Ode to the Infinity Symbol

— “Honk them again! Honk!” — a beautiful girl with a proper oval face and chiseled cheekbones persistently commanded, reaching for the button on the steering wheel.
By the sloppy way her fingers moved it was clear that the girl was tense, — “Honk!”

— “Lady, you and I are stuck in Buffalo in the middle of a snowfall”, — a taxi driver answered her, — “The horn won’t do us any good right now.”

— “What do you suggest?” — the girl said irritably, pulling off a bright cashmere scarf from her neck. It looked like she was ready to do anything to make the cars in front move forward at least for a few yards.

— “Stand here forever?” — out of the desire to support his companion a guy shouted from the back seat.

— “Infinite… Endless… Who even invented this infinity?” — the taxi driver grumbled, — “Infinity.”

— “I’ve read somewhere that the infinity sign itself, in the form of a rounded figure eight, means a sign of absolute harmony, cyclicity and perfection of the universe. As if the universe itself is showing us that we need to look for harmony in everything, even in prolonged waiting.”

— “It’s surprising, but the symbol of infinity itself came to science from religious rituals. Once this symbol showed how a snake held its tail in its jaws,” — he shouted passionately, — “Probably this is really the providence of the Universe, since we are talking about the infinity sign right now.”

— “Maybe this is why the infinity sign is often associated with magic?” — the taxi driver said thoughtfully, trying to see the silhouettes of other cars through the windshield.

— “Maybe that’s why.” — the young man nodded in agreement, — “But after a huge amount of time, in the middle of the 17th century, the scientist John Wallis, a genius who studied mathematics on his own, published one of the most important works “The Arithmetic of the Infinite.” It was in this treatise that the symbol first received its mathematical concept of infinity.”

— “Does it turn out that the mathematician chose a number that has a sacred meaning to represent the infinity symbol?” — the taxi driver asked in surprise.

— “Why Wallis chose this particular sign is unknown, but there are several interesting guesses…” — the young man leaned forward, — “so…”

— “There are two opinions why the mathematician designated the symbol in the form of a conventional eight,” — the girl interrupted her silence. — “According to the first version, the scientist meant “a set,” which was written in Roman numerals in those days as CIƆ, that is, the number 1000. Or perhaps, he drew the last letter of the Greek alphabet — ω, which meant “a lot”.

— “Yes, but it was the symbol of Lemniscate that was used to depict Ouroboros — a reptile which bit its own tail which I spoke about earlier,” — the young man objected to her, — “And this image symbolized the eternal nature of the world and the cyclical nature of life and death. An octopus and spider also have 8 legs. But I probably shouldn’t have remembered this now.”

— “If you look at the symbol of infinity for a long time, you can see how special eternal matters, opposed to each other, are connected together,” — the girl smiled,— “Isn’t this what John Wallis wanted to convey to us?”

— “I’m completely confused,”— he said doomedly, trying to see the young man sitting in the back seat in the rearview mirror, — “anyway, what kind of magic lies behind the infinity symbol?”

— “Very simple magic,” — the girl answered to him, — “in nuclear physics the number 8 is exactly called the “magic number.” And atomic nuclei containing 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126 protons or neutrons are called “magic nuclei”.”

— “After all, there is magic in the endless eight! I knew! I knew it!” — he exclaimed and slammed the steering wheel. It looked like he had made one of the important discoveries of his life.

— “Of course there is!” — the young man supported him, — “In the world, only 8% of money exists in the form of cash, everything else is electronic “money” in the form of entries in the accounts of financial institutions. Isn’t this magic…”

— “Of course,” — she chuckled smugly, — “the most beautiful phrase in the world written in numbers  – I love you forever – 5201314 in sum equals two eights, two infinity symbols.”

— “Indeed…” — the driver said slowly, — “five, two and one equals 8. And three, four and one also equals 8. Two infinities…”

— “Yes,” — the girl smiled mysteriously, twisting her scarf in the form of figure eight rings, — “like a single connection of special eternal matters, opposed to each other.”