Matematikens historia
3 661 produkter
3 661 produkter
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Matematiken är en av de mest gåtfulla och givande källorna till filosofiska problem. Tillsammans har disciplinerna format vår förståelse av slump, logik och utformande av omröstningar, samarbeten och samhällskontrakt. Det står samtidigt helt klart att matematiken inte är en empirisk vetenskap, så varför fungerar den så praktiskt?
Tankens geometri låter matematikens och filosofins namnkunnigaste företrädare attrahera och repellera varandra genom tid och rum: Hur utvecklades den moderna statistiken parallellt med kunskapsteorin? Hur hör spelteori ihop med moralfilosofi? Hur fick matematiken sin egen skrift?
Karl Sigmunds bok är en exposé över det mänskliga förnuftets förmåga att röra sig mellan matematiska tal och mening.
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231 kr
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"Det är något så sällsamt som en spränglärd bok som inte nödvändigtvis vill lära oss något, utan som låter reflektioner över tillvarons beskaffenhet vara ett självändamål. Läs den!"Svenska Dagbladet
"Det är poetiskt och vackert på ett sätt som få kanske trodde att matematik kunde vara."BTJ"Bättre blir det när Ravanis, som har en lätt och ledig stil, lämnar kategorierna och prövar att skriva skönlitterärt. "Göteborgs Posten
"Ravanis presenterar teoremet på ett djupare och mer nyanserat sätt, där hennes pedagogiska och tillgängliga språk ger läsaren en fullständig och klar förståelse"Kultmagasin
”Det är en rik, underbar bok, fylld av mänsklig värme i ett svalnande universum.”Göran Greider, Aftonbladet om Skönheten i Kaos.
Emmy Noether var en av 1900-talets mest framstående matematiker. Hennes viktigaste teorem bidrog till att vända på en världsbild som varit sann ända sedan Newtons dagar. Idag är hon i stort sett bortglömd. Det här är en bok om hennes liv, hennes arv och drömmen om ett liv bortom kroppens begränsningar.Som judisk kvinna född i Tyskland 1882 blev Emmy Noether gång på gång utestängd från matematikens viktigaste rum. Hon, som bara förväntades ägna sig åt värdsliga ting, vigde trots detta sitt liv åt matematisk abstraktion. Medan hon kämpade för att få ta plats på universitetet i Göttingen, arbetade hon frenetiskt på det teorem som förklarar vad det innebär att inte vara förankrad i någon plats eller någon tid alls. Kanske hänger alltihop samman?Vetenskapshistorikern och fysikern Julia Ravanis söker i Emmys teorem efter det som formar våra idéer och gör oss till de vi är. Själva teoremet vägleder berättelsen om vad som ger oss energi att ta oss någonstans, hur vi väljer riktning och håller balansen i tillvaron. Om platserna och tiderna som vi nog aldrig helt kan frigöra oss från.
"Julia Ravanis tecknar Noethers gärning med ett språk som gnistrar av skärpa."Svenska Dagbladet
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160 kr
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George Dyson's fascinating account of the early years of computers: Turing's Cathedral is the story behind how the PC, ipod, smartphone and almost every aspect of modern life came into being.In 1945 a small group of brilliant engineers and mathematicians gathered at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, determined to build a computer that would make Alan Turing's theory of a 'universal machine' reality. Led by the polymath émigré John von Neumann, they created the numerical framework that underpins almost all modern computing - and ensured that the world would never be the same again.George Dyson is a historian of technology whose interests include the development (and redevelopment) of the Aleut kayak. He is the author of Baidarka; Project Orion; and Darwin Among the Machines.'Unusual, wonderful, visionary' Francis Spufford, Guardian'Fascinating . . . the story Dyson tells is intensely human . . . a gripping account of ideas and inventionFascinating . . . the story Dyson tells is intensely human . . . a gripping account of ideas and invention' Jenny Uglow'Glorious . . . as much a story of the personalities involved as of the discoveries they made, and you do not need any knowledge of computers or mathematics to enjoy the ride . . . a ripping yarn' John Gribbin, Literary Review
752 kr
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From the reviews of the second edition:"This book covers many interesting topics not usually covered in a present day undergraduate course, as well as certain basic topics such as the development of the calculus and the solution of polynomial equations.
