The rational numbers can make exact fractions, such as 2/1. In contrast, irrational numbers can’t be exactly represented by fractions. Two examples are π and √2. Try to put either of those in a fraction, and you’re just approximating. Those two also resist being converted to decimals with predictable endings (π, for example, just doesn’t have an ending at 3.1415…, and the square root of two presents a similar problem).
Thinking, like numbers, also occurs in rational and irrational forms. When we say, “Be logical,” or “Be rational,” we often mean we want someone to think in an easily definable way, in some recognizable pattern the way that 1/3 just repeats as 0.3333333333333333333333… or the way ¼ just stops at 0.25. It’s so easy for us to deal with others when the pattern of their thinking is predictable, when it results in an easy to recognize conclusion or simply repeats.
Alas! Non-patterned thinking by other people presents a problem. We can’t predict the outcome. That makes us a bit uneasy. But maybe it shouldn’t. We usually don’t want others to think we are entirely predictable. Being unpredictable is a survival and a creative strategy. Often we accept the irrational in the arts; we never accept it in the sciences. In social interactions, we are more like scientists than artists. We want to know what the next number is in someone else’s 3.1415. That unpredictability in others makes us insecure, whereas in ourselves, it makes us “individual.”
In the coming days, think of your interactions with others in terms of the rational and irrational numbers. If you find yourself in conflict, can you determine whether the source of the conflict lies in non-repeating irrationality or in repeating or predictably ending rationality?
Thinking, like numbers, also occurs in rational and irrational forms. When we say, “Be logical,” or “Be rational,” we often mean we want someone to think in an easily definable way, in some recognizable pattern the way that 1/3 just repeats as 0.3333333333333333333333… or the way ¼ just stops at 0.25. It’s so easy for us to deal with others when the pattern of their thinking is predictable, when it results in an easy to recognize conclusion or simply repeats.
Alas! Non-patterned thinking by other people presents a problem. We can’t predict the outcome. That makes us a bit uneasy. But maybe it shouldn’t. We usually don’t want others to think we are entirely predictable. Being unpredictable is a survival and a creative strategy. Often we accept the irrational in the arts; we never accept it in the sciences. In social interactions, we are more like scientists than artists. We want to know what the next number is in someone else’s 3.1415. That unpredictability in others makes us insecure, whereas in ourselves, it makes us “individual.”
In the coming days, think of your interactions with others in terms of the rational and irrational numbers. If you find yourself in conflict, can you determine whether the source of the conflict lies in non-repeating irrationality or in repeating or predictably ending rationality?
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