Christmas Notes 1: Yuletide in Middle Earth

This is a guest post from a friend, Franklin "Glenn" de Guzman, a certified JRR Tolkien fanatic and his Lord of the Rings (LOTR) series and other novels. Glenn is a friend way back in UP in the 80s. He is an economist in academic and professional training, but deep inside, is a literary and poetic artist. I must admit that in many of his short novels and long poems, my comprehension of his work would be as low as 50 to 60 percent even if I re-read his works 2x or 3x. There is something about the use of very uncommon words and terms but are still found in dictionaries and possibly in wikipedia.

Glenn posted this in his facebook Notes yesterday, he tagged me. This piece is better appreciated by people who have read the LOTR, yes the 3 (thick) books series, which unfortunately disqualifies me as I have not read any of those books, but I saw the 3-parts movie.

Enjoy this folks. It's about Jesus, the evil, and the Middle Earth all rolled in a 3-in-1 masterpiece. I have a feeling though, that this is only the initial paper from Glenn. This guy is capable of producing long artistic works, so there may be a Part 2, even a Part 3, in the coming days or weeks...

Thanks Glenn, for agreeing to post this in my blog.

Cheers.
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A Christmas Retelling

Glenn de Guzman

Ere the beginning of the Fourth Age of the Shire-reckoning, following the departure of the Ring-bearers to the West, in the day that could not be forgotten, an event occurred that was greeted with awe and wonder, even beyond the realms of Arda. It began with the fashioning of a new star by Varda, one of the mightiest of the Valar (angels). The star’s appearance coincided with an event unheard of since the awakening of the elves during the time when Orome, another Valar, first found the elves wandering under the starlight in the eastern part of the Middle Earth.

And this newly-formed star started to seek its course in the heavens until it overshadowed all the stars, as though it was a huge globe of the Arkenstone with a thousand faces, sparkling like silver in the firelight during a black-smudged night. Below of which, the last batch of the elves at Grey Havens, the harbor nestled at the mouth of the Gulf of Lhûn, was about to board the ship that would take them out of the Middle Earth forever.

Suddenly, a Valar appeared to the elves, and the glory of Iluvatar (God) shone around them, and they were terrified.

Aiya! Ilyanna, (Hail! To all,) Ar nai Eruanna nauva aselye! (May the grace of God be with you!)

Cirdan the Shipwright, keeper of the Grey Havens, who was leading the elves upon the quay, recognized the face of the angel. He replied:

Aiya Manwe Elenior Au calima! (Hail Manwe, brightest of angels!) Elen sila lủmenń omentielvo. (A star shines on the hour of our meeting.)

Manwe said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the creatures of Middle Earth. Hear now things that have not been heard among elves, men, and dwarfs, and the High Elves speak seldom of these things; yet did Iluvatar, Lord of lords and King of kings whispered these to the Valars before in the deeps of time. Today in the Shire, a Savior will be born. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. The Valar -Aulë also summoned the dwarves of Erebor to the Shire. And at this moment, a host of men has issued forth from Minas Tirith led by the High King Eldarion, heir of Isildur and of Aragorn Ellesar, to pay homage to the child.”

The elves became exceedingly glad; for they realized that they would be accepted back in Valinor. They left the Light but now they are not shut out from it. The curse of the elves, at last, that started with the kinslaying during the sacking of the haven of Alqualondë by the followers of Fëanor, would be blotted out and remember no more.

And so it came to pass by that at the upper Vales of Anduin, a woman was riding a donkey being held out by a man, she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. Suddenly, there appeared another wonder above; and behold Ancalagon the Black, mightiest of the winged dragons, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the Void: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Pilipinas Forum 20: Turbulence, Chaos Theory and the Stockmarket

Another long exchange here (12 pages) in pilipinasforum yahoogroups more than 9 years ago, on turbulence and chaos theory, applied to business and economics, the stockmarket especially. Enjoy!
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Turbulence, Chaos Theory and the Stockmarket
Feb 2002

