Edward Frenkel

It's a language.

The book of nature, as Galileo famously said, is written in the language of mathematics.

The letters in it are circles, triangles, and squares.

Those who don't know the language, I'm paraphrasing,

are left to wander in a dark labyrinth.

That's a famous quote from Galileo, which is very true and has become even more true more recently in theoretical physics in the most sort of far out parts of the theoretical physics that have to do with elementary particles as well as the structure of the cosmos at the large scale.

At the core of, you know,

I would say mathematics is one half of the core.

So the book is called Love and Math.

So these are the two pillars in my view.

In other words, you can't cover everything by math.

So mathematics gives you tools.

It gives you a clear vision.

But mathematics by itself is not enough for one to have a harmonious and balanced life.

So I am suspicious of any theory that declares that everything is mathematics.

Math, you could say, is a way to discern patterns, to find regularities in the universe, and both physical and mental universe.

Mathematics explores the mind as much as it explores the physical world around us, and it helps us to find those patterns.

which makes our perception more sophisticated, our ability to perceive things such as beauty.

It sharpens our ability to see beauty, to understand beauty.

So our world becomes more complex from thinking that Earth is flat.