As children, questions are a way of survival. We observe the world as Magellan and Copernicus did—wondering about everything tangible and intangible. Slowly we receive units to measure, vocabulary to write, names of our own organs to pronounce. I remember specifically reading about deep–sea creatures for the first time, pictures included, and wondering speechless. I knew nothing of water pressure; nothing of biomes; nothing of pollution; nothing of food chains that deep, but I knew I lived on the same sphere as bioluminescent predators and animals with eyes as large as my head.
A very important concept and constant in mathematics, e, gives a language to natural logarithms and calculus as a whole. In 1683, a man named Jacob Bernoulli wondered: How might interest on my money reach the best rate? In fact, he developed a formula to calculate compound interest approaching an infinite rate, which is e. e did not gain its name until Leonhard Euler also defined it as a constant in other proofs. Without, exponential growth wouldn't be impossible to find but would be much more difficult. And in case you weren't aware, exponential growth is all around you.
Growing up, I notice people lose interest more easily now than ever. Unless it's a Nat Geo® safari, or something educational narrated by Morgan Freeman, genuinely excited intrigue is unpopular. I urge another Enlightenment, another Golden Age of discovery. Though focus is more often than not on upset between nations, and while that is very important, insight into the unknown might help the human race more than we know.
