‘That virgin, vital, beautiful day: today.’ — Mallarmé
Infinity (symbolically represented with ∞) comes from the Latin infinitas or “unboundedness.” It refers to several distinct concepts (usually linked to the idea of “without end”) which arise in philosophy, mathematics, and theology.
The precise origin of the infinity symbol ∞ is unclear. One possibility is suggested by the name it is sometimes called—the lemniscate, from the Latin lemniscus, meaning “ribbon.”
A popular explanation is that the infinity symbol is derived from the shape of a Möbius strip. Again, one can imagine walking along its surface forever. However, this explanation is not plausible, since the symbol had been in use to represent infinity for over two hundred years before August Ferdinand Möbius and Johann Benedict Listing discovered the Möbius strip in 1858.
It is also possible that it is inspired by older religious/alchemical symbolism. For instance, it has been found in Tibetan rock carvings, and the ouroboros, or infinity snake, is often depicted in this shape.
John Wallis is usually credited with introducing ∞ as a symbol for infinity in 1655 in his De sectionibus conicis. One conjecture about why he chose this symbol is that he derived it from a Roman numeral for 1000 that was in turn derived from the Etruscan numeral for 1000, which looked somewhat like CIƆ and was sometimes used to mean “many.” Another conjecture is that he derived it from the Greek letter ω (omega), the last letter in the Greek alphabet.
Another possibility is that the symbol was chosen because it was easy to rotate an “8″ character by 90° when typesetting was done by hand. The symbol is sometimes called a “lazy eight”, evoking the image of an “8″ lying on its side.
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Today we enter one of the most auspicious days ever for the Chinese culture: 8-8-8.
But why is eight so lucky? ”In Cantonese [the language of Southern China and Hong Kong], the word for ‘fah’ means ‘eight,’ but also sounds like the word for ‘make a lot of fortune,’ ” explains Z.J. Tong, owner of the Chicago Chinese Cultural Institute and Bookstore. Thus in a homonym-crazy society like China’s: Eight equals lucky.
