MATHEMATICS, AND THEATER

The Professor begins to walk in the same direction in which he was, shortly before that second that preceded the moment; five steps later he hears a noise; it was a drop; a drop falling on the sidewalk at a pace that could only be defined by the second or the third window that follows Peppe's hair salon. He feel the smell of jasmines; he confirms his intuition: it is the third window, he thinks. He continues his march with complete temperance, he carries his cane in his hand, his gray beret is tilted slightly to the right.

The Professor walks to the rhythm of the wind, with a soul full of youth, he walks full of innocence and curiosity. His smile shines with every laugh, with every spring flower. The Professor walks with his mind in ecstasy; look into the eyes of passers-by, statues, the Sun, the Moon. He walks with his head held high, he only looks at the ground to remember his land, the one that sees him walk in that moment where the pain passes fleetingly to remind him of his human condition from time to time. Not that condition of the end, but that which corresponds to the middle, to the world of tactics and not of dreams.

In Bologna it is said that the walls speak, that they are the voice of the city. This myth is already known to the Professor, who can be seen from time to time with his ear glued to any wall in the city. In that transition between the current Age of Knowledge and the next: the Age of Imagination, in Italy, when one opens the doors of the Posta Italiana, also known as “the post office” in Argentina, one finds oneself in front of a rectangular space. In front of you are all the customer service boxes, known as gli sportelli, in parallel. All the boxes are placed in parallel, and one stands in a line, waiting for their turn, according to the numbering that the machine triggers when taking their turn. Basically a FIFO, First-In-First-Out process is followed. The ticket also tells you how long you have to wait, in the case of the Professor, it was 10 minutes.

RECEPTIONIST: Sportello 7!

THE PROFESSOR: My turn, he says. How quickly time passes when you do what you love.

RECEPTIONIST: Buongiorno, Signore. (Good day sir.)

THE PROFESSOR: Buongiorno, per cortesia, mi potrebbe dare questo pacco? (Good morning, please, could you give me this package?)

RECEPTIONIST: Certo, fra pochi minuti il mio collega si lo porterà. (Of course, in a few minutes my partner will bring it to you.)

The PROFESSOR: Grazie mille. (Thank you so much.)

RECEPTIONIST: Prego, Signore. (You are welcome sir.)

At that moment, in sportello number three, a young woman, about 25 years old, arrives. The Professor notices a particular language; He cannot identify it, and continues listening to the conversation between the young woman and the receptionist at the sportello tre for a few minutes.

YOUNG WOMAN: Hello, my registration number is UNIBO-1920, University of Bologna, Faculty of Art and Science. I want to leave an oral message about the progress of my thesis titled “Mathematics and Theater”, for the STEAM innovation table Number 2. The young woman narrates out loud:

YOUNG WOMAN: Write, please, madam: “Dear professors, on this occasion, I will transmit to you my latest reflections, corresponding to my thesis, thus completing the third phase of the process of juxtaposition of disciplines, according to the program of the European Academy S.T.E.A.M.

MATHEMATICS AND THEATER, for example, are born from the same tree of knowledge. Both are chains of symbols, both are types of language, both have the purpose of transmitting a message, both allow us to expand the knowledge of our society.

The overlap of mathematics with theater can be seen from a paradox. A paradox, which mathematics, when it can, resolves through an operation known as “saving an indeterminacy”, which, in short, takes place when in an equation it is necessary to stir up, for example, the arithmetic calculation of division. from zero to zero. It is not possible to divide “nothing, by nothing itself.”

The trick of “saving an indeterminacy” consists of transforming the internal operations of the equation, that is, the composition of divisions, multiplications, powers, roots, etc., always respecting the rules of the game, and rewriting the equation in another way, to be resolved through “notions”, which are very close to “perceptions”, or “intuitions”.

Since the operation does not result in a certain number, such as 1 or 0, we seek to observe it in an alternative way, that is, we seek to transform the internal compositions of the operation, so that it transmits the message to us, so that it gives us the knowledge we need.

Then, it is perceived that one or another operation “tends to be a certain value”, which is not 1, exactly, and we could not affirm that it is 1, but that, in infinity, yes, indeed, it would be 1, although We will never really be able to know for sure, due to the impossibility of reaching infinity to observe the result. Here is the paradox from the perspective of mathematics.

