Friday, March 28, 2014

"17" by Bartholomew Stewart

Seventeen. It’s an awfully weird number to write about, but here I am writing about it anyways. Seventeen. Numbers have different meanings in different walks of life. In chemistry, it represents the atomic number for chlorine. On the football team, that’s Jack’s number. Speaking for myself, numbers are interesting; even though some might say, “So what, I’ve been able to count since Kindergarten?” Numbers are so interesting because they represent so many diverse things. Mathematically, numbers can represent vast and enormous unknown quantities. Conversely, they could represent quantities so minute that they bring into question whether or not they are even significant at all. Decimals, fractions, rational numbers, irrational numbers. Whole numbers, natural numbers, integers. The list goes on and on.

Not only do numbers represent an infinite number of quantities, but there also an infinite number of classifications for each set of numbers. All numbers are significant, no matter the magnitude. The zeroes and ones which make up binary code are the foundation of all computers, and are especially significant, because without those numbers, there would be no computers, DVD players, Netflix, and the Herndon Robotics Team definitely wouldn’t be able to create a fully functional 120-lbs robot. Numbers can be built upon, in order to understand highly advanced principles.

Numbers just go on and on and on. They define the world around us. Numbers are infinite in two ways: There is an infinite quantity of numbers, and there is an infinite quantity of numbers between each of those numbers. For example, there are an infinite number of values between one and two. Numbers define us, and everything around us. So, the next time you find yourself, or someone you know cursing numbers, or their math class, just think: “What would I do without them?”

No comments:

Post a Comment

"Ivy League School" by Monica Cody

When I was a young child, I knew that I wanted to go to Harvard. To study what, I don’t know. I barely knew what Harvard was, other than th...