Fairy Tale:The legend of

Origins

Once upon a time, in the beautiful world of Pythagoria, there was a queen called Euler Pierson. She was one of the greatest rulers of the whole universe called Mathema, with powers so great that it could reach outside of the Universe, or so she thought. Queen Euler was very “lucky” in the sense that she can function while being such a complex woman. She never understood her powers and was quite delusional.

She got her powers when she was only 9 years old. Her father, John Pierson, was the cause of this disaster. He was the fearsome king of Pythagoria, but never felt he had to power to rule all of Mathema. He tried to come up with a plan that was so complexed that it only existed in his imagination, not even the best scientists of Mathema thought that it was possible. Until one day, he found a magical flower called Power Flower. Legends were told that this flower has so much power that can cause the death of a person if they aren’t worthy enough. And so, he was grinding it into a gas that would be inhaled to get those powers, but wanted someone to test it before it turns out that he would die. He appointed his right-hand man General Omega as his test subject.

The chambers were ready for the General and he stepped inside, but King John didn’t notice that Euler has sneaked inside the chamber. When the tests was done and the doors were opened, all the king saw was his dead general and his daughter, crying with fear. John then realised that his daughter must have been worthy of the powers as she didn’t die during the test. He set up the chambers once more to potentially live forever with his daughter, but he suffered the same fate as his general. Thus, making Euler the only survivor from these tests and she became practically immortal.

Euler was still thinking of that day, even at the age of 27, wondering what she could have done to prevent her farther from dying that day. But the only conclusion she could get to was that she was too young to understand what even happened that day. She was assigned as the Queen of Pythagoria after her father’s death, still learning how to serve her people into greatness. She only wants peace in the Universe of Mathema.

One day, she thought about what would happen to her kingdom if she died. She then came up with the conclusion that she would have to find a husband worthy enough to rule her kingdom and to expand her legacy. She met a man called Liam Complexon, he was 26 years old and the son of the best farmer of Pythagoria. She fell in love with him and decided that he was worthy enough. They got married and lived happily for 4 years, that’s when they decided to have a baby. Soon enough, Euler revealed to the world that she has become pregnant with a baby boy! That’s until the Dark King named Void, the ruler of the Nullity and Absence of all of Mathema, got the news and decided that she was finally going to be vulnerable soon enough to kill the royal family. He wanted to make an example of his victory to show the world that he would remain the greatest ruler of Mathema.

One night, Euler got a vision about what Void was going to plan. To prevent this catastrophe, she decided to banish him from the Universe so that he would never get to hurt her family. Unfortunately, Liam was still considered a mortal being and only got to live with Euler till the age of 89. As sad as she was about her beloved husband’s death, she knew that her weakness could get exploited soon enough if she wasn’t going to be careful, but for now, the only peace she had was knowing that her son possessed some of her powers, making him immortal as well, and knowing that Void will never return to her Universe.

The Infinite Love

Camilla Theta, one of the princesses of the world called Geometria, was one of the most beautiful and smartest wizards in her world. She and her people aged quite the same as Queen Euler, as the worlds weren’t the same at all. The cause of this is because Geometria is closer to Nullity and Absence, the black hole. Her powers were discovered when she was only 3 months old, she sneezed, and fire came out of her ears. She was in the Bodmas Academy in Geometria since she was only 2 years old, the same as Queen Euler’s son, Ian Euler. Ian came to the academy because Queen Euler used her powers to open a wormhole to Geometria’s universe, as the Bodmas academy was the only “school” that was able to teach Ian how to use his powers. They had the assignment to work together on their very first Calculus equation using an abaca. From that moment, they were entangled together by love.

They had all sorts of fun and learning using mathematics, such as Multiplication Hopscotch, Trigonometry Mini Golf, Mathematics in Minecraft and using simple spells to play hide and seek. Eventually, as they became older, they came up with brilliant theorems, created new spells and charms.

They ultimately had a relationship together, trying to expand their love with the magic inside them and their vast knowledge of the universe. Sigma Imogen, one of their classmates, had a huge crush on Ian, but this relationship seemed now as a love-triangle. Sigma was very jealous of Camilla’s power and beauty, so she created the Polar potion, which would make anyone act like their alter-ego forever. So, she infused Camilla’s chocolate milk with the potion and the results was successful. Camilla became one of the most dangerous wizards in Geometria.

Ian got the news of his girlfriend’s unexpected evilness, and at the same moment, he felt the presence of anger, which made him very suspicious as he knew she was not that kind of person that wants to destroy everything and everyone. He rushed to her aid to try and see what she was doing. She sees Ian, making the rage inside her so immense that she wanted to kill him using Natural Logarithm. She released all her magic on him, but the effect of it made her go into a coma. She collapsed on the ground, and she was taken to the hospital. She was in the coma for 7 days, but meanwhile, Ian was investigating what led to Camilla’s sudden rage. He examined the drink and found some of the potion’s particles inside and got the data of how long it has existed using Quantum mechanics. He traced it to the labs and figured out that it was Sigma’s doing using Benford’s Law. He informed his mother and the Queen banished Sigma into the same world as Void.

