This personal exploration of mathematics, physics, and computation represents the collection of insights from the author’s journey through the interconnected landscape of scientific knowledge. It presents conceptual understanding, problem-solving approaches, and original lines of reasoning across the mathematical and physical sciences.
What began as reflections on unanswered questions lying beyond the formal curriculum evolved into an exhilarating intellectual journey for the author. This book is a collection of the most rewarding parts of that journey. Across the chapters, readers will find mathematical arguments rooted in first principles, such as determining the length of factorials and how expanding cubes can solve cubic equations. Subsequently, they will discover satisfying explanations behind physical phenomena like wave optics, how wheels move despite having stationary contact points, and exactly how strongly magnets pull each other. The journey is rounded out with explorations of intriguing puzzles and combinatorial games solved using computational methods.
From fundamental mathematical proofs to intricacies of physical reality, this work demonstrates the importance of asking and understanding the “why” behind everything.