Aristarchus of Samos, the Ancient Copernicus
A History of Greek Astronomy to Aristarchus, Together with Aristarchus's Treatise on the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon
Häftad, Engelska, 2013
587 kr
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The Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos was active in the third century BCE, more than a thousand years before Copernicus presented his model of a heliocentric solar system. It was Aristarchus, however, who first suggested - in a work that is now lost - that the planets revolve around the sun. Edited by Sir Thomas Little Heath (1861-1940), this 1913 publication contains the ancient astronomer's only surviving treatise, which does not propound the heliocentric hypothesis. The Greek text is based principally on the tenth-century manuscript Vaticanus Graecus 204. Heath also provides a facing-page English translation and explanatory notes. The treatise is prefaced by a substantial history of ancient Greek astronomy, ranging from Homer's first mention of constellations to work by Heraclides of Pontus in the fourth century BCE relating to the Earth's rotation. Heath's collection of translated ancient texts, Greek Astronomy (1932), is also reissued in this series.
673 kr
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This extraordinary work takes the reader on a long and fascinating journey--from the dual invention of numbers and language, through the major realms of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus, to the final destination of differential equations, with excursions into mathematical logic, set theory, topology, fractals, probability, and assorted other mathematical byways. The book is unique among popular books on mathematics in combining an engaging, easy-to-read history of the subject with a comprehensive mathematical survey text. Intended, in the author's words, "for the benefit of those who never studied the subject, those who think they have forgotten what they once learned, or those with a sincere desire for more knowledge," it links mathematics to the humanities, linguistics, the natural sciences, and technology.Contains more than 1000 original technical illustrations, a multitude of reproductions from mathematical classics and other relevant works, and a generous sprinkling of humorous asides, ranging from limericks and tall stories to cartoons and decorative drawings.
190 kr
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A fascinating look into how the transformative joys of mathematical experience are available to everyone, not just specialists Math has a reputation for being inaccessible. People think that it requires a special gift or that comprehension is a matter of genes. Yet the greatest mathematicians throughout history, from René Descartes to Alexander Grothendieck, have insisted that this is not the case. Like Albert Einstein, who famously claimed to have “no special talent,” they said that they had accomplished what they did using ordinary human doubts, weaknesses, curiosity, and imagination. David Bessis guides us on an illuminating path toward deeper mathematical comprehension, reconnecting us with the mental plasticity we experienced as children. With simple, concrete examples, Bessis shows how mathematical comprehension is integral to the great learning milestones of life, such as learning to see, to speak, to walk, and to eat with a spoon. Focusing on the deeply human roots of mathematics, Bessis dispels the myths of mathematical genius. He offers an engaging initiation into the experience of math not as a series of discouragingly incomprehensible logic problems but as a physical activity akin to yoga, meditation, or a martial art. This perspective will change the way you think not only about math but also about intelligence, intuition, and everything that goes on inside your head.
246 kr
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585 kr
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Nearly a century before Mondrian made geometrical red, yellow, and blue lines famous, 19th-century mathematician Oliver Byrne employed the color scheme for his 1847 edition of Euclid’s mathematical and geometric treatise Elements. Byrne’s idea was to use color to make learning easier and “diffuse permanent knowledge.” The result has been described as one of the oddest and most beautiful books of the 19th century. The facsimile of Byrne’s seminal publication is now available in a beautiful new edition. A masterwork of art and science, it is as remarkable in the boldness of its red, yellow, and blue figures and diagrams as it is in the mathematical precision of its theories. In the simplicity of forms and colors, the pages anticipate the vigor of De Stijl and Bauhaus design. In making complex information at once accessible and aesthetically engaging, this work is a forerunner to the information graphics that today define much of our data consumption.
