Mathematics in the Sauna

 HS #116 2025.3.13

 

Mathematics in the Sauna

 

This time of year, I make good use of my Priority Health (Medicare) free admission to 

MVP and the Holland Aquatic Center. The main course for a good workout is some aerobics and weightlifting, and the dessert is the sauna and whirlpool. But, as the saying goes, “Life is short – eat dessert first.” So I sometimes bypass the workout (since my opportunity as a professional athlete is lessening daily), and head straight for the reward. 

 

And there I find not only a great break from Michigan’s cold winter, but also some great conversations. It’s the non-coffee-drinker’s substitute for LemonJellos. Sometimes conversations happen spontaneously. Recently, asking a couple young fellows if they were in college, they responded that they were in a Leadership Bible class. This led to a six-way conversation among all the occupants about all things scriptural (complete with memorized verses and references). I was concerned when new people entered the sauna that they would be overwhelmed by the conversation, but, (much to my surprise – but perhaps it shouldn’t have been) the newcomers jumped right in with their own opinions and scriptural references. Only in West Michigan!

 

However, if no conversation is forthcoming, then, as I did last evening with a Black River sophomore, I ask if they want to play a math game. Haven’t been turned down yet. My favorite is “Don’t say 21”. Here are the rules. Two players take turns counting from 1 to 21. Starting at 1, they alternate, each counting the next one, two or three consecutive numbers. So, for example, if I start by saying “one, two”, then my opponent may say “three” or “three, four” or “three, four, five.” Then, starting where he stopped,  I say the next one, two or three numbers. Whoever is forced to say “21” is the loser. 

 

Try it with a fellow nerd and see who can be the first to discover the strategy to win. Hint: If both players know the strategy, then the second one to play will always win. (Solutions at the end, but don’t spoil the fun – try to figure it out first.) 

 

Here’s another one: Using a belt, strap, or shoelace, or even a towel if necessary, lay it C-shaped in front of you. Then, picking it up, one end firmly in each hand, tie a simple under-over knot in it between your outstretched hands WITHOUT LETTING GO OF EITHER END. 

 

By the way, these challenges work well even outside of a sauna. They are great ways to entertain children or grandchildren around the holiday table. Indeed, I give math talks in which I demonstrate these and others.  All promote creative thought and tenacity – two essential ingredients for success in many careers and life in general. 

 

Here’s another: Using six coins (or other small uniform objects), place them in the form of a cross with four in the vertical row and three in the horizonal row, so that a line passes over four coins in one direction and three coins in the other direction. Challenge them to move one coin so that a line passes over four coins in one direction AND four coins in the other direction as well. 

 

Another:  Position a rubber band (an elastic hair band can almost always be found on the sidewalk entrance to an athletic club), around the base of your index and middle fingers of your clenched hand. Then by quickly opening your hand, the band is instantly transferred to your ring and little fingers. 

 

Solutions: “Don’t Say 21”: Notice that for my opponent to lose, I must say 20. In order to guarantee saying 20, I need to say 16. To guarantee that, I must say 12, then 8, then 4. So 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 are safe lily pads from which to jump. Try it. If you go second, you will always be able to say those numbers. 

 

Knot in Belt: The trick is to transfer a knot in your arms to a knot in the belt. So first cross your arms into an over-under knot, and then, bending over as needed, pick up the ends of the belt. Then merely untie your arms, and the knot will transfer to the belt. 

 

Six Coins: Notice that the coin at the intersection of the rows counts twice. So just place another coin from the vertical row ON TOP OF the coin at the intersection. 

 

Last one:  I’ll show you when I see you in the sauna. Have fun. 

 

 

The Soul

 HS #115 2025.2.13

 

The Soul

 

Last month at the funeral of President Jimmy Carter, several speakers mentioned that Jimmy was now with his dear wife, Rosalynn. Married seventy-seven years on earth, and now together again in heaven. Very comforting and reassuring.  But true? 

 

Everyone agrees that their bodies are buried in caskets in Plains, Georgia. Christians believe also that these bodies will one day be resurrected and their lives will then continue on. But no matter what happens in the future, are they together now? If so, how? In what way? 

 

Some would say, “Perhaps it is their souls which are in heaven – conscious but waiting for reunion with their bodies.” Seems possible.  But if so, it doesn’t conjure up quite as satisfying a picture: The souls of Jimmy and Rosalynn communicating – perhaps telepathically. No vocal cords. Obviously no embracing. No smiling at each other. No looking into each other’s eyes. 

 

But even this raises questions for the Christian. Older Bible translations occasionally refer to the soul (newer use “being”), but give no indication that the soul is something that inhabits the body and then leaves upon death. That notion is gotten from Plato, not Jesus. 

 

So this raises the question: Am I a soul that inhabits my physical body, or am I a physical body from which a soul emerges?

 

What does that even mean?  I vividly remember from whom I first heard the notion of an emergent soul.  It was from Professor Leon Kass, M.D. of the University of Chicago. Kass was the person chosen by George W. Bush to head the discussion of stem-cell research. But long before gaining that prominence, he was invited (in the mid 1990’s) to give a talk to the senior seminar faculty at Hope College. In that presentation, Kass posited that humans are physical beings and that our soul emerges as we (gain ability to) interact with the world – both affecting and being affected by the world. So the soul is not a thing, it is a state of being. As a person develops in the womb and then as an infant and child, one’s soul (i.e., one’s depth and breadth of interaction) grows.  Then the soul diminishes as one ages, having less ability to interact – physically and mentally – with the world. I was fascinated by the simplicity of the idea. It rang true.

