The beauty of math

In honor of Pi Day, a little math news:

BBC Science & Environment reports that the human brain responds to “beautiful” mathematical formulae in the same way it responds to “beautiful” works of art. Euler’s identity (above) was rated the most beautiful formula by mathematicians in the study–and while I do not have the background to fully appreciate the math involved, even I find it astonishingly beautiful! Srinivasa Ramanujan’s infinite series and Riemann’s functional equation were considered the ugliest formulae in the study.