Icons of Mathematics: An Exploration of Twenty Key Images PDF Download

Author: Claudi Alsina
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470456168
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 327

View

Book Description
The authors present twenty icons of mathematics, that is, geometrical shapes such as the right triangle, the Venn diagram, and the yang and yin symbol and explore mathematical results associated with them. As with their previous books (Charming Proofs, When Less is More, Math Made Visual) proofs are visual whenever possible. The results require no more than high-school mathematics to appreciate and many of them will be new even to experienced readers. Besides theorems and proofs, the book contains many illustrations and it gives connections of the icons to the world outside of mathematics. There are also problems at the end of each chapter, with solutions provided in an appendix. The book could be used by students in courses in problem solving, mathematical reasoning, or mathematics for the liberal arts. It could also be read with pleasure by professional mathematicians, as it was by the members of the Dolciani editorial board, who unanimously recommend its publication.

Author: Claudi Alsina
Publisher: MAA
ISBN: 0883853523
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 348

View

Book Description
An exploration of the mathematics of twenty geometric diagrams that play a crucial role in visualizing mathematical proofs. Those teaching undergraduate mathematics will find material here for problem solving sessions, as well as enrichment material for courses on proofs and mathematical reasoning.

Author: Diana Davis
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470461226
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 171

View

Book Description
This book is for anyone who wishes to illustrate their mathematical ideas, which in our experience means everyone. It is organized by material, rather than by subject area, and purposefully emphasizes the process of creating things, including discussions of failures that occurred along the way. As a result, the reader can learn from the experiences of those who came before, and will be inspired to create their own illustrations. Topics illustrated within include prime numbers, fractals, the Klein bottle, Borromean rings, tilings, space-filling curves, knot theory, billiards, complex dynamics, algebraic surfaces, groups and prime ideals, the Riemann zeta function, quadratic fields, hyperbolic space, and hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Everyone who opens this book should find a type of mathematics with which they identify. Each contributor explains the mathematics behind their illustration at an accessible level, so that all readers can appreciate the beauty of both the object itself and the mathematics behind it.

Author: Burkard Polster
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470435217
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 273

View

Book Description
A Dingo Ate My Math Book presents ingenious, unusual, and beautiful nuggets of mathematics with a distinctly Australian flavor. It focuses, for example, on Australians' love of sports and gambling, and on Melbourne's iconic, mathematically inspired architecture. Written in a playful and humorous style, the book offers mathematical entertainment as well as a glimpse of Australian culture for the mathematically curious of all ages. This collection of engaging stories was extracted from the Maths Masters column that ran from 2007 to 2014 in Australia's Age newspaper. The maths masters in question are Burkard Polster and Marty Ross, two (immigrant) Aussie mathematicians, who each week would write about math in the news, providing a new look at old favorites, mathematical history, quirks of school mathematics—whatever took their fancy. All articles were written for a very general audience, with the intention of being as inviting as possible and assuming a minimum of mathematical background.

Author: Oscar Levin
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781534970748
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 342

View

Book Description
This gentle introduction to discrete mathematics is written for first and second year math majors, especially those who intend to teach. The text began as a set of lecture notes for the discrete mathematics course at the University of Northern Colorado. This course serves both as an introduction to topics in discrete math and as the "introduction to proof" course for math majors. The course is usually taught with a large amount of student inquiry, and this text is written to help facilitate this. Four main topics are covered: counting, sequences, logic, and graph theory. Along the way proofs are introduced, including proofs by contradiction, proofs by induction, and combinatorial proofs. The book contains over 360 exercises, including 230 with solutions and 130 more involved problems suitable for homework. There are also Investigate! activities throughout the text to support active, inquiry based learning. While there are many fine discrete math textbooks available, this text has the following advantages: It is written to be used in an inquiry rich course. It is written to be used in a course for future math teachers. It is open source, with low cost print editions and free electronic editions.

Author: Ida Kantor
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470422611
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 359

View

Book Description
Mathematics++ is a concise introduction to six selected areas of 20th century mathematics providing numerous modern mathematical tools used in contemporary research in computer science, engineering, and other fields. The areas are: measure theory, high-dimensional geometry, Fourier analysis, representations of groups, multivariate polynomials, and topology. For each of the areas, the authors introduce basic notions, examples, and results. The presentation is clear and accessible, stressing intuitive understanding, and it includes carefully selected exercises as an integral part. Theory is complemented by applications--some quite surprising--in theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics. The chapters are independent of one another and can be studied in any order. It is assumed that the reader has gone through the basic mathematics courses. Although the book was conceived while the authors were teaching Ph.D. students in theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics, it will be useful for a much wider audience, such as mathematicians specializing in other areas, mathematics students deciding what specialization to pursue, or experts in engineering or other fields.

