A witty wise child once humbly approached me with the stated question. Prior to our deep delve into the darkness, some background information must be provided for those who suffer from short term memory loss and/or mathematical impairment.
Dictionary.com tells us that a Tangent Line is ‘a line or a plane that touches a curve or a surface at a point so that it is closer to the curve in the vicinity of the point than any other line or plane drawn through the point.’
The correlation between mathematics and human behaviour might not be as independent as one would imagine. After all, mathematics was born to support science, which is the child of Divine creation (AKA God). For all the Atheists and Agnostics who beg to differ, I leave you with the First Law of Thermodynamics which states that Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it can only be transformed from one form to another. This means that even those who do not believe in ‘God’ per say, must believe in a higher power or field of some sort. You may use the word Energy to replace what has been referred to as Divine creation if you like (although Energy itself is the first infant of the Divine creation). But hey, tomato tomato right?
Returning to the topic at hand, the above statement gives indication that one associates it with their soul mate or life partner. However when equating tangent lines to human relationships, it seems the appropriate affiliation to assign here is that of acquaintances, friendships, or even family relations at times. For simplicity’s sake, we will only consider friendships, ceteris paribus.
A tangent can touch a curve at any given point, which indicates that there are infinite amounts of potential tangent lines, and in turn it supports that people are multidimensional. Analysing it through a lens untarnished by ‘Civilization’, you can conclude that this concept mirrors that of human interactions and it demonstrates that people require more than one kind of relationship. Our personalities are attributed to our genes as well as our environment and experiences, and it is this diversity that sculpts our building blocks. Stimulation is always desired in various forms be it mental, physical, or emotional, which proves a need for more than one tangent line to our curves. Guys, don’t get ahead of yourselves, I am not referring to your so-called ‘birth right’ of Polygamy.
It is through these tangents that we expand our horizons and attempt to break down barriers. It is through these experiences and situations where we have opportunities to learn from different races, religions, cultures and backgrounds. When meeting the right (or wrong) type of person, the slope of your curve might change, along with their tangent line. Our slopes are continuously changing as we grow older and wiser, and as we gain more exposure. It is due to this that certain encounters affect us more than others. There are those who touch your life for just a moment, however the ripples of their impact imprint themselves onto your souls, changing the slope of your curves. Therefore it is inaccurate to use the analogy of the tangent line to model committed relationships, because they eventually diverge away from each other. For this reason, it is more appropriate to consider the geometric concept of the Asymptote.
An Asymptote is a line whose distance to a given curve tends to zero. It may or may not intersect its associated curve. This term is more correctly associated with committed relationships, due to the fact that regardless of the point of inception, the aim is to enjoy the journey whilst working towards infinity. Therefore it is safe to say that everyone has met some sort of tangent in their lives, however not everybody has met one of their asymptotes.
Our generation has been blessed with the greatest gifts, as we are able to bathe in an ocean of unlimited opportunities. But instead, we concentrate on all the barriers and metaphorical boundaries that separate us. If we were to break open our minds and remove the filters from our eyes, we would see that no matter who we encounter in our lives, and as different as we may be to one another, we share at least one tangent.
Accept the differences and embrace the tangents.
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