the.com/equation
the universe's way of saying both sides better agree or nobody leaves
means a mathematical statement that two expressions are equal, balanced on either side of an equals sign.
from From Latin 'aequatio,' a making-equal, from 'aequus' meaning level, even, fair — the same root that gives us 'equal,' 'equity,' and 'equator.' The word entered English in the late Middle Ages through the language of astronomers and mathematicians, who used it for the act of evening things out before it settled into the schoolroom sense we know.
- oldest one
- Babylonians solved quadratics 4,000 years ago, no algebra yet
- equals sign
- Invented in 1557 because writing 'is equal to' got tiring
- famous five
- Euler's identity links e, i, pi, 1, 0
- einstein
- E=mc squared made mass and energy the same thing
- unsolved
- Navier-Stokes equations carry a million-dollar prize
for instance
pythagorean theorem — a² + b² = c² describing right triangle relationships, attributed to pythagoras ~500 bce
drake equation — frank drake's 1961 formula estimating the number of communicative alien civilizations