11/16/2015

17EquationsThatChangedTheWorldBusinessInsider

The17equationsthatchangedthe
courseofhistory
ANDYKIERSZ
MAR.12,2014,11:38AM

Mathematicsisallaroundus,andithasshapedourunderstandingoftheworldincountless
ways.
In2013,mathematicianandscienceauthorIanStewartpublishedabookon17EquationsThat
ChangedTheWorld.WerecentlycameacrossthisconvenienttableonDr.PaulCoxon'stwitter
accountbymathematicstutorandbloggerLarryPhillipsthatsummarizestheequations.(Our
explanationofeachisbelow):

http://www.businessinsider.com/17equationsthatchangedtheworld20143

1/8

11/16/2015

17EquationsThatChangedTheWorldBusinessInsider

LarryPhillips,via@paulcoxononTwitter

Hereisalittlebitmoreaboutthesewonderfulequationsthathaveshapedmathematicsand
humanhistory:
1)ThePythagoreanTheorem:Thistheoremisfoundationaltoourunderstandingof
geometry.Itdescribestherelationshipbetweenthesidesofarighttriangleonaflatplane:
squarethelengthsoftheshortsides,aandb,addthosetogether,andyougetthesquareofthe
lengthofthelongside,c.
This
http://www.businessinsider.com/17equationsthatchangedtheworld20143

2/8

11/16/2015

17EquationsThatChangedTheWorldBusinessInsider

relationship,in
someways,
actually
distinguishes
ournormal,flat,
Euclidean
geometryfrom
curved,non
Euclidean
geometry.For
example,aright
triangledrawn
onthesurfaceof
asphereneed
notfollowthe
Pythagorean
theorem.

Shutterstock/igor.stevanovic

2)Logarithms:Logarithmsaretheinverses,oropposites,ofexponentialfunctions.A
logarithmforaparticularbasetellsyouwhatpoweryouneedtoraisethatbasetotogeta
number.Forexample,thebase10logarithmof1islog(1)=0,since1=100log(10)=1,since10
=101andlog(100)=2,since100=102.
Theequationinthegraphic,log(ab)=log(a)+log(b),showsoneofthemostusefulapplications
oflogarithms:theyturnmultiplicationintoaddition.
Untilthedevelopmentofthedigitalcomputer,thiswasthemostcommonwaytoquickly
multiplytogetherlargenumbers,greatlyspeedingupcalculationsinphysics,astronomy,and
engineering.
3)Calculus:Theformulagivenhereisthedefinitionofthederivativeincalculus.The
derivativemeasurestherateatwhichaquantityischanging.Forexample,wecanthinkof
velocity,orspeed,asbeingthederivativeofpositionifyouarewalkingat3milesperhour,
theneveryhour,youhavechangedyourpositionby3miles.
Naturally,muchofscienceisinterestedinunderstandinghowthingschange,andthederivative
andtheintegraltheotherfoundationofcalculussitattheheartofhowmathematiciansand
scientistsunderstandchange.

WikimediaCommons

IsaacNewton

http://www.businessinsider.com/17equationsthatchangedtheworld20143

4)LawofGravity:
Newton'slawof
gravitationdescribes
theforceofgravity
betweentwoobjects,
F,intermsofa
universalconstant,G,
themassesofthetwo
objects,m1andm2,
andthedistance
betweentheobjects,
r.Newton'slawisa
remarkablepieceof
scientifichistoryit
explains,almost
perfectly,whythe
planetsmoveinthe
waytheydo.Also
remarkableisits
3/8

11/16/2015

17EquationsThatChangedTheWorldBusinessInsider

universalnature
thisisnotjusthowgravityworksonEarth,orinoursolarsystem,butanywhereintheuniverse.
Newton'sgravityheldupverywellfortwohundredyears,anditwasnotuntilEinstein'stheory
ofgeneralrelativitythatitwouldbereplaced.
5)Thesquarerootof1:Mathematicianshavealwaysbeenexpandingtheideaofwhat
numbersactuallyare,goingfromnaturalnumbers,tonegativenumbers,tofractions,tothereal
numbers.Thesquarerootof1,usuallywritteni,completesthisprocess,givingrisetothe
complexnumbers.
Mathematically,thecomplexnumbersaresupremelyelegant.Algebraworksperfectlytheway
wewantittoanyequationhasacomplexnumbersolution,asituationthatisnottrueforthe
realnumbers:x2+4=0hasnorealnumbersolution,butitdoeshaveacomplexsolution:the
squarerootof4,or2i.Calculuscanbeextendedtothecomplexnumbers,andbydoingso,we
findsomeamazingsymmetriesandpropertiesofthesenumbers.Thosepropertiesmakethe
complexnumbersessentialinelectronicsandsignalprocessing.
6)Euler's
Polyhedra
Formula:Polyhedra
arethethree
dimensionalversions
ofpolygons,likethe
cubetotheright.The
cornersofa
polyhedronarecalled
itsvertices,thelines
connectingthe
verticesareitsedges,
andthepolygons
coveringitareits
faces.
Acubehas8vertices,
Acube.
12edges,and6faces.
IfIaddthevertices
andfacestogether,
andsubtracttheedges,Iget8+612=2.