In theater, similarly, symbolic representation is not described by numerical symbols, but by a chain of acts. Each act, in turn, has internal operations, which are seen in the form of characters, in the furniture of the set, in the costumes, in the makeup, in the singing, in the music, in the lights, it is a chain of symbols with immersive characteristics, since it creates information, using the five senses.

The lack of synergy of one of the operations of the theater, in some act, such as a poor interpretation of one of the characters, by one of the actors, makes us fall into indeterminacy, that is, into something that is not we cannot see, nor perceive, nor intuit.

There are plays that, in their development, have “salvable” indeterminations, which consists of transforming the character, always respecting the rules of the game, until it is possible to observe, intuit, or perceive where its message “tends.”

MATHEMATICS AND THEATER are two types of representations of the same reality; both disciplines are part of the same mirror; the mirror where the world looks into its eyes; the mirror where one identifies, recognizes, loves, and rejects oneself. From the eyes of the scientist, Mathematics has its streets of light, and its streets of shadows. From the eyes of the artist, the Theater has its streets of light, and its streets of shadows. Mathematics describes the same reality as Theater. “Both coincide, both in their lights and in their shadows.”

End of message.

At the end of the young woman's words, the Professor smiles, breathes in the aroma of jasmine, and begins to walk towards the large exit door, while he begins to travel through his imagination, remembering the moment in which, on his expedition in search of the Pearl of the West, saw the Italian film titled “Gas Station” by Olga Torrico.

It was an author's short film, with which, it was said that “The Poet” had known cinema, and in addition, it was said that it had been a very special moment in his life, which had allowed him to definitively connect with poetry, and compose the melody of his journey between the paths of Science and Art.

The story goes that The Poet was in the city of Caserta, in Southern Italy. It was there that he met a young Italian director and film actress named Olga T.. At that moment, while the Poet was sitting on the side of the road on the grass of a service station in Campania, a troupe appeared. that would imminently start spinning a film.

The Poet takes the afternoon to witness the spectacle, until, at one point, Olga, in the role of Alice, says: “Music has saved me so many times.” At that moment, The Poet's mind is lost in a deep, dark tunnel, to see the sun, on an old locomotive, which travels in black and white, in a sea of sensations, for an entire life.

After an intense facial metamorphosis, which represented the beginning of the roar of Etna, shortly before erupting, in a sea of shooting stars, a flute sounds, a sweet, delicate melody, and a young one. “Poetry has saved me so many times,” thought The Poet that day, and like a snake from the east, to the rhythm of a charming melody, his heart rose towards the sky, like the rocks do in the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, like The pyramids do it between the Sun and the desert, as the Alps do in Bolzano, as the Myrtles do in a forest on the edge of Lake Nahuel Huapi, as the clouds do, as the fire does, as the carbon until it is a brilliant Sapphire.

At that time, in that transition between the Age of Knowledge and the Age of Imagination, the Italian Government had had the idea of continuing to use the branches of the Posta Italiana, but as spaces to stimulate creativity, and transmit knowledge about new technologies to people over 70 and enhance with this the unexplored market of the Knowledge Economy, which at that time was called the Economy of the Imagination, using the combination of Art and Science with a transdisciplinary vision of the disciplines.

The use of Posta Italiana is simple, it works with the same system as the old Posta Italiana, when it was operational in the Age of Knowledge, but the moments of interaction between people are the focuses of creativity. The conversation with the receptionist, the waiting in lines, the conversation in the box next door, each and every one of the possibilities of spontaneous conversations in an old Posta, in the Age of Imagination is possible.

So, the elderly, and the young, spend a few minutes at the Posta, sometimes they spend long hours in the waiting line, and they talk, they talk about recipes, about art, about science, about mathematics. They also learn about new technologies, as continuous training is offered to incorporate new knowledge.

Even in that future, three of the five most influential startups in the world came from Posta Italiana, and thus Madame C. became the most disruptive retired startup of the moment, and at the same time the richest person on the planet, with her idea. revolutionary in terms of Organic Digital Technology, having created the first MVP of a quantum computer composed of 80% biological components.

By Franco Bogliolo, The Poet.

Founder of Free Consulting Group