<p>Prompt 1: Describe the world you come from – for example, your family, community or school – and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.</p>
<p>I was born in the Oriental civilization. I was influenced by the most essential philosophy of Asian culture, the yin-yang theory. Yin-yang theory was applied profoundly in solving problems, especially mathematics. Thus, mathematics is not simply an intellectual study but an art of yin-yang. Yin-yang is my Oriental world; it’s stimulated my inspiration to explore the mathematic tradition.
Yin is cold and dark; yang is hot and bright. Yin-yang is a contradictory but complementary pair. It created my person a state of balance and completion, in which there are four parts: center, equality, harmony, and competition that all are important in pursueing my aspiration of mastering mathematics.
Yin-yang appears in every Asian culture. Koreans illustrate the yin-yang power by coloring blue (yin) and red (yang) in the central circle of the national flag. Four complicated boxes symbolizing universal nature also surround that center. Yin-yang taught me to focus on center. Additionally, Vietnamese believe that human body will be imbalanced unless it consumes an equal amount of steaming or boiling vegetables (yin) and roasting or frying meats (yang). The next lesson is creating equality.
These first two lessons taught me to “keep my balance.” In solving a problem, I can find the solution nowhere outside the main point (a central circle). However, other relevant details (four complex boxes) attempt to distract my mind. If I focus greatly on marginal objects, my thought will be confused. Like cause and effect, yang comes first then yin responds. My mind must equalize what I am given (yang) and what I am asked (yin). Similarly, in a geometric problem, I start drawing out the graph following the instructions without caring about the question because I believe the answer stays inside my central graph. I analyze both my graph and question to create equality. If I incline toward either my graph or my question biasedly, I cannot analyze on any balance of two sides. Of course, there is no answer.
The third lesson is harmony. Japanese capture food by using the lower static chopstick (yin) to hold and the upper kinetic chopstick (yang) to move. Therefore, I call them “harmony.” Differently, based on contrast forces, Chinese invented two types of kungfu to compete each other: yin kungfu resists the attack or offense (yang), and yang kungfu disrupts the protection or defense (yin). It is the ultimate lesson – competition.
To combine harmony and competition is to “complete.” In a particular situation, harmony must be formed between what I keep (static) and what I move (kinetic). I must understand how cause leads to effect and how result is born to reason then I create a perfect harmony. Finally, I use yin and yang to restrain each other. This way helps me cause another competition in order to see the abstruse conflict inside the problem. It is like when I am looking at geometric problem. I try to figure out why I receive this graph and why I am asked to solve it. I harmonize my “static” graph and my “kinetic” question. Observing the mismatch between them, I realize which information included in graph but not in question and reverse. I arrange them to hit each other’s mismatch and construct many contradictory interactions. From that, I see what makes my graph and my question separate, what the missed part is, and what I am supposed to solve that conflict. It is my answer.
Yin-yang shaped my person: balance and completion. I love the way my Oriental philosophy taught me in facing a problem and taught me “center, equality, harmony and competition.” If I can understand the subtle meaning of yin-yang, I hope I can reach my dream in math study.</p>