When Camilla woke up, she still had the rage inside her, but she was too weak to do anything. The only thing Ian thought of as a possible solution was to show that he loves her even at her worst. Ian went back to the lab and concocted a cure using the constraints he collected to find the optimal cure, that process was called Goal programming. Then he placed the cure as lip balm on his lips and kissed her. Suddenly, her eyes changed back to her normal colour, and she recognized her lover. The true love kiss had cured the effects of the potion. Thus, solidifying their love and they got happily married. Queen Euler was thrilled about their marriage, as she saw it as an opportunity to unite the two worlds and make peace among their people.

Inevitability

Ian Euler, the Queen’s son, just turned 271 years old on March 14th, thus proving without a doubt his immortality to all their subjects. He in addition possessed a prize often out of reach for immortals, that being a love which would last until the ends of time. A gift that even his mother failed to possess, and as such the kingdom of Pythagoria seemed set for prosperity that would last infinitely.  

However, their happiness was short-lived. One day, while Ian and Camilla were exploring a new dimension, they stumbled upon a strange portal. As they got closer, they could feel an immense power emanating from it. Suddenly, they were sucked into the portal and transported to a dark and mysterious world.

As they looked around, they realized that they were in the realm of the dark king, Void. This shadowy realm seemed to defy comprehension, being both none existent and frighteningly real simultaneously. From this unnerving landscape came shadows which moved faster than the light and surrounded the two loves, leading to a darkness so deep it rendered all equations null and void. They were thus captured by the dark army of shades and brought before their king of inevitability. Void sat atop his throne in a palace of dark dreams from which light could not escape and he immediately knew whom he had captured as though he sensed Ian’s very soul before him and he could feel the tangle of love between the two and even a third. It was thus that Void saw truth in Queen Euler’s love for her son, and so he saw an opportunity to turn her against her own people using the key he had just so been gifted by the winds of chance.

Void spoke in equations as ancient as time yet always inverted and in riddle. He promised to bequeathed onto Ian and Camilla their freedom once he had laid forth his prophecy of an inevitable singularity from which there was no escape. Void spoke while the lovers listened, yet his words were beyond understanding and took on a life of their own and so it seemed the fabric of the universe and fate had shifted. This shadowy world then evaporated before Ian and Camilla’s eyes and with it all memories, yet the shadows of fate in their hearts remained. Together the lovers made their return to Queen Euler to warn her of the coming darkness as well as to recount their tale which seemed to no longer reflect reality. Ian and Camilla spoke of Voids proposition that he would release them only if they convinced Queen Euler to surrender her powers to him. How they knew that they had to act quickly to save their people and their world and how they produced a plan.

Ian used his charm and wit to persuade Void’s soldiers to join their cause, while Camila used her knowledge of Geometry to create a powerful force field that would protect them from Void’s dark magic. Thus, it was so, the lovers’ tale had ended with their triumphant return together to Mathema and to presented their plan to Queen Euler.

Queen Euler was surprised to hear the familiar name. She then revealed to Ian and Camilla that Void was once called Polar Theta, who was her right-hand man, who turned evil because of Queen Euler’s powers. Camilla became enraged hearing that the Queen was behind her father’s disappearance, the dark shadow which was planted in her fate began to blume beyond Void’s grandest expectations.

Camilla was beyond controlling her raged at the Queen and began to fight against her, blaming her pain and suffering on the Queen’s ignorance. Ian stood there in disbelief seeing that the woman he loved fought against his mother, that logic simply did not make sense to him, the shadow in his fate drawing long.

Then the Queen let out a ray of immense power called The Matrix, dispersing Ian’s beloved wife into the empty space. Ian was heartbroken, he had no way to explain the concepts of the fight and the foolishness of his wife fighting an immortal being. Ian ran at his mother, she then gave her powers to him, telling him to destroy it himself. The Queen collapses to the floor as her life withered out of her cold, disintegrating body. Ian took his mother’s advice, destroyed the power of Mathematics, and restored the peace in the world of Mathema, Geometria and, Nullity and Absence.

Ian now sat on his throne, thinking back about what happened on his birthday. Abruptly, another mysterious portal appeared. Ian was hesitant at first after the last time he went through one, but the design of it seemed different… as he went through it bravely, only to discover the world he once knew was gone, he opened his eyes, but this world was much different. He was now in the body of Jacob Bernoulli. Thus, the birth of modern-day Mathematics.

Willem Ferreira

BSc Mathematical Science 3rd year student,
STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY

Sphephelo Mhlongo

BSc Mathematical Science 2nd year student,
STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY

Tristan Barnard

BSc Wood & Wood Product Science,
STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY