Numbers

Did God use numbers to create nature as understood by humans, OR

 humans created numbers to understand God’s creation ..? 

“Numbers are emotional, and financial calculations are personal … 

no wonder prices always remain in motion in stock markets.” ~ TheVIP

do numbers have behavior associated with them?

of course, everyone knows that numbers are meant for counting, but are numbers simply an abstract concept or is there a meaning to them ?

what i have described here is what goes in my head when i hear or think of a number ..  & like everything else that i learn, including numbers and counting, i like to define the boundaries first and then everything in between; so, let’s start with zero, one and infinity

first a top level view : ZERO (big zero) means when none of what we see around us existed – absolute nothing – right before this universe is created, from ZERO comes out something & a life begins … that life grows and grows and ultimately achieves its full potential … it becomes its one … & after achieving its full potential, it stops growing and starts decaying, & ultimately it turns to nothing – zero (little zero), & then transforms into a new life … while INFINITY  means everything – the earth, the moon, & the whole universe .. i mean everything – funny things is as universe is expanding – so is infinity over time … it’s not fixed ..!

whatever universe creation theory of life you believe in .. it starts from nothing; & as life begins, nothing becomes something & before i add on this topic, let me make an additional disclaimer that Biology is my weakest subject, so  please excuse me if i use a wrong analogy, with that in mind .. 

from zero, there comes a single cell organism like amoeba .. which is of the size of 2-3 micrometer or say slightly bigger than zero .. so each organism starts its life at a certain size and in its lifetime tries to achieve its full potential to become one ..  & then it dies to take a new life .. now instead of amoeba, if it takes the life of protozoa – a 2 cell organism –  so in terms counting, instead of one, we have two [cells]; however,  this 2 cell organism has its own beginning (zero) and reaches its full potential (one) before decaying .. so both amoeba and protozoa start from zero and reach their one .. assuming they start their life at the same time and grow at the same rate, at any point in time, a protozoa will be 2x of amoeba … too complicated …? 

in summary, when we see so many organisms around us, each of them has its zero, then they take a life form, which grows to its one & then dies to become zero .. similarly universe has its ZERO & then it started its life and is currently growing to becomes its ONE (which we call as infinity) and then it will die some day to become ZERO .. in Hinduism, this cycle is defined as yugas – Satyuga, Treta, Dwaper, & Kalyuga (present cycle) … the key hear is that zero, one and infinity have meaning in context of an individual life.

0: it all starts with zero .. creation starts from nothing  nothing is associated with Hindu Mythology: Shiva and by process of creation: Hindu Mythology: Brahma  comes out something 

0-1: all positive decimal numbers less than one: define the growth of a life (Hindu Mythology: Vishnu)  … moreover, these numbers should not be used  for comparison across two lives .. e.g. my half (of whatever) is not same as your half – it’s meant to be different .. this is crux of competition & jealousy in this world.

1: ultimately zero becomes one .. life achieves its full potential & then dies to become zero  (Hindu Mythology: Shiva to take a new life .. this is why Shiva not only signifies death, but a re-birth as well i.e.  creation (Brahma) – it’s a new zero in your individual context.

1.5: (1.0+0.5): before i jump to 2, there is an interesting number in between, which represents balance and beauty .. it’s recommended that an 8 hours of rest  (out of 24 hours in a day) is needed to live a balanced life … think of negotiations between two parties; most of them are settled in the middle – human behavior called win-win;  its a Fib ratio (2+1)/2 … also 0.5 (addition) to 1.0 is beauty … imagine how will they look if you change either their height or width .. or look at your face in the mirror & now imagine that there two noses (instead of one) in between ears .. how will you look? … more on this in the video below – beauty & math.

1.618 … (The golden ratio): between 1.5 & 2 is the golden ratio which is a combination of 1, 2 & 5 as  (1 + SQRT(5)) / 2, which denotes natural symmetry & beauty.

2: when 1 is joined by another 1, it signifies contrast as day & night (Universe), up & down, and left & right (physical world), long & short (stock market), gain & loss (financial world), zero & one (digital world) & complementary as Shiva & Shakti; man & woman – two complementary forces are needed to do re-production  … & the re-production behavior follows a sequence of of numbers called as Fibonacci sequence

2: as soon as 1 becomes 2, behaviorally, it starts competition as well as politics; life turns into a game of chess – which consists of moves and counter moves (2)… winner and loser (2), which gives rise to strategy; & in reverse, if you area unit of  ONE, there is no competition, no politics and it requires no strategy (3 less things to worry about) – kinda my life .. & a secret to my happiness ..!

3: trinity (Hindu Mythology: Brahma, Vishnu &  Mahesh); cycle of life (birth, development & growth, death & re-birth) – 3 is the most important number to explain the market behavior as it provides the simplest definition of a cycle.

3: types of power: knowledge/wisdom – Hindu Mythology: Saraswati; wealth – Hindu Mythology: Lakshmi; power – Hindu Mythology: Kali;  here also 3 signifies a cycle – wisdom leads to wealth and wealth leads to power.

