Synopses & Reviews
"Creative mathematicians seldom write for outsiders, but when they do, they usually do it well. Jerry King is no exception." —
Nature"Touch[es] the mathematical grandeur that the first geometers contemplated." — Publishers Weekly
"Witty, trenchant, and provocative." — Mathematical Association of America
A simple algebraic formula can reduce otherwise intelligent people to shamefaced confusion. Why are so many people so puzzled by mathematics? Clear, concise, and superbly written, this book reveals the beauty at the heart of mathematics — and it makes that beauty accessible to everyone, demonstrating the humor of calculus, the sweetness in pi, and the poetry of numbers.
Mathematics professor and poet Jerry P. King writes with passion and wit of Euclid, Yeats, Poincaré, and Rembrandt, drawing examples from axioms, paintings, and symphonies. The Art of Mathematics explores the difference between real, rational, and complex numbers; analyzes the intellectual underpinnings of pure and applied mathematics; and illustrates the fundamental connection between aesthetics and math. King also sheds light on how mathematicians pursue their research, and how our educational system perpetuates the imagined divisions between the "two cultures."
Synopsis
Clear, concise, and superbly written, this book reveals the beauty at the heart of mathematics, illustrating the fundamental connection between aesthetics and mathematics. "Witty, trenchant, and provocative." Mathematical Association of America.
Synopsis
Creative mathematicians seldom write for outsiders, but when they do, they usually do it well. Jerry King is no exception. -- Nature
Touch es] the mathematical grandeur that the first geometers contemplated. -- Publishers Weekly
Witty, trenchant, and provocative. -- Mathematical Association of America
A simple algebraic formula can reduce otherwise intelligent people to shamefaced confusion. Why are so many people so puzzled by mathematics? Clear, concise, and superbly written, this book reveals the beauty at the heart of mathematics -- and it makes that beauty accessible to everyone, demonstrating the humor of calculus, the sweetness in pi, and the poetry of numbers.
Mathematics professor and poet Jerry P. King writes with passion and wit of Euclid, Yeats, Poincar , and Rembrandt, drawing examples from axioms, paintings, and symphonies. The Art of Mathematics explores the difference between real, rational, and complex numbers; analyzes the intellectual underpinnings of pure and applied mathematics; and illustrates the fundamental connection between aesthetics and math. King also sheds light on how mathematicians pursue their research, and how our educational system perpetuates the imagined divisions between the two cultures.
Synopsis
"Creative mathematicians seldom write for outsiders, but when they do, they usually do it well. Jerry King is no exception. His informal, nontechnical book, as its title implies, is organized around what Bertrand Russell called the 'supreme beauty' of mathematics--a beauty 'capable of a stern perfection such as only the greatest art can show.'"
NATURE
In this clear, concise, and superbly written volume, mathematics professor and poet Jerry P. King reveals the beauty that is at the heart of mathematics--and he makes that beauty accessible to all readers. Darting wittily from Euclid to Yeats, from Poincare to Rembrandt, from axioms to symphonies, THE ART OF MATHEMATICS explores the difference between real, rational, and complex numbers; analyzes the intellectual underpinnings of pure and applied mathematics; and reveals the fundamental connection between aesthetics and mathematics. King also sheds light on how mathematicians pursue their research and how our educational system perpetuates the damaging divisions between the "two cultures."
Synopsis
Clear, concise, and superbly written, this book reveals the beauty at the heart of mathematics, illustrating the fundamental connection between aesthetics and mathematics. "Witty, trenchant, and provocative." Mathematical Association of America.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. The Unexpected
2. Pure Mathematics
3. Numbers
4. Applied Mathematics
5. Aesthetics
6. Aristocracy
7. The Two Cultures
8. Great Things
9. Epilogue
Notes
Index