Our friend Fidel Nemenzo sent me this one related to Dr. Muriel's lecture tomorrow evening at WSPC, AIM re. "the application of turbulence theory in stocks trading". Fidel obtained his PhD Math from Sophia U, Japan; he's the only number theorist in this country. He's teaching now at UP Diliman.
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Pards, mukhang interesting ang lecture ni Dr Muriel sa AIM. Dr Muriel is known for his ideas on turbulence, the nature of which is one of the main problems of chaos theory. One of the characters in Jurassic Park, Ian Malcolm, was a chaos mathematician. Jurassic Park was an example of a non-linear dynam ical system. Conventional (or the common-view) science (Newtonian) says that the physical world is a machine, governed by equations. If one knows these equations, and all the "initial conditions" in a a given system, just plug in these "conditions" into the equations and you can predict what happens to the system. This is what the creator of Jurassic Park believed: if you know all the "equations" what govern everything in Jurassic Park and the behavior of its creatures, plus the most accurate observations of the system, then you can predict everything that can possibly happen, and maintain control over it. Sabi ni Ian Malcolm mahirap yan, at halos impossibleng i-predict kung ano ang pwedeng mangyari. Chaos can arise out of the most "orderly" situations. Which is what happened.

The central goal of chaos theory is the study of systems that exhibit chaotic or "random" behavior. Parang may contradiction dito: the search for order within disorder. May tula si Wallace Stevens, " ... A violent order is disorder, and a great disorder is an order. These two things are one." This describes what happens in most natural systems. (Or even "social" systems, like a crowd. The most orderly crowd can metamorphose into an unruly mob in an instant, just as the perfect storm may just be over the horizon of the calmest sea.)

Another example of a "chaotic" system is the stock market, thus the growing interest in the mathematical theory of chaos among economists. Stock brokers and currency traders know that prices quoted in any financial market can change unpredictably. Huge volumes of money are made or lost in sudden bursts of activity. Classical mathematical models of finance cannot explain this behavior, for volatility is central to the behavior of financial markets. Which is why new explanations of market behavior are being sought using ideas from chaos theory. Or even fractals-- pero saka ko na lang ito i-e-explain.

The way fluid flows, or the behavior of a plume of smoke-- these contain both order and disorder. The term physicists use is turbulence-- which is chaotic and unpredictable. The study of turbulence is a key problem in physics. Conventional theories may be able to explain the smooth flow of water when the tap is turned on lightly. But nothing explains the turbulent flow of water when the tap is strong. Dr Muriel has proposed a theory which explains such behavior. I guess that's what he hopes to do in his AIM talk-- to shed some light on the volatility and unpredictability (turbulence!) of financial markets using his ideas on fluid flow. Both types of systems exhibit essentially the same activity. I can't go to the lecture; kwentuhan mo na lang ako.

- Fidel Nemenzo

Chaos theory may well become one of the most important theoretical fields in the 21st century (aside from relativity and quantum physics). I have been fascinated with how seemingly innocous changes in the initial conditions can have multiplier effects which are often complex and unpredictable. The most popular example is known as the "Butterfly Effect" in which the flapping of a butterfly's wings for example in Germany (I'm still in a thrall with the "butterfly" ending in "All Quiet on the Western Front" flick. Thanks Gina!) could cause miniscule atmospheric changes and which, given a time horizon could affect weather patterns in Pampanga. And think of how a very small change in testosterone level of an individual could trigger a nuclear war (ala Dr. Strangelove). So it could be like goodbye mankind, hello dinosaurs kind of thing.

Anyway, the latest experiment on the chaos theory involved sending a random signal to the Pioneer 10 spacecraft which is already in the edge of our solar system (before it will get blasted into smithereens by a Trekkie in the future, he he he). As Fidel pointed out, even the random dripping of a faucet has an order behind it. In other words, there's beauty in madness. or a method behind every madness.

- Glenn de Guzman

Pilipinas Forum 14: Math, Infinity and Limit

Here is another mind-twisting thread in pilipinasforum yahoogroups made in early December 2001. There was no political discourse here. And that's my point in posting these exchanges in this blog: We need little or no politics (and government) if we wish to expand our individual imagination and knowledge of math, logic and their applications. So, enjoy the 10-pages long exchanges on the subject.