WikimediaCommons

Euler'sformulastatesthat,aslongasyourpolyhedronissomewhatwellbehaved,ifyouaddthe
verticesandfacestogether,andsubtracttheedges,youwillalwaysget2.Thiswillbetrue
whetheryourpolyhedronhas4,8,12,20,oranynumberoffaces.
Euler'sobservationwasoneofthefirstexamplesofwhatisnowcalledatopologicalinvariant
somenumberorpropertysharedbyaclassofshapesthataresimilartoeachother.Theentire
classof"wellbehaved"polyhedrawillhaveV+FE=2.Thisobservation,alongwithwith
Euler'ssolutiontotheBridgesofKonigsburgproblem,pavedthewaytothedevelopmentof
topology,abranchofmathessentialtomodernphysics.
7)Normaldistribution:Thenormalprobabilitydistribution,whichhasthefamiliarbellcurve
graphtotheleft,isubiquitousinstatistics.
Thenormalcurveisusedinphysics,biology,andthesocialsciencestomodelvarious
properties.Oneofthereasonsthenormalcurveshowsupsooftenisthatitdescribesthe
behavioroflargegroupsofindependentprocesses.
8)WaveEquation:
http://www.businessinsider.com/17equationsthatchangedtheworld20143

4/8

11/16/2015

17EquationsThatChangedTheWorldBusinessInsider

Thisisadifferential
equation,oran
equationthatdescribes
howapropertyis
changingthroughtime
intermsofthat
property'sderivative,
asabove.Thewave
equationdescribesthe
behaviorofwavesa
vibratingguitarstring,
ripplesinapondafter
astoneisthrown,or
economicshelp.org

Thenormaldistribution.

lightcomingoutofan
incandescentbulb.The
waveequationwasan
earlydifferential
equation,andthe

techniquesdevelopedtosolvetheequationopenedthedoortounderstandingotherdifferential
equationsaswell.
9)FourierTransform:TheFouriertransformisessentialtounderstandingmorecomplex
wavestructures,likehumanspeech.Givenacomplicated,messywavefunctionlikearecording
ofapersontalking,theFouriertransformallowsustobreakthemessyfunctionintoa
combinationofanumberofsimplewaves,greatlysimplifyinganalysis.
TheFouriertransformisattheheartofmodernsignalprocessingandanalysis,anddata
compression.
10)NavierStokesEquations:Likethewaveequation,thisisadifferentialequation.The
NavierStokesequationsdescribesthebehaviorofflowingfluidswatermovingthroughapipe,
airflowoveranairplanewing,orsmokerisingfromacigarette.Whilewehaveapproximate
solutionsoftheNavierStokesequationsthatallowcomputerstosimulatefluidmotionfairly
well,itisstillanopenquestion(withamilliondollarprize)whetheritispossibletoconstruct
mathematicallyexactsolutionstotheequations.
11)Maxwell'sEquations:Thissetoffourdifferentialequationsdescribesthebehaviorofand
relationshipbetweenelectricity(E)andmagnetism(H).
Maxwell'sequationsaretoclassicalelectromagnetismasNewton'slawsofmotionandlawof
universalgravitationaretoclassicalmechanicstheyarethefoundationofourexplanationof
howelectromagnetismworksonadaytodayscale.Aswewillsee,however,modernphysics
reliesonaquantummechanicalexplanationofelectromagnetism,anditisnowclearthatthese
elegantequationsarejustanapproximationthatworkswellonhumanscales.
12)SecondLawofThermodynamics:Thisstatesthat,inaclosedsystem,entropy(S)is
alwayssteadyorincreasing.Thermodynamicentropyis,roughlyspeaking,ameasureofhow
disorderedasystemis.Asystemthatstartsoutinanordered,unevenstatesay,ahotregion
nexttoacoldregionwillalwaystendtoevenout,withheatflowingfromthehotareatothe
coldareauntilevenlydistributed.
http://www.businessinsider.com/17equationsthatchangedtheworld20143

