Math and physics have many interactions throughout the centuries including:

• Greeks mathematicians used Euclidean geometry to explain the world around them, such as the five elements
• Islamic scientists such as Biruni, Alhazen, and Ibn Mua’dh used geometric ideas to measure the Earth’s dimensions
• Newton invented calculus to explain motion
• Gauss contemplated whether Euclidean geometry explained the universe
• Maxwell captured differential calculus to explain electricity and magnetism
• Einstein and Kaluza/Klein used Riemannian geometry to understand gravity and to try to unify gravity with electricity and magnetism.

Math and physics have interactions continue in the twentieth century with the work of Ramanujan and his work with Hardy to develop the partitions of integers.

Black holes are of interest in physics because they are not only mysterious, but they also represent a collision between gravity and quantum mechanics. Einstein’s equations predicted their existence, but he did not believe they existed.