Thrones. I threw the second one across the room after some witch lady gave birth to some evil smoke. But these days, I just really feel for the fans, who seem like really nice folks. They got a shitty last season and they’re never going to get the last of those books. I also feel for G.R.R. Martin, because I can definitely imagine getting that far along with something and then pbbting on the floor, and I cannot bring myself to feel anything bad for him.

The Road was almost a good book. I will be honest, I only read it because I am deeply in love with the Fleet Foxes song White Winter Hymnal. The mechanics of cannibalism as so poorly envisioned in The Road. Look, I do not like thinking about cannibalism. I hate cannibalism. There are only two zombie movies I will watch and I want nothing to do with any Hannibal-related property. But The Road’s ideas about cannibalism is so bad that even I am offended by it. I was extremely gratified when my very specific complaints appeared in this classic The Toast piece.

The last book I hated was something by Brandon Sanderson that I hated so much that I refuse to look up the title. All the magic was color based, and there was one pretty cool lady fighter character who got upset because she trained so hard that she got really ripped and didn’t think she was pretty anymore. I can’t believe I finished that book.

13. How do you chose which book to read next?

I used to be a really well-rounded reader. I read a lot of non-fiction, mostly history of science, and the sort Malcolm Gladwell stuff that was popular in early aughts. Around the time of the first Ferguson protests, I made a practice of reading a lot of Black authors and non-fiction about Black people, for about a year. I would try to alternate books that met my reading aspirations with more “dessert” reading-- fluffy stuff, re-reading old faves, when something new by a beloved author would come out. I have had a couple of friends write books and I do make it a priority to buy and read them. Also, if a friend specifically asks me to read something because they want to talk about it, I will also prioritize it, this is my love language.

Anyway, after the 2016 election, my brain broke, I could no longer handle anything difficult and bad in my leisure time and I read exclusively YA for about a year. I kinda stopped reading books entirely in 2019 when I was obsessively writing fanfic, but I have gotten back into it lately. I choose what to read entirely based on whimsy. I have been reading Jane Austen books all summer, and I’m gonna read Sense and Sensibility next. It’s sitting on the coffee table, I just need to actually open it up.

18. Did you enjoy the Hunger Games?

The Hunger Games were... fine? I read a lot of YA, and they aren’t my favorites by any means, but they were exciting and I remember reading through them really fast. (I hesitate to say I *enjoyed* them, because they are not very fun books). Probably my hottest Hunger Games take is that I think they would have been substantially improved if they hadn’t been written in the first person.

The thing about Katniss is that she is honestly not a smart person. She’s a dummy. I... love this actually. Young women are so rarely allowed to stupid in media. It’s so much more common to see the Hermiones-- the girl who is smart and level-headed and sensible, where her male companions are fun and relatable and dumb as rocks. Katniss gets manipulated a lot-- that’s what the book is about, but it’s not in a dudes-trying-to-get-in-her-pants way, it’s in a society-trying-to-turn-her-into-a-tool, which is also a plotline that girls don’t get. Unfortunately, because it’s written in the first person, it’s pretty easy to get frustrated with the character, or feel like the book or the author is stupid, rather than that there is this dim bulb character getting led around by the nose. I think a third-person narration could give a more forgivable perspective on her. Katniss has a lot of good qualities-- she is brave and loyal and wants to do what’s right, and I think the books would be better served to make you, the reader, get righteously angry at the way she is being exploited, than to try to give you a view inside her head. I think this is also why the movies came out pretty good, although, to be fair, I think I only saw the first one.

[colosseumofblahaj]

top of my list of characters that i want to play but never will is victoire fourier (my beloved)

[chewietaquero]

Depression and anxiety

I’ve been willing to write this since quite a few months but I had been unable to put the ideas in a way that make sense until well... now. 

As my beloved girlfriend once said: You never get over depression.

Yes, you never get over it, yes, it’s something that you’re trained to live with, as she also said, kudos for that. It’s exactly right now that I realize how someone wrote DBT skills and why the DBT skills book it’s a very fun book to read if you or somebody you know happens to be struggling with this mental illness.

Yes, you learn to live with this constant battle between yourself and... yourself, to take the things that people tell you in a non super personal way. And now I don’t see it as a monster, I see it as something that helps me keep some humanity in me, something that pushes me to want to be a better person. And take this from something that may have Asperger as well, for me it’s not an easy task to recognize someone else’s feelings at first glance, it’s actually harder than solving a Fourier’s series. But that’s not the point, the point in here is: Yes, it does get better but it takes a lot of effort from you, I cannot tell you how long it’s going to take you to deal with this shit that you’re going through, but I’ll tell you that even when it gets better, somehow you’ll miss it, you’ll miss the old days where everything seem to be so dark that the only way to get out was to cease to exist. And...yes, there will be ups and downs for probably the rest of your life but at least, if you get a proper treatement and therapy, you’ll be able to pull off some tricks that you didn’t have when you were diagnosed. And what’s more important, at least for me, is that it leaves a mark, an internal mark that you’re going to have to carry with you for the rest of your countable days. It’s part of who you are, it’s part of your story, just don’t let it be the main character, let it be even someone from the staff, because as I said, it’s not going to get away. And I’m not saying that you won’t get better because of this, just pay attention to what I wrote before.

To all of you people who’s struggling with depression or anxiety disorder, goes this one: You’re not alone, talk to someone, talk to a therapyst if you can, talk to your friends, your family if possible. Any help it’s very well appreciated. Don’t give up, it’s not the end of your world, even if it feels like it. It’s actually the beginning of something different, brand new and challenging, it’s going to take a complete effort from your side, not a 10%, not a 99% but a 100%, not less. 

[jkottke]

Ask Dr. Time: Explaining Mathematics

Today's question is surprisingly tricky, as even the letter writer acknowledges:

My question is one I'm fumbling to articulate. I'm a math teacher and writer. (I'm a writer in the sense that I write, not in the sense that I get published or paid for writing.) I write a lot about teaching, but I've also been trying to get a handle on how I can write about math.

Here's the question: is it possible to write about math in a deep and accessible way?

This is a question that sends me off on a lot of different questions. What does it mean to understand math? What does it mean to understand a metaphor? Are there are great literary works that are also mathematical?

Ultimately, though, I don't know how to think about this yet. I'm hoping to eventually figure this out by learning math and writing about it...but that's slow, so maybe Dr. Time can offer advice?

The obvious answer to this question is yes, of course it's possible to write about math in a deep and accessible way. Bertrand Russell won a Nobel Prize in Literature. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a 777-page doorstop that's also a beloved bestseller. If you're looking to satisfy an existence requirement, that book has your back. I'll even stipulate that for every intellectual subject, not just mathematics, there exists a work that satisfies this deep-but-accessible requirement. It's just like how there's always a bigger prime number. It's out there; we just have to find it.

On the other hand, math seems hard. And I think it seems hard for Reasons. Here's a big one: mathematicians and popularizers of mathematics are perhaps understandably obsessed with understanding mathematics as such. The want to explain the totality of mathematics, or the essence, rather than finer problems like distinguishing between totalities and essences.

If you look at the other sciences, they don't do this. It's only very rarely that you get a Newton, Darwin, or Einstein who sets out to grab his or her entire subject with both hands and rethink our fundamental understanding of its foundations. Imagine a biologist who wants to explain life, in its essence and totality, at the micro and macro level. They'd be understandably stumped. Even physicists, when they want to explain something big and weird to the public, stick to things like a subatomic particle they're hoping to discover or the behavior of one of Saturn's moons. They don't try to explain physics. They explain a problem in physics.

When mathematicians do that, they're usually pretty successful. The Königsberg Bridge Problem is charming as hell. Russell's and Gödel's paradoxes have whole books written about them, but can also be told in the form of jokes. Even Fourier Transforms can be broken down and made beautiful with a little bit of technical help.

So I think the key, in part, is to resist that mathematicians' tendency to abstract away individual problems into general solutions or categories of solutions or entire subfields, and spend some time with the specific problems that mathematicians are or have been interested in. But it also helps a lot if, in that specific problem, you get that mathematical move of discarding whatever doesn't matter to the structure of the problem. After all, that's a big part of what you're trying to teach: how to think like a mathematician. You just to have to unlearn what a mathematician already assumes first.