159 kr
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214 kr
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SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE PRIZE 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR THE NEUMANN PRIZE 2025 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO COUNT? WHY ARE HUMANS THE ONLY SPECIES ON EARTH THAT CAN DO IT? WHERE DID COUNTING COME FROM? HOW HAS IT SHAPED SOCIETIES ALONG THE WAY? AND WHY DOES IT MATTER? Counting is an innovative, erudite, world-wrapping journey through humanity’s marvellous ability to impose numbers on things. Acclaimed historian and mathematician Benjamin Wardhaugh draws on stories from the Stone Age to cyberspace in pursuit of the elusive, fascinating, endlessly diverse history of human counting.Starting with the roots of counting in human brains, bodies and environments, Wardhaugh tours us around the world and through time while exploring the different flavours of counting that have developed over millennia. We meet the makers of bead necklaces in ancient South Africa, the inventors of writing in the world ’ s first metropolis, and the ‘counter culture’ of classical Athens. We see counting used – and changed – by Indian scholars, Chinese peasants and Papuan shopkeepers; we meet the distinctive numerate agendas of Mayan kings, US governments and Korean vloggers.Weaving these stories together, Wardhaugh shows how cultures have shaped counting, and how counting has shaped culture, in a rich tapestry spanning thousands of years. This is the vast story of human attempts to find some order in an unruly world; or, perhaps, to impose on a reluctant world the order that humans find within themselves. It is a history as wide, deep and tangled as that of humanity itself
Search for Mathematical Roots, 1870-1940
Logics, Set Theories and the Foundations of Mathematics from Cantor through Russell to Gödel
Häftad, Engelska, 2000
1 276 kr
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While many books have been written about Bertrand Russell's philosophy and some on his logic, I. Grattan-Guinness has written the first comprehensive history of the mathematical background, content, and impact of the mathematical logic and philosophy of mathematics that Russell developed with A. N. Whitehead in their Principia mathematica (1910-1913). This definitive history of a critical period in mathematics includes detailed accounts of the two principal influences upon Russell around 1900: the set theory of Cantor and the mathematical logic of Peano and his followers. Substantial surveys are provided of many related topics and figures of the late nineteenth century: the foundations of mathematical analysis under Weierstrass; the creation of algebraic logic by De Morgan, Boole, Peirce, Schroder, and Jevons; the contributions of Dedekind and Frege; the phenomenology of Husserl; and the proof theory of Hilbert. The many-sided story of the reception is recorded up to 1940, including the rise of logic in Poland and the impact on Vienna Circle philosophers Carnap and Godel. A strong American theme runs though the story, beginning with the mathematician E. H.Moore and the philosopher Josiah Royce, and stretching through the emergence of Church and Quine, and the 1930s immigration of Carnap and GodeI. Grattan-Guinness draws on around fifty manuscript collections, including the Russell Archives, as well as many original reviews. The bibliography comprises around 1,900 items, bringing to light a wealth of primary materials. Written for mathematicians, logicians, historians, and philosophers--especially those interested in the historical interaction between these disciplines--this authoritative account tells an important story from its most neglected point of view. Whitehead and Russell hoped to show that (much of) mathematics was expressible within their logic; they failed in various ways, but no definitive alternative position emerged then or since.
210 kr
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A New York Times Science BestsellerWhat if you had to take an art class in which you were only taught how to paint a fence? What if you were never shown the paintings of van Gogh and Picasso, weren't even told they existed? Alas, this is how math is taught, and so for most of us it becomes the intellectual equivalent of watching paint dry.In Love and Math , renowned mathematician Edward Frenkel reveals a side of math we've never seen, suffused with all the beauty and elegance of a work of art. In this heartfelt and passionate book, Frenkel shows that mathematics, far from occupying a specialist niche, goes to the heart of all matter, uniting us across cultures, time, and space. Love and Math tells two intertwined stories: of the wonders of mathematics and of one young man's journey learning and living it. Having braved a discriminatory educational system to become one of the twenty-first century's leading mathematicians, Frenkel now works on one of the biggest ideas to come out of math in the last 50 years: the Langlands Program.Considered by many to be a Grand Unified Theory of mathematics, the Langlands Program enables researchers to translate findings from one field to another so that they can solve problems, such as Fermat's last theorem, that had seemed intractable before.At its core, Love and Math is a story about accessing a new way of thinking, which can enrich our lives and empower us to better understand the world and our place in it. It is an invitation to discover the magic hidden universe of mathematics.
