Curves for the Mathematically Curious

Curves for the Mathematically Curious PDF Author: Julian Havil
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691206139
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Ten amazing curves personally selected by one of today's most important math writers Curves for the Mathematically Curious is a thoughtfully curated collection of ten mathematical curves, selected by Julian Havil for their significance, mathematical interest, and beauty. Each chapter gives an account of the history and definition of one curve, providing a glimpse into the elegant and often surprising mathematics involved in its creation and evolution. In telling the ten stories, Havil introduces many mathematicians and other innovators, some whose fame has withstood the passing of years and others who have slipped into comparative obscurity. You will meet Pierre Bézier, who is known for his ubiquitous and eponymous curves, and Adolphe Quetelet, who trumpeted the ubiquity of the normal curve but whose name now hides behind the modern body mass index. These and other ingenious thinkers engaged with the challenges, incongruities, and insights to be found in these remarkable curves—and now you can share in this adventure. Curves for the Mathematically Curious is a rigorous and enriching mathematical experience for anyone interested in curves, and the book is designed so that readers who choose can follow the details with pencil and paper. Every curve has a story worth telling.

Curves for the Mathematically Curious

Curves for the Mathematically Curious PDF Author: Julian Havil
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691206139
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 280

Get Book

Book Description
Ten amazing curves personally selected by one of today's most important math writers Curves for the Mathematically Curious is a thoughtfully curated collection of ten mathematical curves, selected by Julian Havil for their significance, mathematical interest, and beauty. Each chapter gives an account of the history and definition of one curve, providing a glimpse into the elegant and often surprising mathematics involved in its creation and evolution. In telling the ten stories, Havil introduces many mathematicians and other innovators, some whose fame has withstood the passing of years and others who have slipped into comparative obscurity. You will meet Pierre Bézier, who is known for his ubiquitous and eponymous curves, and Adolphe Quetelet, who trumpeted the ubiquity of the normal curve but whose name now hides behind the modern body mass index. These and other ingenious thinkers engaged with the challenges, incongruities, and insights to be found in these remarkable curves—and now you can share in this adventure. Curves for the Mathematically Curious is a rigorous and enriching mathematical experience for anyone interested in curves, and the book is designed so that readers who choose can follow the details with pencil and paper. Every curve has a story worth telling.

Curves for the Mathematically Curious

Curves for the Mathematically Curious PDF Author: Julian Havil
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691180059
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
"The author has selected ten mathematical curves, whose stories have more to them than is commonly known; in addition, some of them may be new to many readers, even mathematically inclined readers"--

Curves for the Mathematically Curious

Curves for the Mathematically Curious PDF Author: Julian Havil
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691197784
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Ten amazing curves personally selected by one of today's most important math writers Curves for the Mathematically Curious is a thoughtfully curated collection of ten mathematical curves, selected by Julian Havil for their significance, mathematical interest, and beauty. Each chapter gives an account of the history and definition of a curve, providing a glimpse into the elegant and often surprising mathematics involved in its creation and evolution. In telling the ten stories, Havil introduces many mathematicians and other innovators, some whose fame has withstood the passing of years and others who have slipped into comparative obscurity. You will meet Pierre Bézier, who is known for his ubiquitous and eponymous curves, and Adolphe Quetelet, who trumpeted the ubiquity of the normal curve but whose name now hides behind the modern body mass index. These and other ingenious thinkers engaged with the challenges, incongruities, and insights to be found in these remarkable curves—and now you can share in this adventure. Curves for the Mathematically Curious is a rigorous and enriching mathematical experience for anyone interested in curves, and the book is designed so that readers who choose can follow the details with pencil and paper. Every curve has a story worth telling.

A Book of Curves

A Book of Curves PDF Author: Edward Harrington Lockwood
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781001224114
Category : Curves
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Describes the drawing of plane curves, cycloidal curves, spirals, glissettes and others.

A Catalog of Special Plane Curves

A Catalog of Special Plane Curves PDF Author: J. Dennis Lawrence
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486167666
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
DIVOne of the most beautiful aspects of geometry. Information on general properties, derived curves, geometric and analytic properties of each curve. 89 illus. /div

Curious Curves

Curious Curves PDF Author: Richard B. Darst
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814291293
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Curious Curves is self-contained and unified in presentation. This book is suitable for a topics course, capstone course, or senior seminar; it is also intended for independent study by students and others interested in mathematics.Curves can often provide a better representation of natural phenomena than do the figures of classical geometry. Thus the content ? presented with an emphasis on the geometric intuition characteristic of the study of curves ? is highly relevant not only for people working in mathematics, but also those in other sciences. The explanations are detailed and illustrative to capture the interest of the reader, as well as complete to provide the necessary background information needed to go further into the subject.

The Seduction of Curves

The Seduction of Curves PDF Author: Allan McRobie
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691175330
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
In this large-format book, lavishly illustrated in color throughout, Allan McRobie takes the reader on an alluring exploration of the beautiful curves that shape our world--from our bodies to Salvador Dalí's paintings and the space-time fabric of the universe itself. The book focuses on seven curves--the fold, cusp, swallowtail, and butterfly, plus the hyperbolic, elliptical, and parabolic "umbilics"--and describes the surprising origins of their taxonomy in the catastrophe theory of mathematician René Thom.

A Guide to Plane Algebraic Curves

A Guide to Plane Algebraic Curves PDF Author: Keith Kendig
Publisher: MAA
ISBN: 0883853531
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
An accessible introduction to the plane algebraic curves that also serves as a natural entry point to algebraic geometry. This book can be used for an undergraduate course, or as a companion to algebraic geometry at graduate level.

The Curves of Life

The Curves of Life PDF Author: Theodore Andrea Cook
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aesthetics
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description


Nonplussed!

Nonplussed! PDF Author: Julian Havil
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400837383
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Math—the application of reasonable logic to reasonable assumptions—usually produces reasonable results. But sometimes math generates astonishing paradoxes—conclusions that seem completely unreasonable or just plain impossible but that are nevertheless demonstrably true. Did you know that a losing sports team can become a winning one by adding worse players than its opponents? Or that the thirteenth of the month is more likely to be a Friday than any other day? Or that cones can roll unaided uphill? In Nonplussed!—a delightfully eclectic collection of paradoxes from many different areas of math—popular-math writer Julian Havil reveals the math that shows the truth of these and many other unbelievable ideas. Nonplussed! pays special attention to problems from probability and statistics, areas where intuition can easily be wrong. These problems include the vagaries of tennis scoring, what can be deduced from tossing a needle, and disadvantageous games that form winning combinations. Other chapters address everything from the historically important Torricelli's Trumpet to the mind-warping implications of objects that live on high dimensions. Readers learn about the colorful history and people associated with many of these problems in addition to their mathematical proofs. Nonplussed! will appeal to anyone with a calculus background who enjoys popular math books or puzzles.