Formulaic Magic: Difference between revisions
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* '''Reduction of math to a magical artifact:''' The simple knowledge of an equation is powerful in itself. [[Powers as Programs|Committing a mathematical expression to memory might unlock superpowers, for instance.]]
* '''Giving math a will of its own:''' The mere presence of some mathematical statement on paper or in someone's mind has some effect on its surroundings—discoverers [[Go Mad
Such "magical math" (or "mathemagic" or "[[Whatevermancy|Mathamancy]]") doesn't have to be connected to any aspect of reality, so it will [[E=MC Hammer|often be rather nonsensical]] as a result. In this way, such math is somewhat related to the [[Numerological Motif]], in which numbers get intrinsic properties.
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* It's [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_shoujo_lyrical_nanoha_a_s/v01/c004/7.html revealed] in the [[All There in the Manual|supplementary]] [[Comic Book Adaptation|manga]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' that constructing the [[Instant Runes]] needed for magic in that setting requires a very good grasp of math. In fact, one of the reasons why Nanoha and Fate are such powerful mages is because they're both [[Teen Genius|math geniuses]].
* The [[Reality Warper|reality warping]] abilities of human interfaces in ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' seem to work like this.
* Grimoires and parchments in ''[[
== Comic Books ==
* Multiple times in [[The DCU]]:
** The [[Brown Note|Anti-Life Equation]] is usable as a method of [[Mass Hypnosis]]. It runs {{spoiler|1='''Loneliness + Alienation + Fear + Despair + Self-worth ÷ Mockery ÷ Condemnation ÷ Misunderstanding x Guilt x Shame x Failure x Judgment, n=y where y=Hope and n=Folly, Love=Lies, Life=Death, Self=''''''<big>[[Darkseid]]</big>'''}}.
*** Its more benign counterpart, [[Words of Power|the Life Equation]], reads {{spoiler|1='''companionship + understanding + assurance + joy + altruism ÷ respect ÷ commendation ÷ sympathy ⋅ innocence ⋅ dignity ⋅ success ⋅ acceptance y=n where y=despair and n=caution, love=truth, death=rebirth, and self=light side=''''''<big>[[God|The Source]]</big>'''}}.
** The [[Pre Crisis]] DCU [[Round Robin]] maxiseries ''DC Challenge'' had a series of numbers in the first issue (written by [[Mark Evanier]]) that were somehow important—but none of the other writers could ever really figure out how. Several of them later used the numbers in formulas for this, that, and the other. The secret? {{spoiler|Add them up on a calculator and turn the calculator upside down; it spelled out the name "ELI ELLIS."}}
** [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] superhero Johnny Quick accessed his superspeed powers by reciting the mathematical formula "3X2(9YZ)4A". More recent materials have [[retcon]]ned this as a mantra that allows him to tap into the mystical Speed Force.
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* In the [[Marvel Universe]], Amadeus Cho (the seventh-smartest person on the planet) sees the world as mathematical formulas. The [[Incredible Hulk]] does as well, according to Cho (albeit unconsciously), which explains how he somehow doesn't hurt any innocent bystanders while Hulk-smashing.
* Small time Marvel villain Mathemanic has an array of math psycho-powers. For example, making people aware of galactic-scale distances so that they can't aim properly.
* There was a ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' arc where Reed whipped up a mathematical equation that became sentient. It was a low-grade [[Reality Warper]] that dealt with reality in mathematical terms and demanded that Reed create a formula that equalled himself.
== Film ==
* ''[[Pi]]'': [[Mad Mathematician|Max]] starts the film with a dogmatic belief that "mathematics is the language of nature," which straddles the line between "math is capable of explaining everything in existence" and "math ''determines'' our existence." He later encounters a 216-digit number that seems to have a catastrophic effect on anything it touches: {{spoiler|the stock market, his mentor's health, and eventually his (already tenuous) sanity}}.
* The [[John Carpenter]] horror movie ''[[Prince of Darkness]]'', much like H.P. Lovecraft's stories, has ancient, complex mathematical equations of extraterrestrial origin with seemingly magical powers. They predict the existence of a God and [[God of Evil|Anti-God]] and, once understood, they open up whole range of bizarre phenomena, including [[Magic Mirror|leaping headlong through mirrors]] into an abyssal darkness on the other side.