674 kr
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In this 2013 winner of the prestigious R.R. Hawkins Award from the Association of American Publishers, as well as the 2013 PROSE Awards for Mathematics and Best in Physical Sciences & Mathematics, also from the AAP, readers will find many of the most significant contributions from the four-volume set of the Collected Works of A. M. Turing. These contributions, together with commentaries from current experts in a wide spectrum of fields and backgrounds, provide insight on the significance and contemporary impact of Alan Turing's work.
Offering a more modern perspective than anything currently available, Alan Turing: His Work and Impact gives wide coverage of the many ways in which Turing's scientific endeavors have impacted current research and understanding of the world. His pivotal writings on subjects including computing, artificial intelligence, cryptography, morphogenesis, and more display continued relevance and insight into today's scientific and technological landscape. This collection provides a great service to researchers, but is also an approachable entry point for readers with limited training in the science, but an urge to learn more about the details of Turing's work.
2013 winner of the prestigious R.R. Hawkins Award from the Association of American Publishers, as well as the 2013 PROSE Awards for Mathematics and Best in Physical Sciences & Mathematics, also from the AAP Named a 2013 Notable Computer Book in Computing Milieux by Computing Reviews Affordable, key collection of the most significant papers by A.M. Turing Commentary explaining the significance of each seminal paper by preeminent leaders in the field Additional resources available online
293 kr
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Paul Lockhart’s Mathematician’s Lament outlined how we introduce math to students in the wrong way. Measurement explains how math should be done. With plain English and pictures, Lockhart makes complex ideas about shape and motion intuitive and graspable, and offers a solution to math phobia by introducing us to math as an artful way of thinking and living.In conversational prose that conveys his passion for the subject, Lockhart makes mathematics accessible without oversimplifying. He makes no more attempt to hide the challenge of mathematics than he does to shield us from its beautiful intensity. Favoring plain English and pictures over jargon and formulas, he succeeds in making complex ideas about the mathematics of shape and motion intuitive and graspable. His elegant discussion of mathematical reasoning and themes in classical geometry offers proof of his conviction that mathematics illuminates art as much as science.Lockhart leads us into a universe where beautiful designs and patterns float through our minds and do surprising, miraculous things. As we turn our thoughts to symmetry, circles, cylinders, and cones, we begin to see that almost anyone can “do the math” in a way that brings emotional and aesthetic rewards. Measurement is an invitation to summon curiosity, courage, and creativity in order to experience firsthand the playful excitement of mathematical work.
148 kr
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A fascinating exploration of how cartography shapes our world and the impact of maps on our everyday lives.‘If you have ever wondered why an airliner bound from London to Los Angeles flies over Greenland, how we know what lies inside the Earth, or how computers correct errors, then this book is for you’ – John Gribbin, author of In Search of Schrodinger's Cat'An expansive journey through time and place' – The Observer'Entertaining, illuminating . . . An engaging look at a fascinating subject' – New ScientistHow does a delivery driver distribute hundreds of packages in a single day?Why can maps influence elections?Where should we look for serial killers?The answers lie in the connection between maps and maths.Mathematician Dr Paulina Rowinska explores the mathematical foundations of maps and cartography's impact on mathematics. From sixteenth-century maps which we still use on our phones to public transport maps that both guide and mislead, she uncovers how maps and maths shape our sense of space and time, and our worldview.Through engaging stories, unforgettable characters and real-world examples, Mapmatics reveals the mathematical techniques behind maps and how they help us better understand - and care for - the world around us.