 

This conception of the soul was reinforced by Paul Davies, physicist and author who, along with Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, The Dalai Lama, and Professor Alvin Plantinga (philosopher from Calvin University), received the John Templeton Prize in Science and Religion. In his book, God and the New Physics, Davies describes the soul as being like a newspaper picture. Up close (perhaps with a magnifying glass), it’s just an arranged collection of black dots. But as you back away, an image (perhaps a familiar face) emerges. 

 

 

Culture is another example of an emergent thing. What does it mean to experience the culture of Paris? One might describe the food, the wine, the music, the art, the language being spoken, the clothes, the way Parisians walk, the smells, the sound of the traffic. All of these contribute to the culture, but it’s only when all are together in a seamless whole that one experiences Parisian Culture. It’s essentially the idea of Gestalt: The organized whole greater than the sum of the parts. 

 

Similarly, Davies explains that one’s soul (or mind) is the wholistic “YOU” which emerges as your physical body and brain interact with the world. This explains why YOU are affected by too little sleep, or too much sugar or alcohol. It explains why YOU lose awareness when your brain is in sleep mode. This perspective does not say that YOU are MERELY a body, but it DOES say that once your body is dead, your soul no longer exists. Just as the image in the newspaper or the culture of Paris disappears when all the parts are removed. 

 

Notice that this conception of the soul provides that animals have a soul too since they also have ability to interact with the world. 

 

 Moreover, this understanding of the soul solves the conundrum:  If the soul were put within the zygote at conception, then if the zygote divides into identical twins, which twin gets the soul? It also mitigates the humorous-profound charge from Matthew McConaughey’s character in “True Detective” upon hearing of a friend becoming pregnant, “The HUBRIS is must take to YANK a soul out of nonexistence.” Think about that one!

 

 

 

 

The Next Four Years

 HS #114 2025.1.9

 

The Next Four Years

 

 I begin this month’s column by borrowing two paragraphs from what I wrote in February 2018 on the occasion of Presidents Day towards the beginning of President Trump’s first term: 

 

What does it take to lead a country? Is it possible, for example, to have an effective leader who i) is unpolished, with no prior political experience, ii) seems focused on his own needs and situation, iii) gets into fights regularly, hitting back hard - and often unfairly - because it is an effective way to win, iv) can’t control his tongue – gets himself into trouble repeatedly because he can’t just keep quiet, v) has his career threatened momentarily by the way he treats women but still wins in the end, vi) is impulsive and erratic, apparently giving little deep or reflective thought to his actions, vii) is excessively concerned about keeping his hair, viii)  marries a foreign wife, ix)  lives this sort of a life even without drinking alcohol?

 

Unlikely leader to be sure, but Sampson was the leader of Israel for twenty years. And even though an unsavory character personally, he was able to accomplish some things and help Israel in certain ways not only in spite of, but because of his rather unique “skill set.” Indeed, his self-centered, vindictive temperament was crucial to his success. Had he not taken a hard line on his enemies and sought revenge, his extraordinary strength would have been of no use.  Gladly, his type of leadership was not needed for long, so it eventually passed on to those with different temperaments and value systems.  Shows the wisdom and value of limiting the terms of leaders. 

 

Looking back, it would be easy to finish this column by listing actions and behaviors of Trump with which I disagree and/or find abhorrent. I mention only two: Should a president be reelected who i) watched a mob invade and damage the U.S. Capital yelling “Hang Mike Pence” for three hours before taking action, ii) spent the last four years claiming he won the 2020 election in spite of total overwhelming evidence to the contrary? Given my moral/value system, the answer is a clear “no.” 

 

However, like Sampson, that does not mean that he has not and cannot not again be an effective president. So, in the interest of giving every reader something to ponder, I make the following points: 

 

President Trump’s 2017 Inauguration Speech was one of the best I have ever heard. He called Americans to come together – actually using the word “love.” Only one other politician in my lifetime have I heard use that word: Bobby Kennedy – in his great speech in Indianapolis on the occasion of Martin Luther King’s assassination. As are all such speeches, Trump enumerated present faults with America which needed addressing. Yet the press lambasted the speech as dark and violent. 

I wonder how Trump may have responded had the press (and Democratic leadership) reacted instead by saying, “What a pleasant surprise! – we’ll work with you!” The sociologist Charles Horton Cooley explained, “I am not what I think I am, I am not what you think I am, I am what I think you think I am.”  Understand? We become the people we think others see us to be. When chair of Mathematics Departments, I made sure that new professors got positive reinforcement from their students, so that they would “live into” that identity. Same is true of Trump, and, unfortunately, the initial negative feedback he got helped define his first term. 

 

So let’s look ahead. Do you agree that since we are a nation under the rule of law, those who join us should come lawfully? True? 

 

Do you agree that our national debt is spiraling ever greater, and that this can kicked down the road will one day be a great burden affecting the quality of life of future generations? If so, isn’t the answer BOTH tax increases and spending cuts? If Trump successfully works on the second, the Democrats can then do the first. 

 

Isn’t it true that tariffs will bring in income while also protecting American jobs and somewhat curbing American consumption. All sound good to me. 

 

Trump hates killing. He compliments when he can and develops relationships with enemies. Sounds like something I once read in a Gospel (not assuming that Trump has). That’s not a bad place to start in foreign policy. 

 

So, as with the new leadership in Syria, let’s give the guy a chance.