Climb The Mountain Because It Is There.

In this newest section to be read Douglas Hofstadter discusses two ideas when approaching pattern finding in numbers. The first of his ideas is that pattern finding is not always an easy process. That is to say that given one problem over another problem, one may be easier to solve than the other. This idea also suggests the persistence and patience is needed in divining the solution to any given problem. This has bearing on all real world problems in general and is not necessarily only limited to pattern finding or mathematics. The most that I took away from this is that toil and hard work can yield fruits for success.

This idea has a certain cosmetic feel to his use of mountains, chains, and plateaus when trying to find the pattern in a sequence. But brings me further into the idea of persistence in problem solving in general. Mountains can literally be upraised sections of ground which are barren and rocky or forested and life renewing. Semiotically, mountains can be many things. A mountain range can be the border between two warring countries that forces peace, or the natural border of a city, state, or country. Or it can be in reference to the amount of work that someone may have to do. Consider for instance the phrase, “I have mountains of work to take care of before I can enjoy the weekend.” The ascension of the work being half of the number of task needed to reach the half way point, the apex, or the half the total time needed to complete all the tasks. Symbolically a mountain, when pertaining to problem solving may also represent one task that needs to be completed. Take for example a computer program that one may wish to write. The ascension of the mountain in this case might be the preliminary work needed in writing the code for the program, such as understanding the problem, theories on how to solve the problem, and etc. While the apex of the mountain, the peak, would be the actual coding of the program to be written, one could spend any amount of time climbing the mountain and viewing the world from the peak. Descending the mountain, I would say represents the debugging of the code and finally ending with a finished product. After climbing this mountain, pick-nicking at the peak, and descending back to the base, the next mountain is ready to be climbed.