141 kr
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**The First Ever Maths Book to be a No.1 Bestseller**'Wonderful ... superb' Daily MailWhat makes a bridge wobble when it's not meant to? Billions of dollars mysteriously vanish into thin air? A building rock when its resonant frequency matches a gym class leaping to Snap's 1990 hit I've Got The Power? The answer is maths. Or, to be precise, what happens when maths goes wrong in the real world.As Matt Parker shows us, our modern lives are built on maths: computer programmes, finance, engineering. And most of the time this maths works quietly behind the scenes, until ... it doesn't. Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near-misses and mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman empire and a hapless Olympic shooting team, Matt Parker shows us the bizarre ways maths trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world.Mathematics doesn't have good 'people skills', but we would all be better off, he argues, if we saw it as a practical ally. This book shows how, by making maths our friend, we can learn from its pitfalls. It also contains puzzles, challenges, geometric socks, jokes about binary code and three deliberate mistakes. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.
386 kr
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Learn about the boy who - could read and add numbers when he was three years old, - thwarted his teacher by finding a quick and easy way to sum the numbers 1-100, - attracted the attention of a Duke with his genius, and became the man who... - predicted the reappearance of a lost planet, - discovered basic properties of magnetic forces, - invented a surveying tool used by professionals until the invention of lasers. Based on extensive research of original and secondary sources, this historical narrative will inspire young readers and even curious adults with its touching story of personal achievement.
- Nyhet
262 kr
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'Fascinating and immensely readable' Ian Stewart 'A charming tour through the realm of the very, very, very numerous, from the ancient world through to the distant future' Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be WrongWhat if, every time you wanted to write down 1,000,000, you had to draw a picture of a god? And what if that number were the biggest you had a symbol for? In ancient Egypt, those were the rules: anything bigger broke maths. Writing down some numbers is still beyond us today: try it with all the zeroes in a googolplex, or an outrageous alien number like FISH 7. Even harnessing every particle in the universe, you wouldn't come close. But that hasn't stopped us from hunting down these mind-bendingly big numbers and studying them.In Huge Numbers, mathematician and Numberphile presenter Richard Elwes shows how counting has shaped human thought. Whether recorded with notches carved on a tally stick, beads on an abacus, or electrical signals carrying binary code, it allows us to test the limits of mathematics over and over, breaking it down and putting it back together again.Come on a fascinating tour that spans continents and millennia, from the Mayan calendar to today's chatbots. You'll see that huge numbers are everywhere, expanding our horizons and powering our modern world.
369 kr
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"In the judgment of the most competent living mathematicians, Fraulein Noether was the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began."-Albert Einstein The year was 1915, and the young mathematician Emmy Noether had just settled into Gottingen University when Albert Einstein visited to lecture on his nearly finished general theory of relativity. Two leading mathematicians of the day, David Hilbert and Felix Klein, dug into the new theory with gusto, but had difficulty reconciling it with what was known about the conservation of energy. Knowing of her expertise in invariance theory, they requested Noether's help. To solve the problem, she developed a novel theorem, applicable across all of physics, which relates conservation laws to continuous symmetries-one of the most important pieces of mathematical reasoning ever developed. Noether's "first" and "second" theorem was published in 1918. The first theorem relates symmetries under global spacetime transformations to the conservation of energy and momentum, and symmetry under global gauge transformations to charge conservation.In continuum mechanics and field theories, these conservation laws are expressed as equations of continuity. The second theorem, an extension of the first, allows transformations with local gauge invariance, and the equations of continuity acquire the covariant derivative characteristic of coupled matter-field systems. General relativity, it turns out, exhibits local gauge invariance. Noether's theorem also laid the foundation for later generations to apply local gauge invariance to theories of elementary particle interactions. In Dwight E. Neuenschwander's new edition of Emmy Noether's Wonderful Theorem, readers will encounter an updated explanation of Noether's "first" theorem. The discussion of local gauge invariance has been expanded into a detailed presentation of the motivation, proof, and applications of the "second" theorem, including Noether's resolution of concerns about general relativity. Other refinements in the new edition include an enlarged biography of Emmy Noether's life and work, parallels drawn between the present approach and Noether's original 1918 paper, and a summary of the logic behind Noether's theorem.
