Previous Challenge Entry (EDITOR'S CHOICE)
Topic: EXPRESSION( 11/12/20)
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TITLE:
Detritus on the Floor | Writing Challenge By Gregory Kane 11/16/20 |
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2nd Place
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Look how elegantly they flow past. There’s a ‘x’ squared, a couple of single ‘x’s and a 5. And just as quickly they are gone. Hold on, I can see some more arrivals. Over there in lane eight. Notice how tightly the whole expression is packed together: x2+4x+3. The technical name is a quadratic polynomial and it has many potential uses. It could be modelling the parabolic motion of an object in flight. Mathematicians might use this to optimise the ratio of lengths vs area in a geometrical conundrum. Or any of a hundred alternate uses. But alas, it’s already out of sight. Off to destinations unknown.
Here at the Hub we play a vital role in the free exchange of information. Day in, day out, letters and numbers form, reform and break apart in the ever changing miracle of innovation that is algebra. Problems are announced; competing variables seek positions of compromise or equivalence; potential models are raised, rejected and resubmitted; expressions morph into equations or inequalities. But everything flows through the Hub.
We are particularly proud of our diversity policy. You may notice that a significant number of the variables rushing past are based on ‘x’, closely followed by those of ‘y’. Cartesian coordinates make up an appreciable subdivision of our work. That said, ‘x’ is very popular in its own right. Yet we welcome the full gamut of the alphabet all the way from ‘a’ through to ‘z’. And then there are the Greek letters to consider. I say, isn’t that a coincidence. Here comes sin(α+β) – 2cos(α+β). Terribly useful when it comes to working with angles. We also receive a smaller number of squares, triangles and circles that stand in the place of more conventional variables. And why not, I ask you? A red rectangle is just as capable of representing an unknown as any regular letter.
To err is human they say and we do occasionally slip up. I say, step carefully. Could I have a cleaning team please: misplaced coefficient in lane 17! Keeping the floor clear of detritus is a constant task, if you will pardon the pun. Then again, one of our biggest challenges has to do with orthography: I have lost count of the number of times I have begged our users to employ the curvy ‘x’ when denoting a variable and the straight-limbed ‘x’ for multiplication. We have similar problems with 6 and ‘b’ and between 2 and ‘z’. We routinely issue return tickets for all of our transits. That way, a 6mz term mistaken for bm2 can be redirected as efficiently as possible.
To err is human, to forgive divine. At least that was Pope’s view on the matter. In some small way, I feel that our work here is honouring to the Creator. His is a universe governed by predictable rules of repetitive regularity, not some chaotic hotchpotch of random spin-offs. I like to think of mathematics as the music that underpins the motion of the celestial spheres. I believe in the One who was before all things, and I affirm that in Him all things hold together. His are the axioms; His is the unity and the symmetry that makes everything beautiful in its time.
Yes, well, do pardon my philosophical digression. If you step this way, we may grapple with the simultaneous solution of several trivariate polynomial functions. You there, at the end of the line, how might you suggest that one begin?
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