Mathematics
Explain this or I will shoot you — Mathematics saved a physicist’s life
This is a story about a Russian physicist named Igor Tamm who used math to save his own life. It might seem impossible, but it’s a really interesting and amazing story.
Igor Tamm was a Soviet physicist born on July 8th, 1895, in Vladivostok, Russia. When World War I began in 1914, he had to join the army while studying at the University of Edinburgh. After he finished his studies, Tamm became a physics teacher.
During these years, Tamm won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1958. While there was the Russian Revolution going on, he used to teach at the University of Odesa in Ukraine as a professor. At that time of revolution, the situation wasn’t good for people around, and the supply of food was very low. In search of food, Tamm started his short trip toward a village, trying to find some nourishment.
Tamm stayed in the village for several days searching for food, but during his stay, a group of anti-communist bandits surrounded the area. The leader of the bandits became suspicious of Tamm because he was wearing city clothes, unlike the other villagers.
The leader asked Tamm, “What does he do for a living?” He answered by saying that he was a professor at the university and came here in search of some food. Then the bandit leader asked, “What subject do you teach?” Tamm replied by saying, “I teach mathematics.” ‘Mathematics? Ok,’ the leader replied. After this, the leader asked Tamm to “give an estimated answer of an error one can make by cutting off a Maclaurin series expansion at the nth term.” The leader continued by saying there is one condition, and if you explain this, I’ll let you go free. If you fail to do so, I’ll directly shoot you.
Tamm was quite surprised and taken aback by the question and situation. The bandit leader aimed his gun at Tamm, and under that pressure, he managed to solve the problem after a few minutes of contemplation. After explaining his answer, the leader replied, “Correct! Go home.” Tamm felt relieved but couldn’t help but wonder why an anti-communist bandit leader would ask such a question. He was unable to discover the leader’s name.
In conclusion, nobody can be sure when and how math can save your life but it can do one thing certainly which is it can change your life. Also please note that this story is an anecdote, and it may not be entirely factual. In fact, it isn’t sure whether this incident actually took place. It is meant to show a fun and quirky mathematical incident and should not be taken as a historical account of events.