== Literature ==
* Magic in [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s mythos is often related to mathematics. In ''Dreams in the Witch House'', for instance, the protagonist is a mathematician who discovers an equation that would allow him to travel outside angled space (basically, to create wormholes). If you can understand the true nature of the universe, you can use that knowledge to do things that seem physically impossible to us. Provided you don't first [[Go Mad
* Connected to the above, ''[[The Laundry Series]]'' by Charles Stross also shows magic as mathematics, to the point where computers solving certain equations can warp reality as per magical spells. Becomes a bit of a problem when the walls around reality start weakening, to the worst-case scenario of somebody solving equations in their head running the risk of accidentally summoning an [[Eldritch Abomination]].
* Jack L. Chalker's ''Well of Souls'' series: The Great Equation. A couple of supercomputers are capable of [[Reality Warper|warping reality]] retroactively (that is, those who didn't see the change actually happen are incapable of realizing that anything actually changed) by "altering" the Equation, which basically ''is'' reality. By moving a few numbers in the equation, the result—that is, our reality—changes to suit.
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* In the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series, all magic is based in math and science, and the kids have quite high-level discussions of these things, because part of magic is being able to completely describe what you want to change.
* In "Career Day", one of the stories in the ''Chicks in Chainmail'' anthology, the protagonist comes from a world where magic is done with mathematical formulas. She brings her daughter's class there on a field trip to observe her in her career as a barbarian swordswoman. When her opponent in a duel cheats by hiring a wizard to help him, the other chaperon on the trip, her daughter's math teacher, counteracts the magic with his knowledge of calculus. [[It Makes Sense in Context]].
* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', in the later books, introduces the field of ''Bistromathics'', math that can be used to warp spacetime for purposes of Faster-than-light travel by taking advantages of the unique properties numbers take on when written down within the confines of an Italian restaurant.
* The Aons (runes) neccessary to make the magic system from ''[[Elantris]]'' work are very much like a combination of mathematical symbols and a very complex alphabet. Learning magic is incredibly difficult for this reason, and it can take weeks for even an experienced practitioner to write out the more complex spell "equations".
* The premise behind ''[[Simon Bloom]]''
* The anthology "[[Chicks In Chainmail]]" gave us a short story by Margaret Ball, later expanded to a full novel, called ''Mathemagics'' with this entire premise for the magical system.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''Logopolis'' features a planet where they've developed a branch of mathematics in which the act of performing the calculations changes the fabric of reality. The entire population takes shifts in calculating a never-ending formula that holds the end of the universe at bay.
** Bonus points to the Master for destroying an ''entire quarter of the Universe'' by killing a couple of the guys doing the math.
** A more abstract example is seen in the episode "The Shakespeare Code"; the Carrionites use words as magic, like witches, and the Doctor explains this as completely non-magical by comparing it to mathematics on earth; "With the right string of numbers you can split the atom!" Except, of course, that saying the number out loud will not cause an atom to spontaneously divide in two.
* While not stated on ''[[Lost]]'' itself,the [[Alternate Reality Game]] ''[[The Lost Experience]]'' states that the [[Arc Number|numbers]] (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) are {{spoiler|parameters in the Valenzetti equation used to derive the time remaining before humanity's extinction}}.
* Numbor, a [[Monster of the Week]] from ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]''; this guy looked like a jester with a calculator for a torso, and boasted he could alter weights and measure (as in, he could add and subtract a victim's weight). Oh, and he had bombs shaped like numerals and made a lot of number-based puns. [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain| A silly monster]] in the franchise's silliest series, it's probably a good idea he didn't make a return appearance.
== New Media ==
* [[SCP Foundation]]-[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-033 033].{{context}}
== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Bloom County]]'': Oliver Wendell Jones writes a formula to explain the universe and accidentally wipes out Opus when he realises that, under this formula, flightless water fowl could not exist. He then realises he had forgotten to carry a one, causing an unimpressed Opus to pop back into existence when he makes the correction.
== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''Complete Arcane'', the 3.5 Edition of [[Dungeons
* In ''[[Planescape]]'', the Mathematicians are a splinter group of the Guvners who study the nature of Mechanus, the Plane of Ultimate Law, believing anything that can be imagined can be found somewhere on its multitude of gears, and their studies to this end are done using a form of mathematics that makes calculus and trigonometry look like first grade arithmetic in comparison. Seeing as Intelligence is the most important stat for Wizards, nearly all of them are that class. If you want to join them, you first have to find their headquarters, and doing so requires knowing enough about math to calculate the mathematical center of the infinite plane of Mechanus. Once you find them, joining as a "Thousandth Digit" (ie, an apprentice) requires an exam that takes ''a week'' to finish, and is impossible to pass without a minimum Intelligence Score of 17; most would consider this [[Albert Einstein]]'s level of genius, and many experienced Mathematicians have used powerful magic to boost their Intelligence much higher.
* In the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! (Tabletop Game)|Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' game, [https://yugioh.fandom.com/wiki/Mathematician Mathematician], a Spellcaster monster that is used by Bastion (himself something of a prodigy) in the anime. It's attack is called "Number Cruncher" and consists of spells that shoot streams of numbers and mathematical symbols at foes.
== Video Games ==
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*** The beauty of Level ''i'' Flare is that it's a factor of every number, not just real numbers, meaning it would affect ''everything'', {{spoiler|across all possible realities. Useful when your target can travel through dimensions.}}
* The [[Final Fantasy Tactics]] series has a Calculator class that uses various magical effects. How their abilities work from an in-universe perspective is not specified.
** According to the remake for the PSP's tutorial, Calculators are attuned enough to the flow of mist that they can manipulate it in unique and bizarre ways which other classes just can't pull off. In other words: SE knew it made absolutely no sense and handwaved it.
* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', the [[Power Levels]] for Leviathan and {{spoiler|Kyrie}} are determined in how many hours they've experienced intense envy. In-game, Leviathan attempts the multiplication for the latter's multiplication formula, along with revealing her own, giving players the idea; in the TIPS, {{spoiler|Kyrie}} is shown actually chanting her formula as she runs to give her husband (flirting with a younger girl) what for.
* [[Final Fantasy VII]] has an interesting example: When [[One-Winged Angel|Safer Sephiroth]] casts [[Overly-Long Fighting Animation|Super Nova]], four equations fly by the screen. They are, roughly, the potential attractive force between the sun and the planet, the Earth's potential attractive force, and... the area of a circle. You should see the [[Epileptic Trees]] some fans go through to justify that one. Still, 75% good scientific formulae being used in a magic spell is better than average.
* Rita's non-spell special attacks in [[Tales of Vesperia]] take the form of mathematical equations.
* Reinhart Manx, the playable mage character in ''[[Dungeon Siege]] III'' employs both this and [[Magitek]], using the power of math rather than fireballs.
== Web Comics ==
{{quote|'''Kim''': I am 87% confident you will burst into flames. (*''fwoosh''*)}}
* ''[[Erfworld]]'' has Mathamancy, which
▲** Bayesian probability concerns itself with the liklihood of a given event based upon the outcome of past events; for example, if a coin has landed heads ten times, bayesian probability dictates it is highly likely to land heads an eleventh time. Kim's class is a play on "Bayesian Imperitive" as in, she can basically tell the world how to work if she makes strong enough judgments about how it should work.
▲* [[Erfworld]] has Mathamancy, which is described as, to paraphrase: "analyzing probabilities, predicting outcomes, and the raw calculations thereof".
== Western Animation ==
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* In an episode of ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'', being flipped upside down gradually changes the [[Too Dumb to Live]] characters Chip and Skip into geniuses (it increases the blood flow to their heads). At the height of their intellect, they use their brains to flip themselves right-side up again: this involves rattling off a lengthy Newtonian formula, and then simply glowing with a pink light that levitates them into position. Unfortunately, this reduces the blood flow to their brains, and they soon [[Flowers for Algernon Syndrome|turn right back into idiots]].
* There's a [[Donald Duck]] cartoon called "Donald Duck's Adventures In Mathemagic Land," which is Donald exploring (with the Narrator) the history of mathematics, and math's contribution to things such as music, games, and the natural world.
* In ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'', mathematics is a required skill for sorcerers like Morgana and her family, as Gosalyn discovers when she tries out the classes at the Macawbers' [[All Ghouls School]]. Seeing as [[Everyone Hates Mathematics|Gosalyn hates math]], she eagerly accepts an offer of a shortcut from someone who claims to be a janitor. Unfortunately, he's actually [[The Devil]] in disguise...
== Real Life ==
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