4. US presidential cycle;  unlike other countries where governments come and go all the time, the US presidential cycle has been pretty constant even when the Presidents died, resigned or impeached; moreover, a business cycle matches the 4-yr cycle.

4: Earth’s path around the Sun is elliptical – has 4 quadrants, which completes one full cycle / one year … giving us 4 seasons … & out of 4 seasons, 2 are strong: summer and winter and the other two –  spring & fall – are weak / transitory nature.

4: a pendulum also has 4 quadrants – & most of the motions in this universe can be described in terms of a pendulum’s moves.

5: completeness: like 5 elements air, water, fire, earth & space form a life; human body consists of 72% water, 12% earth, 6% air, 4% fire & rest 6% is space; so, if i look at a collection of 5 items and they don’t signify completeness, then there is “something wrong with this picture ..!” … i am sure you would also feel same, as the phrase comes up in your head, but you never thought of the reason behind it.

5: topics addressed in Bhagvad.geeta – 1) Isvara (supreme God), 2) Jiva (soul, human) 3) prakurty (material nature) 4) kaal (time) and 5) karma (action); number 5 helps us describe human behavior from completeness perspective .. typically, there are 5 items in Hindu rituals, when presented to God … पंचामृत is made of five items 

7: unity (different from completeness, see below for a contrast between them): number of days in a week (interestingly, all cultures, which were developed independently around the world, have seven days in a week representing seven heavenly bodies around earth (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn) which can influence  human bodies in meaningful way, per Mr. Newton as the formulae for gravitational Force = G M m / r2

7: seven colors in a rainbow and seven notes in music (also known as chromatic scale) – how colors and sound are connected .. how unison of certain number of items brings something beautiful.

5 vs 7: you may have noticed between the examples of 5 vs 7 that 5 disparate elements / things become one by unison, while 7 elements of one vary by gradation; i.e. those 7 elements come out of one by division .. so depending on the design, a number is would make sense than the other.

8: is shaped as double zero – one on the top of the other, although when placed horizontally, 8 becomes infinity .. conceptually, infinity (everything) is same as zero (nothing) .. think when you have everything, it will feel like nothing because there is nothing to compare.  8 is also a non-stop cycle or perpetuity – a behavior of stock market; believed to be lucky in Chinese culture

9: is immutable and being eldest in the family has the most strength among all .. 9 becomes 18 & 27 & 36  & so on, but the sum of the digits still stays 9 – the most powerful but it is also the end [of the run] ..!

18: numbers of books in Mahabharata & chapters in Geeta & days of war in the battle of Kurushetra & number of mysteries in the Universe (Mysteries page) .. real-estate and stock market cycles .. how about someone’s b’day ..?

24: number of hours in a day; 24 avatars of Vishnu; number of Tirthankars in Jain Samaj

Hindu  Scriptures: Vedas: 4; Puranas: 18; Upnishads: 108; Vedangas: 6;  Shastras: 8; Sutras: 18 

– the key is how knowledge is organized /  structured by Ancient Indians using these numbers

– all these numbers are used in describing the human behavior & market cycles.

infinity (∞): into the vast unknown & unreachable; but can be experienced with blissfulness; when your expectations from life are not much and you get something, it feels like you got everything you need, that’s infinity ..!

e & π

e ( 2.71828 …): e as in Euler’s number explains natural or continuous growth; unlike man made things like economy, which is measured at discrete intervals, like quarterly; natural things like humans and plants grow continuously and their growth function involves e .. funny thing is, like most things in nature, e is an irrational number .. in other words, the natural growth is based on a number which is not even real; i.e nature doesn’t even allow man to find it  so he has to live with approx. .. or in reverse, the rational numbers are applicable for man made things, while nature has its own set .. now you know why a log based on e is called as natural logarithm versus 10 or 2 which are applicable in human domain.

π (3.14159 …): another nature’s mystery, the ratio of circumference to diameter,  shows up at so many places, although its a real number but with recursive decimal part .. i.e. man can never find it and so it remains a secret in nature’s domain.

the equation on the right shows the relationship between the two, also known as Euler’s identity, but the funny things is that Euler had to create something imaginary to connect the two beauties of nature, along with zero & one. 

real vs imaginary numbers

let me talk about the categories of numbers: like real versus imaginary numbers, rational versus irrational numbers & i didn’t understand the meaning behind those names until recently [as in Dec 2019] ; e.g. why we developed real and not so real i.e. imaginary numbers.

man has created a set of numbers system using 0-9 & their combinations with or without decimal points i.e. fractions to define and build his domain also known as the number line & uses them to understand nature’s domain … but a pure nature’s number (like e) can not be explained by these real & rational numbers  … it is funny & strange that to understand nature’s mysteries like e,  man had to invent something not so real; i.e. imaginary numbers – something that can’t be explained – starting with iota (i), which is square root of -1 & connect it with 0 & 1 to explain e (see Euler’s identity below)  … the reason we call them imaginary is because they don’t exist on number line (aka man’s domain) in contrast to all numbers; i.e. real, imaginary, rational & irrational – the nature’s domain.

