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ShareAn eminent teacher and writer explores an idea both simple and complex, both multidisciplinary and unifying--the story of symmetry.
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At the heart of relativity theory, quantum mechanics, string theory, and much of modern cosmology lies one concept: symmetry.
In Why Beauty Is Truth, world-famous mathematician Ian Stewart narrates the history of the emergence of this remarkable area of study.
Stewart introduces us to such characters as the Renaissance Italian genius, rogue, scholar, and gambler Girolamo Cardano, who stole the modern method of solving cubic equations and published it in the first important book on algebra, and the young revolutionary Evariste Galois, who refashioned the whole of mathematics and founded the field of group theory only to die in a pointless duel over a woman before his work was published.
Stewart also explores the strange numerology of real mathematics, in which particular numbers have unique and unpredictable properties related to symmetry.
He shows how Wilhelm Killing discovered "Lie groups" with 14, 52, 78, 133, and 248 dimensions--groups whose very existence is a profound puzzle.
Finally, Stewart describes the world beyond superstrings: the "octonionic" symmetries that may explain the very existence of the universe..
For more information about the title Why Beauty Is Truth: A History of Symmetry, read the full description at Amazon.com, or see the following related books:
Excursions in Modern Mathematics (6th Edition) — For undergraduate courses in Liberal Arts Mathematics, Quantitative Literacy, and General Education.This very successful liberal arts mathematics ... > read more
Multivariable Calculus (Stewart's Calculus Series) — Success in your calculus course starts here! James Stewart's CALCULUS texts are world-wide best-sellers for a reason: they are clear, accurate, and ... > read more
Single Variable Calculus: Early Transcendentals — Success in your calculus course starts here! James Stewart's CALCULUS texts are world-wide best-sellers for a reason: they are clear, accurate, and ... > read more
Calculus: Early Transcendentals (Stewart's Calculus Series) — Success in your calculus course starts here! James Stewart's CALCULUS texts are world-wide best-sellers for a reason: they are clear, accurate, and ... > read moreRecommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
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