5/8

11/16/2015

17EquationsThatChangedTheWorldBusinessInsider

Thesecondlawofthermodynamicsisoneofthefewcasesinphysicswheretimemattersinthis
way.Mostphysicalprocessesarereversiblewecanruntheequationsbackwardswithout
messingthingsup.Thesecondlaw,however,onlyrunsinthisdirection.Ifweputanicecubein
acupofhotcoffee,wealwaysseetheicecubemelt,andneverseethecoffeefreeze.
13)Relativity:Einstein
radicallyalteredthe
courseofphysicswith
histheoriesofspecial
andgeneralrelativity.
TheclassicequationE=
mc2statesthatmatter
andenergyare
equivalenttoeachother.
Specialrelativitybrought
inideaslikethespeedof
lightbeingauniversal
speedlimitandthe
passageoftimebeing
differentforpeople
movingatdifferent
speeds.

AssociatedPress

AlbertEinstein

General
relativitydescribes
gravityasacurvingandfoldingofspaceandtimethemselves,andwasthefirstmajorchangeto
ourunderstandingofgravitysinceNewton'slaw.Generalrelativityisessentialtoour
understandingoftheorigins,structure,andultimatefateoftheuniverse.
14)Schrodinger'sEquation:Thisisthemainequationinquantummechanics.Asgeneral
relativityexplainsouruniverseatitslargestscales,thisequationgovernsthebehaviorofatoms
andsubatomicparticles.
Modernquantummechanicsandgeneralrelativityarethetwomostsuccessfulscientifictheories
inhistoryalloftheexperimentalobservationswehavemadetodateareentirelyconsistent
withtheirpredictions.Quantummechanicsisalsonecessaryformostmoderntechnology
nuclearpower,semiconductorbasedcomputers,andlasersareallbuiltaroundquantum
phenomena.
15)InformationTheory:TheequationgivenhereisforShannoninformationentropy.As
withthethermodynamicentropygivenabove,thisisameasureofdisorder.Inthiscase,it
measurestheinformationcontentofamessageabook,aJPEGpicturesentontheinternet,or
anythingthatcanberepresentedsymbolically.TheShannonentropyofamessagerepresentsa
lowerboundonhowmuchthatmessagecanbecompressedwithoutlosingsomeofitscontent.
Shannon'sentropymeasurelaunchedthemathematicalstudyofinformation,andhisresultsare
centraltohowwecommunicateovernetworkstoday.
16)ChaosTheory:ThisequationisMay'slogisticmap.Itdescribesaprocessevolvingthrough
timext+1,thelevelofsomequantityxinthenexttimeperiodisgivenbytheformulaonthe
right,anditdependsonxt,thelevelofxrightnow.kisachosenconstant.Forcertainvaluesof
http://www.businessinsider.com/17equationsthatchangedtheworld20143

6/8

11/16/2015

17EquationsThatChangedTheWorldBusinessInsider

k,themapshowschaoticbehavior:ifwestartatsomeparticularinitialvalueofx,theprocess
willevolveoneway,butifwestartatanotherinitialvalue,evenoneveryveryclosetothefirst
value,theprocesswillevolveacompletelydifferentway.
Weseechaoticbehaviorbehaviorsensitivetoinitialconditionslikethisinmanyareas.
Weatherisaclassicexampleasmallchangeinatmosphericconditionsononedaycanleadto
completelydifferentweathersystemsafewdayslater,mostcommonlycapturedintheideaofa
butterflyflappingitswingsononecontinentcausingahurricaneonanothercontinent.
17)BlackScholesEquation:Anotherdifferentialequation,BlackScholesdescribeshow
financeexpertsandtradersfindpricesforderivatives.Derivativesfinancialproductsbasedon
someunderlyingasset,likeastockareamajorpartofthemodernfinancialsystem.
TheBlackScholesequationallowsfinancialprofessionalstocalculatethevalueofthesefinancial
products,basedonthepropertiesofthederivativeandtheunderlyingasset.

REUTERS/FrankPolich

HerearesometradersintheS&P500optionspitattheChicagoBoardOptions
Exchange.Youwon'tfindasinglepersonherethathasn'theardabouttheBlackScholes
equation.

NOWWATCH:WeCanGuessYourNameBasedOnWhatStateYou
LiveIn

http://www.businessinsider.com/17equationsthatchangedtheworld20143

7/8

11/16/2015

17EquationsThatChangedTheWorldBusinessInsider

More:MathEquationsHistory

http://www.businessinsider.com/17equationsthatchangedtheworld20143

8/8