288 kr
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A foundational work on historical and social studies of quantificationWhat accounts for the prestige of quantitative methods? The usual answer is that quantification is desirable in social investigation as a result of its successes in science. Trust in Numbers questions whether such success in the study of stars, molecules, or cells should be an attractive model for research on human societies, and examines why the natural sciences are highly quantitative in the first place. Theodore Porter argues that a better understanding of the attractions of quantification in business, government, and social research brings a fresh perspective to its role in psychology, physics, and medicine. Quantitative rigor is not inherent in science but arises from political and social pressures, and objectivity derives its impetus from cultural contexts. In a new preface, the author sheds light on the current infatuation with quantitative methods, particularly at the intersection of science and bureaucracy.
The Great Math War
How Three Brilliant Minds Fought for the Foundations of Mathematics
Inbunden, Engelska, 2025
310 kr
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A "fascinating romp" (Johnjoe McFadden) and stirring account of the mathematicians who went looking for the bedrock philosophical foundations of their field and witnessed a house of cards collapse instead As the nineteenth century ended, mathematicians were celebrating a century of triumphs that-surprisingly-made clear how little they knew: What is the nature of infinity? Is math free from self-contradiction? And what does math have to do with reality? This was the Foundational Crisis in mathematics. In The Great Math War, Jason Socrates Bardi tells the story of three competing efforts by mathematicians to resolve it-and the firefight that ensued. Bertrand Russell thought we could achieve certainty if we treated math as an extension of logic. David Hilbert believed redemption lay in accepting mathematics as a formal game of arbitrary rules, no different from the moves and pieces in chess. And L. E. J. Brouwer argued math is entirely rooted in human intuition-and that math is not based on logic but rather logic is based on math. It was a bitter struggle, intellectually and personally, as the three vied to set the course for mathematics in the twentieth century. Set against the backdrop of international warfare unfolding alongside it, The Great Math War brings the Foundational Crisis to radiant life-and shows how it indelibly shaped twentieth-century intellectual life.
344 kr
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From the Ishango Bone of central Africa and the Inca quipu of South America to the dawn of modern mathematics, The Crest of the Peacock makes it clear that human beings everywhere have been capable of advanced and innovative mathematical thinking. George Gheverghese Joseph takes us on a breathtaking multicultural tour of the roots and shoots of non-European mathematics. He shows us the deep influence that the Egyptians and Babylonians had on the Greeks, the Arabs' major creative contributions, and the astounding range of successes of the great civilizations of India and China. The third edition emphasizes the dialogue between civilizations, and further explores how mathematical ideas were transmitted from East to West. The book's scope is now even wider, incorporating recent findings on the history of mathematics in China, India, and early Islamic civilizations as well as Egypt and Mesopotamia. With more detailed coverage of proto-mathematics and the origins of trigonometry and infinity in the East, The Crest of the Peacock further illuminates the global history of mathematics.
248 kr
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Elliptic Tales describes the latest developments in number theory by looking at one of the most exciting unsolved problems in contemporary mathematics--the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture. In this book, Avner Ash and Robert Gross guide readers through the mathematics they need to understand this captivating problem. The key to the conjecture lies in elliptic curves, which may appear simple, but arise from some very deep--and often very mystifying--mathematical ideas. Using only basic algebra and calculus while presenting numerous eye-opening examples, Ash and Gross make these ideas accessible to general readers, and, in the process, venture to the very frontiers of modern mathematics.
