50 Visions of Mathematics

Edited by Sam Parc
Forward by Dara O Briain

Foreword by Dara O Briain, comedian and presenter of TV shows such as School of Hard Sums, Dara O Briain's Science Club and Stargazing Live
Celebrates 50 years of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications with 50 original pieces of writing
Includes chapters from the top mathematics expositors
Contains entertaining biographical pieces and articles of relevance to our everyday lives
50 full colour images demonstrate the beauty of mathematics
Diverse topics are covered ranging from simple numerology to the very cutting edge of mathematics research

50 Visions of Mathematics

Edited by Sam Parc
Forward by Dara O Briain

Description

Relax: no one understands technical mathematics without lengthy training but we all have an intuitive grasp of the ideas behind the symbols. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), this book is designed to showcase the beauty of mathematics - including images inspired by mathematical problems - together with its unreasonable effectiveness and applicability, without frying your brain.

The book is a collection of 50 original essays contributed by a wide variety of authors. It contains articles by some of the best expositors of the subject (du Sautoy, Singh and Stewart for example) together with entertaining biographical pieces and articles of relevance to our everyday lives (such as Spiegelhalter on risk and Elwes on medical imaging). The topics covered are deliberately diverse and involve concepts from simple numerology to the very cutting edge of mathematics research. Each article is designed to be read in one sitting and to be accessible to a general audience.

There is also other content. There are 50 pictorial 'visions of mathematics' which were supplied in response to an open call for contributions from IMA members, Plus readers and the worldwide mathematics community. You'll also find a series of "proofs" of Phythagoras's Theorem - mathematical, literary and comedy - after this, you'll never think of Pythagoras the same way again.

50 Visions of Mathematics

Edited by Sam Parc
Forward by Dara O Briain

1. What's the problem with mathematics?, David Acheson
2. The mathematics of messages, Alan J. Aw
3. Decathlon: The art of scoring points, John D. Barrow
4. Queen Dido and the mathematics of the extreme, Greg Bason
5. Can strings tie things together?, David Berman
6. Grooves and knuckleballs, Ken Bray
7. Pigs didn't fly but swine flu, Ellen Brooks-Pollock and Ken Eames
8. Bill Tutte: Unsung Bletchley hero, Chris Budd
9. What's the use of a quadratic equation?, Chris Budd and Chris Sangwin
10. Tony Hilton Royle Skyrme, Alan Champneys
11. The mathematics of obesity, Carson C. Chow
12. It's a small world really, Tony Crilly
13. How does mathematics help at a murder scene?, Graham Divall
14. Mathematics: The language of the universe, Marcus du Sautoy
15. The troublesome geometry of CAT scanning, Richard Elwes
16. The mathematics of sports gambling, Alistair Fitt
Pythagoras's Theorem: a2
17. A conversation with Freeman Dyson, Marianne Freiberger and Rachel Thomas
18. A glass of bubbly, Paul Glendinning
19. The influenza virus: It's all in the packaging, Julia Gog
20. Mathematicians at the movies: Sherlock Holmes vs Professor Moriarty, Derek Moulton and Alain Goriely
21. Solving the Bristol bridge problem, Thilo Gross
22. All ravens are black: Puzzles and paradoxes in probability and statistics, David Hand
23. The Tower of Hanoi: Where mathematics meets psychology, Andreas Hinz and Marianne Freiberger
24. Career: A sample path, Philip Holmes
25. Sweets in the jar, Steve Humble
26. Mary Cartwright, Lisa Jardine
27. The fallibility of mathematics, Adam Jasko
28. Anecdotes of Dr Barrow, Tom Korner
29. Finding Apollo, Adam Kucharski
30. The golden ratio in astronomy and astrophysics, Mario Livio
31. The high-power hypar, Peter Lynch
32. This is not a carrot: Paraconsistent mathematics, Maarten McKubre-Jordens
33. The mystery of Groombridge Place, Alexander Masters and Simon Norton
Pythagoras's Theorem: b2
34. Mysterious number 6174, Yutaka Nishiyama
35. Percolating possibilities, Colva Roney-Dougal & Vince Vatter
36. Milestones on a non-Euclidean journey, Caroline Series
37. Simpson's rule, Simon Singh
38. Risking your life, David Spiegelhalter
39. Networks and illusions, Ian Stewart
40. Emmy Noether: Against the odds, Danielle Stretch
41. Of catastrophes and creodes: How maths benefits from collaboration with other fields, Paul Taylor
42. Conic section hide and seek, Rachel Thomas
43. Sir James Lighthill: A life in waves, Ahmer Wadee
44. Fail safe or fail dangerous, Ahmer Wadee and Alan Champneys
45. Leapfrogging into the future: How child's play is at the heart of weather and climate models, Paul Williams
46. Motorway mathematics, Eddie Wilson
47. The philosophy of applied mathematics, Phil Wilson
48. Mighty Morphogenesis, Thomas Woolley
49. Called to the barcode, Andrew Wrigley
50. Roughly fifty-fifty?, Gunter Ziegler
Pythagoras's Theorem: c2

50 Visions of Mathematics

Edited by Sam Parc
Forward by Dara O Briain

Author Information

Sam Parc, Insitute of Mathematics and its Applications

Sam Parc studied mathematics and engineering in the UK, Germany and Australia and has previously worked at the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cambridge, Manchester and Newcastle and at Imperial College London. She works for the UK's Institute of Mathematics and its Applications where she provides a passion for popularising mathematics. Her previous work has involved writing a mathematical agony aunt column in a provincial newspaper and maintaining a popular online mathematical magazine. She lives in Southend-on-Sea with her large family and dog, Benji. This is her first book.

50 Visions of Mathematics

Edited by Sam Parc
Forward by Dara O Briain

Reviews and Awards

"The authors and editors make the excellent decision to include equations when they are needed to explain the topic, yet even with that nearly all of the visions will be clear and understandable to readers with a high school mathematics background. Crisp and understandable diagrams are also used to great effectiveness. ... There are many uses for this book..." --MAA Reviews