Mathematics without Apologies (eBook)

Portrait of a Problematic Vocation

Michael Harris (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF | EPUB

2017
464 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-1-4008-8552-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Michael Harris is professor of mathematics at the Université Paris Diderot and Columbia University. He is the author or coauthor of more than eighty mathematical books and articles, and has received a number of prizes, including the Clay Research Award, which he shared in 2007 with Richard Taylor.

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An insightful reflection on the mathematical soulWhat do pure mathematicians do, and why do they do it? Looking beyond the conventional answers-for the sake of truth, beauty, and practical applications-this book offers an eclectic panorama of the lives and values and hopes and fears of mathematicians in the twenty-first century, assembling material from a startlingly diverse assortment of scholarly, journalistic, and pop culture sources.Drawing on his personal experiences and obsessions as well as the thoughts and opinions of mathematicians from Archimedes and Omar Khayyam to such contemporary giants as Alexander Grothendieck and Robert Langlands, Michael Harris reveals the charisma and romance of mathematics as well as its darker side. In this portrait of mathematics as a community united around a set of common intellectual, ethical, and existential challenges, he touches on a wide variety of questions, such as: Are mathematicians to blame for the 2008 financial crisis? How can we talk about the ideas we were born too soon to understand? And how should you react if you are asked to explain number theory at a dinner party?Disarmingly candid, relentlessly intelligent, and richly entertaining, Mathematics without Apologies takes readers on an unapologetic guided tour of the mathematical life, from the philosophy and sociology of mathematics to its reflections in film and popular music, with detours through the mathematical and mystical traditions of Russia, India, medieval Islam, the Bronx, and beyond.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.5.2017
• Vorwort: Michael Harris
• Zusatzinfo: 16 halftones. 34 line illus.
• Verlagsort: Princeton
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Geschichte der Mathematik
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Mathematische Spiele und Unterhaltung
• Schlagworte: Addition • Against the Day • Alexander Grothendieck • algebraic equation • Algebraic Geometry • Allusion • A Mathematician's Apology • Analogy • Andrew Wiles • Anecdote • Archimedes • Art for art's sake • Automorphic form • Axiom • Bertrand Russell • Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture • Birch–Swinnerton–Dyer conjecture • Calculation • Career • Charisma • Clay Mathematics Institute • cohomology • Computation • Congruences • conjecture • Consciousness • Contradiction • Cubic function • David Hilbert • differential equation • dinner party • Drinfel'd upper half-spaces • Edition (book) • Edward Frenkel • Elliptic Curves • Equation • Évariste Galois • Excellence • Explanation • Films • Finance Mathematics • Fine Art • Fundamental lemma (Langlands program) • Galois group • Galois Theory • Geometry • G. H. Hardy • Gravity's Rainbow • Greek mathematics • group theory • Herbert Mehrtens • Hermann Weyl • Hyperbola • hypothesis • Illustration • imaginary number • Initial Condition • Jeremy Gray • Joseph Liouville • langlands program • Lecture • Literature • Logic • mathematical concepts • mathematical equations • mathematical finance • Mathematical Modeling • Mathematical Physics • mathematical practice • Mathematical problem • mathematical problems • Mathematical Proof • Mathematical Sciences • mathematician • Mathematicians • Mathematics • Mephistopheles • metaphorical veil • mind–body problem • Morality • narrative • Natural number • Neil Chriss • Nicomachean Ethics • Number Theory • Omar Khayyám • Order • Paradigm Shift • Paul Mogré • Philosopher • Philosophy • philosophy of mathematics • physicist • Pierre Deligne • Prime number • Principia Ethica • Probability • Professional autonomy • Publication • Pure Mathematics • Pythagorean Theorem • Quadratic equation • Quantity • randomness • Rationality • Rational number • Reality • real number • result • Riemann hypothesis • Rites of Love and Math • Robert Langlands • Science • Scientist • seriousness • set theory • Suggestion • Technology • Theorem • theory • The Other Hand • The Philosopher • Thomas Pynchon • Thought • Transcendental numbers • treatise • Tricks • Tricksters • Uncertainty • unramified coverings • Variable (mathematics) • vocabulary • Wealth • William Stanley Jevons • Writing
• ISBN-10: 1-4008-8552-3 / 1400885523
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4008-8552-7 / 9781400885527