219 kr
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A gripping exploration of how cartography shapes our world and the impact of maps on our everyday lives.‘If you have ever wondered why an airliner bound from London to Los Angeles flies over Greenland, how we know what lies inside the Earth, or how computers correct errors, then this book is for you’ – John Gribbin, author of In Search of Schrodinger's CatHow does a delivery driver distribute hundreds of packages in a single day?Why can maps influence elections?Where should we look for serial killers?The answers lie in the connection between maps and maths.----------Mathematician Dr Paulina Rowinska explores the mathematical foundations of maps and cartography's impact on mathematics. From sixteenth-century maps which we still use on our phones to public transport maps that both guide and mislead, she uncovers how maps and maths shape our sense of space and time, and our worldview.Through engaging stories, unforgettable characters and real-world examples, Mapmatics reveals the mathematical techniques behind maps and how they help us better understand - and care for - the world around us.----------'This book blew my mind, again and again' – Roma Agrawal, author of Built'Entertaining, illuminating . . . An engaging look at a fascinating subject' – New Scientist'An expansive journey through time and place' – The Observer
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth
Inbunden, Engelska, 1998, 12-15 år
260 kr
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Paul Erdos was an amazing and prolific mathematician whose life as a world-wandering numerical nomad was legendary. He published almost 1500 scholarly papers before his death in 1996, and he probably thought more about math problems than anyone in history. Like a traveling salesman offering his thoughts as wares, Erdos would show up on the doorstep of one mathematician or another and announce, "My brain is open." After working through a problem, he'd move on to the next place, the next solution. Hoffman's book, like Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, reveals a genius's life that transcended the merely quirky. But Erdos's brand of madness was joyful, unlike Nash's despairing schizophrenia. Erdos never tried to dilute his obsessive passion for numbers with ordinary emotional interactions, thus avoiding hurting the people around him, as Nash did. Oliver Sacks writes of Erdos: "A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdos was totally obsessed with his subject--he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until the day he died. He traveled constantly, living out of a plastic bag, and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art--all that is usually indispensable to a human life."The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is easy to love, despite his strangeness. It's hard not to have affection for someone who referred to children as "epsilons," from the Greek letter used to represent small quantities in mathematics; a man whose epitaph for himself read, "Finally I am becoming stupider no more"; and whose only really necessary tool to do his work was a quiet and open mind. Hoffman, who followed and spoke with Erdos over the last 10 years of his life, introduces us to an undeniably odd, yet pure and joyful, man who loved numbers more than he loved God--whom he referred to as SF, for Supreme Fascist. He was often misunderstood, and he certainly annoyed people sometimes, but Paul Erdos is no doubt missed. --Therese Littleton
209 kr
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Our universe has multiple origin stories, from religious creation myths to the Big Bang of scientists. But if we leave those behind and start from nothing—no matter, no cosmos, not even empty space—could we create a universe using only math? Irreverent, richly illustrated, and boundlessly creative, The Big Bang of Numbers invites us to try.In this new mathematical origin story, mathematician and novelist Manil Suri creates a natural progression of ideas needed to design our world, starting with numbers and continuing through geometry, algebra, and beyond. He reveals the secret lives of real and imaginary numbers, teaches them to play abstract games with real-world applications, discovers unexpected patterns that connect humble lifeforms to enormous galaxies, and explores mathematical underpinnings for randomness and beauty. With evocative examples ranging from multidimensional crochet to the Mona Lisa’s asymmetrical smile, as well as ingenious storytelling that helps illuminate complex concepts like infinity and relativity, The Big Bang of Numbers charts a playful, inventive course to existence. Mathematics, Suri shows, might best be understood not as something we invent to explain Nature, but as the source of all creation, whose directives Nature tries to obey as best she can.Offering both striking new perspectives for math aficionados and an accessible introduction for anyone daunted by calculation, The Big Bang of Numbers proves that we can all fall in love with math.
