Why mathematics is magic

Not writing much at the moment. I'm a bit too busy with MSc work. But I thought I'd put up some thoughts all the same.

In that vein I give you... Why mathematics is magic.

One of my favoured concepts from At the Mountains of Discord is Twilight's Doctorate in Friendship (and the magic thereof). Specifically she is a Doctor of Thaumaturgy. In my slightly warped Equestria, magic has its own doctorate.

Canterlot University (along with most of the ancient Equestrian universities) has five main doctorial awards. It grants doctorates in Law, Art, Magic, Medicine and Philosophy, with Philosophy functioning as a grab bag for those subjects which don't belong in the other four. There were more in the past but tradition has solidified in these five.

Virtually any course of study can find a home in one of these categories but not always the home you'd expect. Tradition is a powerful force, and mathematics is a perfect example of this.

As Twilight said in the story, most Doctorial mathematics awards are 'granted with the wand', meaning a D.Thau. The reasons for this lie in history.

This being a Cthulhu Mythos crossover, maths is very important to a 'proper' understanding of magic. You need higher maths to understand higher magic. Centuries of unicorn magic students have known this and researched maths as a result. Since their research fed directly into their magical studies they were naturally granted D.Thaus. It would be silly to do anything else. These students then grew up and became academics in turn. They taught students what they knew , and their students pushed the boundaries of pure maths still further. Equestria's magic departments became the centres for all mathematical research, even not directly applicable to magic.

In the depths of history this wasn't really a problem. Just about the only use for all this esoteric maths was magic. But in modern Equestria this is no longer the case. Higher maths is useful in many rapidly advancing fields. Students of engineering, physics, pure number theory and Celestia only knows what else push its boundaries. But the tradition is well and truly set. Advanced research in maths gets you a D.Thau.

And that, my friends, is why mathematics is magic.