Poetry of the Universe: A Mathematical Exploration of the Cosmos

Osserman, Robert

ISBN 10: 0385473400 / ISBN 13: 9780385473408

Edité par Doubleday, 1995

A propos de cet article

Synopsis: Using illustrations and a minimum of mathematical formulas, a narrative journeys from ancient Greece to recent discoveries about background radiation in space to illuminate the interplay between mathematical theory and attempts to unlock the secrets of the universe From Booklist: With nary an equation to confuse, a Stanford math professor clearly distills for a general readership the seminal ideas behind the notion that space has curvature and is not flat as ordinary humans perceive it. Osserman has been working up to this book through his classes for humanities majors, and the result is as lucid, comprehensible, and engaging as will be found in this category of scientific writing. He begins with ancient measurements of the earth, in which Euclid's geometry figures critically, but reaches cruising speed in his presentations of the nineteenth-century German mathematicians Carl Friedrich Gauss and Georg Friedrich Riemann. They are the best-known inventors of non-Euclidean geometry, whose commonest concept is that not all angles of all triangles add up to 180; the sum depends on the curvature of the surface in question. The ramifications cascade from there, into the shape of the retroverse, as the author tags our celestial view back into time and on toward invented abstract multidimensional shapes dubbed manifolds. Libraries know the popularity of sagas on observational astronomy and particle physics, and this examination of the mathematical component, specifically the species of geometry, fits well within their compass. A warm invitation to the aesthetics of math on the largest scale. Gilbert Taylor "About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

N° de réf. du vendeur 179

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Poetry of the Universe: A Mathematical Exploration of the Cosmos
• Éditeur: Doubleday
• Date de parution: 1995
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0385473400
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780385473408
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Édition: 1st Edition
• État de l'article: New
• État de la jaquette: New

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Book by Osserman Robert

Présentation de l'éditeur

In the bestselling literary tradition of Lewis Thomas's Lives of a Cell and James Watson's The Double Helix, Poetry of the Universe is a delightful and compelling narrative charting the evolution of mathematical ideas that have helped to illuminate the nature of the observable universe. In a richly anecdotal fashion, the book explores the leaps of imagination and vision in mathematics that have helped pioneer our understanding of the world around us.