Author: william bricken
Publisher: Unary Press
ISBN: 9781732485136
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 446

View

Book Description
Arithmetic evolves. Iconic arithmetic is built from icons that look and feel like what they mean, rather than from strings of symbols that must be memorized. The book explores the formal structure of two types of postsymbolic boundary arithmetic. Ensemble arithmetic modernizes tallies to provide forms that add together by being placed together and multiply by being placed inside one another. James algebra defines the concepts and operations of arithmetic as different ways of arranging containers. Three simple axioms are sufficient. Features of iconic arithmetic include (1) a void with no representation and no properties instead of the symbol zero; (2) void-equivalent forms that can be freely deleted; (3) meaning based on existence of structure rather than truth or numerical value; (4) only one relation (containment) to represent all forms; and (5) construction and deletion to implement all transformations. Iconic forms and transformations can be represented as two and three dimensional structures that can be directly viewed, manipulated, and even inhabited. Many different spatial interactive dialects are described. The author explores this new kind of arithmetic from the perspectives of historical evolution, formal mathematics, computer science and mathematics education. The overall objective is to provide proof of principle that our current universal approach to the arithmetic of numbers is a design choice rather than a truth embedded in numbers themselves. Iconic Arithmetic recognizes that knowledge is embodied, multidimensional, sensual, simple. It helps us to transition into a postsymbolic world of interactive information.

Author: Sander Bais
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
ISBN: 9053567445
Category : Equations, Theory of
Languages : en
Pages : 96

View

Book Description
Annotation. For thousands of years mankind has tried to understand nature. Exploring the world on all scales with instruments of ever more ingenuity, we have been able to unravel some of the great mysteries that surround us. While collecting an overwhelming multitude of observational facts, we discovered fundamental laws that govern the structure and evolution of physical reality. We know that nature speaks to us in the language of mathematics. In this language most of our basic understanding of the physical world can be expressed in an unambiguous and concise way. The most artificial language turns out to be the most natural of all. The laws of nature correspond to equations. These equations are the icons of knowledge that mark crucial turning points in our thinking about the world we happen to live in. They form the symbolic representation of most of what we know, and as such constitute an important and robust part of our culture. Publication coincides with the World Year of Physics: "http://www.wyp2005.nl">www.wyp2005.nl "This beautifully designed book deserves a place on the coffee table .[..] Sander Bais confides the reader in the exciting secrets of the laws of nature, and does so in a clear, surprisingly poetic language." "The Equations is a catalogue. A catalogue that belongs to an exhibition of 17 typographic works of art - which gallery will frame them and hang them on the wall? The formulas, displayed in white symbols on a bright red background, are of an untouchable beauty ." 'Untouchable icons' - NRC Handelsblad "The Equations is an absolute feast for everyone who is interested in what physicists have to say about the structure of the world and the beauty that emanates from this. It is a jewel of knowledge, written with love for the field but also with a great compassion for the reader." 'Knowledge smoothly surpasses the fear of formulas' - de Volkskrant This title can be previewed in Google Books - http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9789053567449.

Author: Shai Simonson
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 1470451204
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 241

View

Book Description
Rediscovering Mathematics is aimed at a general audience and addresses the question of how best to teach and study mathematics. The book attempts to bring the exciting and dynamic world of mathematics to a non-technical audience. With so much focus today on how best to educate the new generation and make mathematics less rote and more interactive, this book is an eye-opening experience for many people who suffered with dull math teachers and curricula. Rediscovering Mathematics is an eclectic collection of mathematical topics and puzzles aimed at talented youngsters and inquisitive adults who want to expand their view of mathematics. By focusing on problem solving, and discouraging rote memorization, the book shows how to learn and teach mathematics through investigation, experimentation, and discovery. Rediscovering Mathematics is also an excellent text for training math teachers at all levels. Topics range in difficulty and cover a wide range of historical periods, with some examples demonstrating how to uncover mathematics in everyday life, including: number theory and its application to secure communication over the Internet, the algebraic and combinatorial work of a medieval mathematician Rabbi, and applications of probability to sports, casinos, and gambling. Rediscovering Mathematics provides a fresh view of mathematics for those who already like the subject, and offers a second chance for those who think they don't.

Author: D. B. Fuks
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 0821843168
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 482

View

Book Description
The book consists of thirty lectures on diverse topics, covering much of the mathematical landscape rather than focusing on one area. The reader will learn numerous results that often belong to neither the standard undergraduate nor graduate curriculum and will discover connections between classical and contemporary ideas in algebra, combinatorics, geometry, and topology. The reader's effort will be rewarded in seeing the harmony of each subject. The common thread in the selected subjects is their illustration of the unity and beauty of mathematics. Most lectures contain exercises, and solutions or answers are given to selected exercises. A special feature of the book is an abundance of drawings (more than four hundred), artwork by an accomplished artist, and about a hundred portraits of mathematicians. Almost every lecture contains surprises for even the seasoned researcher.