prime numbers: among the numbers on number line, there are the ones who are a product of themselves; i.e. no help is required for them; single & solitary – hence they are not a product of two numbers, also known as prime numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 etc.

twin prime: among the prime, there are ones who build a relationship with their neighbors but also keep a fix distance or gap between, as shown below

(3, 5), (5, 7), (11, 13), (17, 19), (29, 31), (41, 43), (59, 61), (71, 73), (101, 103), (107, 109), (137, 139)

Numbers – An absolute thing

” चमत्कार हो रहे हैं आपके चारों ओर, सिर्फ आप अपनी इन्द्रियां खोले रखिये, उन्हें समझने के लिए और उनसे लाभ प्राप्त करने के लिए ” – वि आई पी 

even though the laws of physics are universal, its constants are not …  e.g. the boiling temperature of water changes with location due to change in atmospheric pressure; however, principles of mathematics & numbers are absolute .

Pythagoras theorem works the same way weather you are on earth or moon … & if you show an open hand anywhere in the world, regardless of culture or language, the observer  can understand that it means 5 (assuming you are not Hrithik Roshan & you as well as the observer both understand numbers)

mathematics is crystallization of logic – something that is absolute

the numbers have so much beauty in them; therefore, one of the fascinating question that i often ponder is: did humans create numbers to understand nature OR did nature create itself using numbers (which are discovered by humans)?

& if you have any opinion on this topic, we can have a great conversation & make lots of money, because it is all about knowing the cause & the effect.

earnings drive markets returns; however, returns can also be explained in terms of human behavior

we all have heard the term “two steps forward and one step backward” … a  well-known phenomenon in corporate as well as personal life … in any  organization (collection of people), there are forces which take them  forward and there are some which bring them backward … and such forces  exist almost everywhere …

given 2 to 1 ratio of forward and  backward forces (from 2 steps forward and 1 step backward) in the model,  let’s assume the same ratio applies to number of days when we  move forward versus backward in corporate or personal life … we all  have experienced both kind of days, right ! … further, assume that each  day we move forward, we have a growth of tiny 0.1%, and a backward move  day brings us at -0.1%  … so far, so good .?

now, let’s play with a few scenarios:

scenario 1: start the year with 1.0 (a unit) and divide the number of days in a  year (365) into forward vs backward (i.e. 243 & 122, due to  rounding) and calculate where we will be end up the end of the year,  using daily compounding

  => 1.0 * (1.001)^243 * (0.999)^122 = 1.13;
  => they would experience a 13% annual growth – close to S&P500 average return (growth & dividends)

now, let’s take couple of extreme cases:

scenario  2: a really bad organization, where each day feels like moving backward  … where folks arrive in the morning wondering why the hell we are here  ?  and if you haven’t had such experience, feel free to jump to the next  case ..!  such organization would end up from a 1.0 to …

  => 1.0 * (0.999)^365 = 0.69; implies they would lose 31% at the end of the year;
  => i.e. even an established organization can lose everything in 3-4 years
  => case in point: Sun Microsystems after dot com burst

scenario  3: another extreme case would be a start-up or an established corp.,  where we have a highly motivated and well coordinated team led by a  great leader where each day is a forward day the growth in such organization would be:

  => 1.0 * (1.001)^365 = 1.44;   
  => implies they would grow 44% or in vicinity when everyone is committed & directional
  => case in point: CISCO & Sun Microsystems during dot com growth era

scenario  1-1: as an extension to above hypothesis, i created another scenario,  where your boss is in tension as we are not growing fast enough … why  isn’t everyone working harder? … and you know the obvious suggestion by  humans (!) … let everyone work 10 hours instead of 8 (i.e. 25% extra  work) and see where we end up at the end of the year … let’s try mathematically …

=> 1.0 * (1.00125) ^243 * (0.99875)^122 = 1.16;    ah-ha … merely 3% improvement ..!

i think you got the picture … first, a company with employees with  positive attitude working in a constructive environment will garner much  higher growth than otherwise.

second, working extra hours don’t fix the issue, but getting rid of those  backward (negative) forces in the organization will … if you can’t get  rid of them, at least spend some time to minimize them … trust me, your  time will be well spent.

i took 0.1% daily growth as an  arbitrary number, but of course, different organization would have a  different number, but once the relative numbers between two  organizations would imply similar outcome … also, you may use 250  working days/year instead of 365 … but, the conclusion remains the same  ..!​​

nature & numbers

knowledge  in the [material] world is all about learning patterns in a domain …  wisdom is about using the knowledge of patterns in projecting the  outcome of a [repeated] event in future.

know that nature also follows these patterns

Pythagoras, his life and his teachings … including musical tones which are based on octave (mathematical ratios)

6th century BC, Greece …

From Greece to Italy …

Leonardo of Pisa, who wrote Liber Abaci &

gave us Fibonacci numbers in 12th century