Max, believing the stock market is a non-linear, dynamic, chaotic system, applies the principles of number theory to determine the workings behind the apparent random nature of market prices. What Max eventually uncovers almost destroys him. This philosopher suggests mathematics is the language of the universe. One can see the influence Pythagoras had on this ancient culture by simply looking at the emphasis Greek architecture placed on developing mathematically perfect structures, such as the Parthenon. This fascination with mathematical perfection came, in part, as the Greek philosophers struggled with understanding a world of change and stagnation, of motion and rest, of unity and diversity.
Chaos theory is the study of forever-changing complex systems.
Pi can be understood as a critique on modernism. This theme was largely based on the assumption we live in an ordered world created by an orderly God. As Ren Descartes suggested, the world was a clock, a mechanical system managed by God the Clock-Maker. With this metaphor in mind, conclusions about the world had to fit an orderly system. The goal for rational perfection peaked during the first half of the 20 th century.