Life is Math

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Life is complicated yet simple. Objective yet subjective. And timely yet timeless.

No wonder people gravitate towards philosophy: making sense of our being is weird and complex. But completely necessary.

As a freshman at the University of Portland, I read The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life. It was the first philosophy book I read. And I loved it. I am fascinated by asking questions about why we live and how we should live.

Equally fascinating is the amplitude of philosophical beliefs out there. Taoism is concerned with the search for meaning, whereas Confucianism deals with social matters. Both attempt to distill our existence into guiding principles, but the teachings are felt differently. The array of existing philosophies isn't a knock on any one set of beliefs; it just illuminates the subjectivity of life. We are all different.

One philosophy that doesn't get the attention it deserves is math.

Formerly known as "the human computer," Shakuntala Dev famously wrote, "What is mathematics? It is only a systematic effort of solving puzzles posed by nature." In that sense, mathematics is the purest philosophy as it objectively attempts to solve the puzzles of our existence.

But can life be explained by math? Most people would say no. And even the greatest math theorists disagree about math philosophy. The formalists would argue that the systems of math work the way they do because of the way we constructed them. In contrast, empiricists believe that math is entirely based on observations of how things work in nature.

I'm not here to argue one or the other or convince you that life is math. But I am going to unpack this fascinating Quora thread. The question posed is: what is the mathematical equation of life?

The thread features many attempts at simplifying life into a mathematical formula. Some of them do a better job than others, but they all can teach us something about life.

The first equation that caught my eye was posted by an anonymous account. It read: "Share your happiness, the happiness doubles up. Share your sadness, the sadness is halved." I'm not sure that sharing your happiness leads to more happiness, but I do believe that opening up about your sadness can alleviate it. Vulnerability is often thought of as a weakness. But as Brene Brown puts it, "when you shut down vulnerability, you shut down opportunity."

I often remind myself that vulnerability is the path to strength and opportunity. But only if I surrender to my insecurities. And that's not always easy. Being vulnerable is uncomfortable, unsettling, and downright scary sometimes. But, by not being vulnerable, you're forgoing the chance to be courageous. And I know I've only been on this earth for twenty-three ears, but good things happen on the other side of courage.

Eight years ago, Stephanie V. eloquently wrote: "1+1=3." The equation doesn't infer that one apple plus another gives you three apples. Instead, Stephanie was pointing to the power of two. Two people. When you are alone, you can only go so far. But when you team up with someone, a friend, colleague, or lifelong partner, your runway increases – you can go further.

Perhaps I'm not the most qualified to write about finding a lifelong partner, as I have yet to find one, but I can tell you not a day goes by that I don't think about it. To me, the greatest treasure you can find in life is another person to explore the world with. It sounds cliche, but it's not. I've witnessed the power of two in my life.

My mother and father proved to my siblings and me that one plus one could equal three when you're talking about the power of people. Two people working together invariably add to sums greater than their individual parts.

Getting more technical, Sahil Baid laid out the beautiful equation: life = sin(t) where t is time.

He says, "We are empty handed and have absolutely nothing when life begins. Similar is our condition when life ends. Our life, at every stage, is made of ups and downs, highs and lows, achievements and failures."

I disagree with Sahil about our condition when life ends – we are full of memories and life when we die – but for the model's sake, it checks out.

This formula reminds me that most things in life ebb and flow. When I asked a fellow grad student for advice on tackling economics at the graduate level, he said, "remember that everything has seasons." How profound? The whole reason I study economics is to help people understand the world around them, and here I have a fellow student – who is further in the program than I am – remind me that everything has seasons. It's ironic, isn't it?

He was referring to economics directly. But he indirectly reminded me that life is a series of ebbs and flows, much like Sahil's equation.

Not to get too granular, but this equation can also explain what happens to our being after we die. Biologically speaking, we are physically removed from the present world when we die, but that doesn't mean our footsteps aren't alive and well. The sin function is indefinite – meaning it continues forever. We will all perish someday, but the footprints we leave exist for the rest of time.

By the off-chance that someone one thousand years from now is reading this article, hello 👋 I hope you are well.

The expression with the most IRONy is L + i + Fe = 0, where L is momentum, i is complexity, and Fe is the chemical symbol of Iron. It's equal to zero because, as far as I know, no one has made it out alive. There aren't as many insights to be derived from this expression as some of the others, but it was funny nonetheless.

The final equation – and the best one – was posted in 2018 by Saurabh Misra. He writes ⬇️

To maximize this equation and your life, you must be present, which is easier said than done. But maybe this equation can help us. Consider for a moment the three greatest time commitments in your life. For me, it is learning (school), working, and training. Once you have your three, ask yourself, "do I want my life to be equal to the sum of the moments I collect in each of these areas?" If the answer is yes, you're setting yourself up for a great life. If the answer is no, what would you switch out? Where can you make a change? Reflecting on where your best moments have occurred can help clarify where your future best moments are hiding.

Because our lives are a collection of moments, I'd opt for an aggressive investing strategy. And if finance isn't your cup of tea, try to dominate time of possession; you want to be on offense.

But being on offense doesn't mean searching for moments; it means actively taking each moment for what it is. The goal isn't to have more moments than someone else or better ones; it's to craft a portfolio of moments that, upon reflection, make you feel whole.

Can a math equation explain life? I don't know. These attempts are noble, but I'm unsure if they paint the entire picture. I'll leave you with this:

Keep crushing.

Cheers,

Noah Cracknell

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