Related articles in this blog are (1) An ever-expanding universe, June 25, 2011. It's about a lecture by an American cosmologist in UP about the "Accelerated History of the Universe". Also, (2) Pilipinas Forum 12: Origin of Zero, Nothingness, Big Bang..., September 25, 2011
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I was able to meet an old friend and a new friend - both Math professors in UP. My old friend, Fidel Nemenzo got his PhD in Sophia U. in Japan, and his specialization is "number theory", reputedly the purest of all math subjects.

Fidel's friend, Ernie, is really fantastic, academically i.e.: Monbusho scholar (like Fidel), finished MS and PhD Math in 5 years with "A" grades equivalent. At Sohia U, he was among the "wonder kids" by solving difficult math problems whle his Japanese classmates could only shake their heads. Undergrad, he finished BS Math in UP - Summa cum laude, in 3 years! High school, he came from Phil. Science HS; elem. he came from an obscure elem. school in an obscure town in Iloilo province. They're so poor that their house has no floor, that PSHS has to pay for his bus to Iloilo, his plane fare to manila. Yet this guy has no self-pity, nor hatred of the rich. He doesn't even see himself joining the corporate world, just a plain academic for the rest of his career. At 27, he's among the youngest professors in UP Math dept.

Fidel is moving to his friend's house, that of Mark Encarnacion, who took a temporary leave from UP for some stints in the US. Mark is another interesting kid. He got a PhD in "Computer Algebra" (!) from an Austrian university. The last time I talked to Mark in UP, about 4 years ago, he said he's the "only person in this country" who has that degree. Mark's father is UPSE's long-time dean, our dean that time, Dr. Jose Encarnacion. The Dean passed away about 3 years ago; his major works are often published in foreign academic journals, enough to be nominated for a possible Nobel prize in Economics.

OK, why am I sharing this? To show that there are such wonderful people in this country but our media and political and business leaders don't seem to notice. Every year we know who are the topnotchers in the bar exams, who are the valedictorians and salutatorians of the PMA, courtesy of the front page stories in our broadsheets and tabloids. But never has it occurred as far as I can remember, that Phil. broadsheets have given front page treatment to returning Filipino scientist or engineer or mathematician with distinguished PhD degree or astonishing research abroad. Which reflects the values and biases of Philippine media: future Filipino politicians and generals are hoorraayy! Future Filipino Einsteins are nobodies.

Of course I hope I'm wrong in this impression.

-- Nonoy Oplas

Inspired by Nonoy's post a few days back on our very own mathematicians in PilipinasForum, I decided to pick up a book, for leisurely reading, entitled, "A Tour of the Calculus" by David Berlinski. I wanted to be reminded as to why I fell in love with Math at one time in my life...

Math & life... the math of life...

From the book, "Some things were Greek to the Greeks. In the fifth century B.C., Zeno the Eleatic argued that a man could never cross a room to bump his nose into the wall...in order to reach the wall he would have first to cross half the room and then half the remaining distance again, and then half the distance that yet remains...this process...can always be continued and can never be ended..."

In the elevator, I always bump into the chief of another investment bank whose offices are in the same building as ours. He once asked me, "Gina, when do you think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel? You know, that one which is not from another train?" I answered, "Tomorrow!". Everytime I see him, we would look and smile at each other and we would, in perfect duet (seemingly practiced), say, "Tomorrow!"

In another instance, an analyst queried me, "Have we reached the bottom yet? How low can the market get?" Armed with calculus, I said, "We can never reach the bottom. The bottom will be forever unknown."

"...The plain fact is that we are capable of compressing those infinite steps..." and actually bump our noses into the wall. The truth is, for some businesses in the country today, tomorrow may not come. And I, a Trekkie, will uncharacteristically pass, on this voyage of discovery to the bottom of the Philippine markets. So much for infinity and continuity and the harsh concept of the limit.*

In case you have not noticed yet :-), this post has nothing to do with serious Math. I am just having fun with the concepts. May I end with this:

"The integral enables you
To do what you need not do. [ :-) ]
The theorem that will make this plain
Is one designed to spare you pain..."

- Mathematicians' Doggerel (quoted from the same book; the smiley, mine)

-- Gina L.