Learn about the 5 most important mathematical equations that changed our knowledge of the world

Mathematics is a very abstract language where we can all agree on one understanding of what each letter in it means

What distinguishes those letters and symbols that are found in mathematical equations is that they contain the least possible amount of language, when we use words the meanings change from one person to another and from one culture to another, but mathematics is a very abstract language, so that we can all agree on one understanding of what It means every letter in it.

Despite the simplicity and elegance of expression within each mathematical equation, its results are enormous, a few equations that you can write in less than one page that will accurately explain your route by car during a full working day and predict the minute you will arrive home.

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Therefore, equations have always been the most powerful tool of science, and in this article we rely on the book “In Pursuit of Unknown: 17 Equations that Changed the World” by Ian Stewart, the British mathematician and writer, To present 5 equations that changed the shape of the world.

Mass and energy

In Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, the most famous equation in the history of science appears to date, which says that the energy with the symbol "E" (E) is equal to the mass "M" (M) multiplied by the square of the speed of light "C" (C), and that equation means that Mass and energy are two sides of the same coin, so we can use it by converting a small amount of matter into a large amount of energy, and this is clearly shown in the atomic bomb.

Phitagors theory

We do not know exactly when the Pythagorean theorem first appeared. Some historians believe that it appeared more than a thousand years before the birth of the Greek mathematician Pythagoras of Samos (570-495 BC). The theorem says that the sum of the squares of the two sides of a right angle in any right triangle The angle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse.

We know that this equation is fundamental to almost everything in our lives, in the engineering of buildings and bridges for example, and in controlling distances in the work of surveying, and you can trace its impact down to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.

Maxwell's equations

You're using Maxwell's equations now even if you don't know it. They describe the rules by which electricity and magnetism work in your phone, as well as the light coming to your face. These equations provide a mathematical model for electrical, optical and radio technologies, such as electric power generation, electric motors, wireless communications, lenses and radar. and so on.

From this idea you can understand the importance of that handful of strange symbols called "Maxwell's equations", because they were compiled by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell in the 19th century, and many other scientists contributed with them.

Schrödinger equation

Formulated by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1933, it is an equation that describes how a quantum state changes into a physical system with time, and it is important to Newton's second law of motion, which states that if a force acts on a body, it gains acceleration directly proportional to its strength and inversely proportional to its mass.

The "quantum state" is almost the strangest thing in physics, in which a subatomic particle exists with all its possibilities together. There is a thought experiment called "Schrödinger's cat" that explains that idea, in the experiment a cat is placed in a closed box with a radioactive substance that is 50% likely to decay and thus Kill the cat, here the principle of quantum superposition sees that the cat is alive and dead at the same time, because the atom in quantum mechanics is both decomposing and non-decaying at the same time. The role of the Schrödinger equation is to predict the final result of such systems in the language of probabilities.

law of universal attraction

In this law reached by Isaac Newton more than 200 years ago, we learn that the gravitational quotient between two bodies is directly proportional to their masses “M” and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them “R” (R), for this reason, if the moon is a little closer to the Earth He would have fallen into it, and if he moved a little further from it, he would have flown into space forever.

In its simplicity, the law of universal gravitation contributes to building an accurate interpretation of every object in the solar system, all planets, moons, asteroids and comets, and has been used for dozens of years to describe our entire solar world without the need to travel to its outskirts. It is a force, but rather a distortion of space itself.