Science & Four
趣味拓展 · 现代科学中的「四」
English
The ancient frameworks organized the world in four: four directions, four seasons, four elements, four divine beasts. Modern science was not looking for four. It found it anyway.
DNA is written in four bases. The Four Color Theorem proves that any map needs at most four colors. Quaternions — the four-dimensional numbers that run every 3D animation on every screen in the world — were discovered by a nineteenth-century mathematician on a bridge in Dublin. Earth’s planetary systems are described by four interacting spheres. The number was not placed here by any tradition. It was found.
中文
古代框架以四组织世界：四方、四时、四元素、四大神兽。现代科学并没有刻意寻找四。它只是发现了它。
DNA以四种碱基书写。四色定理证明任何地图最多需要四种颜色。四元数——驱动全世界每个屏幕上每一个三维动画的四维数字——由一位十九世纪的数学家在都柏林的一座桥上发现。地球的行星系统由四个相互作用的圈层描述。这个数字不是被任何传统放置在这里的，它是被发现的。
现代科学 · Modern Science
→ DNA四碱基 / DNA’s Four Bases — The Four Letters of Life [greatfour.org/dna-four-bases]
→ 四色定理与四元数 / Four Color Theorem and Quaternions — Four in Mathematics [greatfour.org/four-color-theorem-quaternions]
→ 地球四大圈层 / Earth’s Four Spheres — The Planet as a System of Four [greatfour.org/earth-four-spheres]
→ 西方四声部 vs 东方五音 / Four-Part Harmony vs Pentatonic Scale [greatfour.org/four-part-harmony-pentatonic-scale]