232 kr
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A celebration of the seemingly simple idea that allowed us to imagine the world in new dimensions—sparking both controversy and discovery. The stars of this book, vectors and tensors, are unlikely celebrities. If you ever took a physics course, the word “vector” might remind you of the mathematics needed to determine forces on an amusement park ride, a turbine, or a projectile. You might also remember that a vector is a quantity that has magnitude and (this is the key) direction. In fact, vectors are examples of tensors, which can represent even more data. It sounds simple enough—and yet, as award-winning science writer Robyn Arianrhod shows in this riveting story, the idea of a single symbol expressing more than one thing at once was millennia in the making. And without that idea, we wouldn’t have such a deep understanding of our world.Vector and tensor calculus offers an elegant language for expressing the way things behave in space and time, and Arianrhod shows how this enabled physicists and mathematicians to think in a brand-new way. These include James Clerk Maxwell when he ushered in the wireless electromagnetic age; Einstein when he predicted the curving of space-time and the existence of gravitational waves; Paul Dirac, when he created quantum field theory; and Emmy Noether, when she connected mathematical symmetry and the conservation of energy. For it turned out that it’s not just physical quantities and dimensions that vectors and tensors can represent, but other dimensions and other kinds of information, too. This is why physicists and mathematicians can speak of four-dimensional space-time and other higher-dimensional “spaces,” and why you’re likely relying on vectors or tensors whenever you use digital applications such as search engines, GPS, or your mobile phone.In exploring the evolution of vectors and tensors—and introducing the fascinating people who gave them to us—Arianrhod takes readers on an extraordinary, five-thousand-year journey through the human imagination. She shows the genius required to reimagine the world—and how a clever mathematical construct can dramatically change discovery’s direction.
- Nyhet
201 kr
Skickas inom 5-8 vardagar
'Fascinating and immensely readable' Ian Stewart 'A charming tour through the realm of the very, very, very numerous, from the ancient world through to the distant future' Jordan Ellenberg, author of How Not to Be WrongWhat if, every time you wanted to write down 1,000,000, you had to draw a picture of a god? And what if that number were the biggest you had a symbol for? In ancient Egypt, those were the rules: anything bigger broke maths. Writing down some numbers is still beyond us today: try it with all the zeroes in a googolplex, or an outrageous alien number like FISH 7. Even harnessing every particle in the universe, you wouldn't come close. But that hasn't stopped us from hunting down these mind-bendingly big numbers and studying them.In Huge Numbers, mathematician and Numberphile presenter Richard Elwes shows how counting has shaped human thought. Whether recorded with notches carved on a tally stick, beads on an abacus, or electrical signals carrying binary code, it allows us to test the limits of mathematics over and over, breaking it down and putting it back together again.Come on a fascinating tour that spans continents and millennia, from the Mayan calendar to today's chatbots. You'll see that huge numbers are everywhere, expanding our horizons and powering our modern world.
122 kr
Skickas
A FINANCIAL TIMES AND TLS BOOK OF THE YEARAn exhilarating new biography of John von Neumann: the lost genius who invented our world'A sparkling book, with an intoxicating mix of pen-portraits and grand historical narrative. Above all it fizzes with a dizzying mix of deliciously vital ideas. . . A staggering achievement' Tim HarfordThe smartphones in our pockets and computers like brains. The vagaries of game theory and evolutionary biology. Self-replicating moon bases and nuclear weapons. All bear the fingerprints of one remarkable man: John von Neumann.Born in Budapest at the turn of the century, von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived. His colleagues believed he had the fastest brain on the planet - bar none. He was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and helped formulate the bedrock of Cold War geopolitics and modern economic theory. He created the first ever programmable digital computer. He prophesied the potential of nanotechnology and, from his deathbed, expounded on the limits of brains and computers - and how they might be overcome.Taking us on an astonishing journey, Ananyo Bhattacharya explores how a combination of genius and unique historical circumstance allowed a single man to sweep through so many different fields of science, sparking revolutions wherever he went.Insightful and illuminating, The Man from the Future is a thrilling intellectual biography of the visionary thinker who shaped our century.