Apollinaria was looking at the flowers. They didn't compete with each other in the way people understand it. Not that each flower didn't struggle for life, water, and sunlight. On the contrary, each flower tried to be as beautiful as possible, turning its pretty heads towards the sun. But there was something healthy about the competition among the flowers. Each of them won and took its place, not to be replaced by any other flower. Therefore, the flowers were of all possible shapes, heights, colors, and scents. At the same time, the flowers could be divided into types. In fact, an entire typology could be described if the aspects of floral life were systematized.
Apollinaria was pondering. Flowers can be described not only in terms of "What kind," but also "How many." And where there is "How many," there is mathematics. For some time now, Apollinaria had been interested in mathematics. Not just the numbers themselves, because numbers on their own are flat and banal. She became interested in how numbers can be arranged.
Indeed, numbers can be arranged in different orders. For example, if a flower grows and blooms in pulses, and this is clearly visible, then the mathematics behind it will not be flat. After all, the flower is not flat. The flower is voluminous. And each of its cells is counted. The flower is, in fact, living mathematics; it's symmetrical, with a certain number of petals and seeds. The flower grows to a certain height, exactly as much as necessary. And for as many days as necessary.
Where does the flower know how many days it needs to grow its inflorescence and seeds before the onset of cold weather? "If I have 'How many cells,' 'How many times to repeat,' and 'How much time,' then this is a whole model. This is a mathematical model! And each type of flower has its own mathematical model!" Apollinaria exclaimed mentally.
She began to think about the models. For the model according to which the flower grows in pulses, there must be a number of cells at the beginning of the pulse, and they divide and multiply until they have the energy of life. But if the models of flowers have different numbers of cells in the leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds, to achieve a variety of forms, different mathematical operations need to be applied. For example, add here and subtract there. Multiply here and divide there. What if "multiply to the limit, as long as the sun shines"? Apollinaria thought. And then "divide into bunches and shoots, while night"? And then "add water and minerals while it rains"? And then "subtract the reactions of photosynthesis while in the shade"? And there might be, for example, "multiply along the entire length of the trunk of a neighboring tree" - this is how lianas grow. But this is a multiplication by a constant! And maybe "divide in all directions across the entire free surface of the earth" - to have bushes. And then these are differential equations!
"Clearly there are a number of cells, dividing and multiplying, adding day after day all week and subtracting everything unnecessary. This will be called an algorithm - mathematical actions arranged in sequence, repeating in cycles. And all together - this will be a model. And since there are different types of flowers, the life scenarios of the models will differ.
"What can the scenarios be?" Apollinaria thought. "And how can this work for people?"
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