Modulo-n

I have been thinking of writing a blog for quite some time; yet, I always put off starting one.  Though I enjoy writing, journaling has never been my thing…in fact, I always quite dreaded it and groaned inwardly when teachers would assign those exercises.  Besides, I was always too busy or too tired or too something to be bothered to record my thoughts.  I reasoned that my thoughts were my own, and sometimes, what goes on in my head is best kept between my ears.  Lately, though, I have been filled to the brim with the need to write…hence, myshiny new blog.  I suppose I’ve chosen a public forum rather than a neat-looking sketchbook from Barnes and Noble to keep me honest and to keep me posting.

Of course, a blog needs a snappy name…Modulo-n is my choice.  I’m sure most of you are thinking, “Modulo-n?  What does that even mean?”  Well, let me educate you, my pretties!  In mathematics, modulo is defined as, “With respect to a specified modulus” (dictionary.com).  Let me make it less…well, “mathy.”  A modulus is the remainder you get when you divide two numbers by the same divisor.  For example, the number 18 and the number 42 can both be divided by 12 and they both leave 6 as their remainder.  In mathematics, this means that 42 is congruent to 18 mod 12.  A very fancy and technical way of saying that I can have a set of numbers, and when I divide them by the same divisor, I get the same remainder.  Neat-o, right??

Modulo is an interesting and useful concept…both in mathematics and in real life.  In math, its main purpose lies in division, obviously.  It is also used for the domain and range of functions (equations) as well as pattern-keeping & repeating.  In life…well, in life, we are all divided into many, many different pieces that come together to form our daily existences.  Just today I divided myself into a mother, wife, teacher, mentor, listener, yard work completer, friend, daughter, student yogini, patient and probably others I have forgotten or that have been more seamlessly integrated into my life.  Yet, there is still me.  There is a remainder  after each part of my life has taken what I can give to it for the day.  That is what this blog is about; keeping and focusing, as well as expressing and renewing that small part of me that is still the core of me…the part that is not a mother, not a wife, not a teacher, not a mentor…you get the picture.

You might be wondering why I’m modulo-n rather than modulo 7 or 5 or some other number.  Although mathematics is rigorous and beautiful, its application to the real world can be somewhat messy and in need of restriction.  I don’t know what modulo I am because I have no idea how many divisions of myself I will need to make on a given day.  For various practical and mathematical reasons, I know it is a number greater than zero and I feel safe in conjecturing the number is less than positive infinity-1.  I suppose I don’t find it important to know my modulo; at the end of the day, the remainder is and will always be 1.  At the end of the day, I’m still me: J congruent to A mod n.  Remainder 1.

JJ