Pieces
of Pi
Being
an excerpt of dialogue from a film whose title is a mathematical symbol.
In
the film Pi, the protagonist, Max, is seeking to understand the universe
by developing a complex mathematical research relationship with the
stock market. During the film it becomes clear that ‘something
having to do with a 216-symbol code’ in the Torah, and a lost
‘name of god’ has a relationship to his own research.
The
‘secret code’ of 216 so desperately sought in the film
corresponds to the number of characters in Exodus, Chapter 14, Verses
19,20 and 21 — and the ‘Lost Name of God’ sought
through this transport refers to the 72 names, sung as a single name.
I have not yet determined whether there is a relationship between
Pi and these verses, however it would be interesting to discover (for
example) that ancient peoples possessed the sophistication to compute
Pi to the 216th place — and to then encode it this understanding
in seemingly ‘regular’ text while actually preserving
a science beneath that in a sacred numerpoetic language.
Personally,
I believe that would be a vast understatement of their understanding
and prowess, but it would shatter what we believe about purportedly
‘primitive’ peoples in general, and the Judaic peoples
in particular. It might also help us to understand that pretending
numbers and letters are distinct has perils, and the loss of this
linkage, as well as their linkage to sacred sources is a catastrophic
loss to our species, and the lineage of ancestral intelligence we
conserve and represent.
We see Max, staring down into something on the bar at a coffee shop:
A young hassidic man approaches:
1. (excitedly) Hey! Max!...Lenny Meyer.
2. Max: (looks up timidly, like he doesn’t want to be bothered.)
3. Lenny: ‘I’ll put it out.’ (puts out a cigarette
he is smokng).
4. Lenny (approaches, sits down in a friendly fashion): ’So
o o...(friendly musical tone) What do you do?’
5. Max: (leaning over forward toward the bar, back of left hand folded
to support forehead) [clears his throat once] ‘Um, I work with
computers-math...’
6: Lenny: ‘Math, math? What kinda math?’
7. Max: ‘N-number theory, research mostly.’
8: Lenny: [interrupting] No way — I work with numbers myself...I
mean... not traditional... I work with the Torah. [pauses, is excited
, smiles]. Amazing! [high musical stress on second A].
9: Max: [glances over, giving an almost imperceptible nod, only the
slightest trace of interest.]
10: Lenny: ‘You know, Hebrew’s all math. [gesturally
scratches left cheek with left hand] It’s all numbers...
11: Max: [glances up with tiny increase in interest]
12: Lenny: ‘Ya know that? Here look: The Ancient Jews used
Hebrews din [sic] numerical systems...[arranges paper for writing
demonstration]. Meaning was: used Hebrew in numerical systems.
13: Max: [glances at paper, we see him watching Lenny continue]
14: ‘Each letter’s a number. Like the Hebrew A —
ahlef is 1 [writes alef with a 1 underneath it]. B, bet — that`s
2. [writes bet to the left of ahlef with a 2 underneath it] You understand?
But look at this...
15: Max: (takes a drink of coffee)
16: Lenny: The numbers are inter-related — like take the Hebrew
word for ‘Father’ — AB — ahlef... bet. one
- two [writes ahlef with a 1 beneath it and to the left of that bet
with a 2 beneath it] equals [writes an equal sign to the right of
the 2 and 1] three. Alright? Hebrew word for mother — Aim —
ahlef mem — [writes ahlef and mem to the left of it] one, forty
[writes 1 beneath ahlef and 40 beneath mem] equals [writes equal sign]
forty-one. Sum of three and forty-one? [draws a horizontal summing
line under the 41] forty-four. Alright? Now, Hebrew word for child
— alright-mother-father-child — [writes yud, then to the
left lammed, then to the left, dalet] yeled — that’s [writes
10 beneath yud, 30 beneath lammed and 4 beneath dalet] ten, thirty,
and four. Forty-four. [circles the old sum, gained by adding AB and
AM, and writes an equal sign between the numbers for yulud and this
sum, sets down writing tool].
17: Max: (watches a bit nervously)
18: Lenny: The Torah’s a long string of numbers. Some say it’s
a code, sent to us from God. [points upward while gesturing during
speech].
19. Max: (nods somewhat thoughtfully, maintaining uninterested expression).
‘That’s kind of interesting’.
20: Lenny: ‘Yeah. [chuckles slightly] That’s just kid’s
stuff. Check this out, ok? The word for ‘the Garden of Eden’,
Kadem [draws chait, dalet, mem-sophit, right to left] — numerical
translation? [draws an equal sign to the right of the letters] one-forty-four.
And the value of ‘Tree of Knowledge’, aright? —
in the Garden — right? — aitza-chaim —
two-thirty-three. One-forty-four? Two-thirty-three. You can take those
numbers...
21: Max: (talking over Lenny in a quiet voice) ‘Those are Fibbonaci
numbers’.
22: Lenny: [unintelligbly attempting to say something] ‘ts
dok...’
23: Max: ’You know, like the Fibbonacci sequence...’
24: Lenny: (not comprehending) Fibbionacci...
25: (starts to write on the stock market pages while he explains)
‘Fibbonacci is ah...an Italian Mathematician in the 13th century.
If you divide...
[F = 1,1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13]
26: (switch to Lenny who puts a cigarette in his mouth and proceeds
to light it as the explanation goes on).
27. Max: ‘...a hundred and forty-four into two hundred and
thirty-three, the result approaches, um, theta.’
28: Lenny: ‘Theta?’
29. Max: ‘Theta, [draws a cross beneath the Fibbonacci sequence
he wrote on the stock section, and begins drawing a clockwise spiral
emanating from its center] the Greek symbol...the Golden Ratio —
the Golden Spiral.’
30: Lenny: ‘Woww. I never saw that before. (examines the drawing).
That's like that series you find in nature? Like the...face of a sunflower?’
32: Max: (pops a cream container into his coffee, a strange spirally
cloud results) ‘Wherever the spiral is’.
33: Lenny: ‘You see there’s Math everywhere’. (takes
a drag from his cigarette, and exhales, leaving a cloud of spiralling
strands flowing flowing liquidly in the air).
