Maths and Sex

Hungarian mathematician Farkas Wolfgang Bolyai once warned his son János about the alluring seduction of the study of mathematics. Yes I know . . . he REALLY did. He is quoted as saying

Hungarian mathematician Farkas Wolfgang Bolyai once warned his son János about the alluring seduction of the study of mathematics. Yes I know . . . he REALLY did. He is quoted as saying

For God's sake, please give it (mathematics) up! Fear it no less than the sensual passion, because it, too, may take up all our time and deprive you of your health, peace of mind and happiness in life!!

I know what you're saying, "Why didn't MY father have the courage to tell that to ME when I was younger?"

Very few people can even come close to understanding the comparison made by Bolyai the elder, much less agree with it. Most people are perfectly content with their inability to grasp the finer points of mathematics and even wear their disgust of the subject as a badge of honor. Those who actually DO like it, including me, would never go as far as to say my math "addiction" is cause my health to decline, disrupting my sanity, or sapping me of any joy, although I HAVE had a few sleepness nights because of an unresolved problem.

To put mathematics up their with sensual pleasures is a sad indictment for Mr. Bolyai and his unexciting life. I'm pretty sure he didn't get invited to too many parties.

But Bolyai the junior did not heed his father's advice. What good son ever does? In fact, he persisted with renewed determination in his studies and eventually reconciled the issue of Euclid's "Parallel Postulate," the very thing his father specifically wanted him to abandon!

Upon his victory with the math problem, János conceded, "Out of nothingness, I have created a strange new universe," something he had lots of practice with as he had created many imaginary friends along the way, friends who actually liked talking about math the may giddy youngsters talk about a dirty magazine. For his mathematical defiance, the younger Bolyai exceede his father's mathematical abilities as well as his abilities to handle a cold, isolated, boring life. It seems fitting that the Boylai crater on the cold, distant, isolated Moon bears his name.

So how many people out there feel as Farkas Wolfgang Bolyai?


Check out at Google Trends: http://google.com/trends

Type in: maths, sex

The data and graphs shows that the word "sex" is 49 times more likely to be searched for than
"maths," not surprising, yet surprisingly less of a difference than you might expect.

I this because we math teachers are doing such and outstanding job that the general
population knows more about "maths" than "sex" and hence doesn't need to search on it as often.

There was one troubling statistic. The denizens of Farnborough in the UK actually searched for the word 'maths' approximately 3 times MORE frequently than they searched for the word 'sex', clearly bucking the international trend.

What's going on in Farnborough????????? . . .

Are these the little Bolyais of the world concentrated in one area, or is something else at play?

Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, and fiction has to make sense.