Download or read book The Topkapi Scroll written by Gülru Necipoğlu and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 1996-03-01 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since precious few architectural drawings and no theoretical treatises on architecture remain from the premodern Islamic world, the Timurid pattern scroll in the collection of the Topkapi Palace Museum Library is an exceedingly rich and valuable source of information. In the course of her in-depth analysis of this scroll dating from the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, Gülru Necipoğlu throws new light on the conceptualization, recording, and transmission of architectural design in the Islamic world between the tenth and sixteenth centuries. Her text has particularly far-reaching implications for recent discussions on vision, subjectivity, and the semiotics of abstract representation. She also compares the Islamic understanding of geometry with that found in medieval Western art, making this book particularly valuable for all historians and critics of architecture. The scroll, with its 114 individual geometric patterns for wall surfaces and vaulting, is reproduced entirely in color in this elegant, large-format volume. An extensive catalogue includes illustrations showing the underlying geometries (in the form of incised “dead” drawings) from which the individual patterns are generated. An essay by Mohammad al-Asad discusses the geometry of the muqarnas and demonstrates by means of CAD drawings how one of the scroll’s patterns could be used co design a three-dimensional vault.

Download or read book Making up Numbers A History of Invention in Mathematics written by Ekkehard Kopp and published by Open Book Publishers. This book was released on 2020-10-23 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making up Numbers: A History of Invention in Mathematics offers a detailed but accessible account of a wide range of mathematical ideas. Starting with elementary concepts, it leads the reader towards aspects of current mathematical research. The book explains how conceptual hurdles in the development of numbers and number systems were overcome in the course of history, from Babylon to Classical Greece, from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and so to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The narrative moves from the Pythagorean insistence on positive multiples to the gradual acceptance of negative numbers, irrationals and complex numbers as essential tools in quantitative analysis. Within this chronological framework, chapters are organised thematically, covering a variety of topics and contexts: writing and solving equations, geometric construction, coordinates and complex numbers, perceptions of ‘infinity’ and its permissible uses in mathematics, number systems, and evolving views of the role of axioms. Through this approach, the author demonstrates that changes in our understanding of numbers have often relied on the breaking of long-held conventions to make way for new inventions at once providing greater clarity and widening mathematical horizons. Viewed from this historical perspective, mathematical abstraction emerges as neither mysterious nor immutable, but as a contingent, developing human activity. Making up Numbers will be of great interest to undergraduate and A-level students of mathematics, as well as secondary school teachers of the subject. In virtue of its detailed treatment of mathematical ideas, it will be of value to anyone seeking to learn more about the development of the subject.

Download or read book The History of Mathematics written by David M. Burton and published by WCB/McGraw-Hill. This book was released on 1985 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The History of Mathematics: An Introduction," Sixth Edition, is written for the one- or two-semester math history course taken by juniors or seniors, and covers the history behind the topics typically covered in an undergraduate math curriculum or in elementary schools or high schools. Elegantly written in David Burton's imitable prose, this classic text provides rich historical context to the mathematics that undergrad math and math education majors encounter every day. Burton illuminates the people, stories, and social context behind mathematics'greatest historical advances while maintaining appropriate focus on the mathematical concepts themselves. Its wealth of information, mathematical and historical accuracy, and renowned presentation make The History of Mathematics: An Introduction, Sixth Edition a valuable resource that teachers and students will want as part of a permanent library.

Download or read book 5000 Years of Geometry written by Christoph J. Scriba and published by Birkhäuser. This book was released on 2015-04-22 with total page 638 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The present volume provides a fascinating overview of geometrical ideas and perceptions from the earliest cultures to the mathematical and artistic concepts of the 20th century. It is the English translation of the 3rd edition of the well-received German book “5000 Jahre Geometrie,” in which geometry is presented as a chain of developments in cultural history and their interaction with architecture, the visual arts, philosophy, science and engineering. Geometry originated in the ancient cultures along the Indus and Nile Rivers and in Mesopotamia, experiencing its first “Golden Age” in Ancient Greece. Inspired by the Greek mathematics, a new germ of geometry blossomed in the Islamic civilizations. Through the Oriental influence on Spain, this knowledge later spread to Western Europe. Here, as part of the medieval Quadrivium, the understanding of geometry was deepened, leading to a revival during the Renaissance. Together with parallel achievements in India, China, Japan and the ancient American cultures, the European approaches formed the ideas and branches of geometry we know in the modern age: coordinate methods, analytical geometry, descriptive and projective geometry in the 17th an 18th centuries, axiom systems, geometry as a theory with multiple structures and geometry in computer sciences in the 19th and 20th centuries. Each chapter of the book starts with a table of key historical and cultural dates and ends with a summary of essential contents of geometr y in the respective era. Compelling examples invite the reader to further explore the problems of geometry in ancient and modern times. The book will appeal to mathematicians interested in Geometry and to all readers with an interest in cultural history. From letters to the authors for the German language edition I hope it gets a translation, as there is no comparable work. Prof. J. Grattan-Guinness (Middlesex University London) "Five Thousand Years of Geometry" - I think it is the most handsome book I have ever seen from Springer and the inclusion of so many color plates really improves its appearance dramatically! Prof. J.W. Dauben (City University of New York) An excellent book in every respect. The authors have successfully combined the history of geometry with the general development of culture and history. ... The graphic design is also excellent. Prof. Z. Nádenik (Czech Technical University in Prague)

Download or read book Connections written by Jay Kappraff and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2001 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first edition of Connections was chosen by the National Association of Publishers (USA) as the best book in OC Mathematics, Chemistry, and Astronomy OCo Professional and ReferenceOCO in 1991. It has been a comprehensive reference in design science, bringing together in a single volume material from the areas of proportion in architecture and design, tilings and patterns, polyhedra, and symmetry. The book presents both theory and practice and has more than 750 illustrations. It is suitable for research in a variety of fields and as an aid to teaching a course in the mathematics of design. It has been influential in stimulating the burgeoning interest in the relationship between mathematics and design. In the second edition there are five new sections, supplementary, as well as a new preface describing the advances in design science since the publication of the first edition. Contents: Proportion in Architecture; Similarity; The Golden Mean; Graphs; Tilings with Polygons; Two-Dimensional Networks and Lattices; Polyhedra: Platonic Solids; Transformation of the Platonic Solids I; Transformation of the Platonic Solids II; Polyhedra: Space Filling; Isometries and Mirrors; Symmetry of the Plane. Readership: Polytechnic students, architects, designers, mathematicians and general readers."

Download or read book Fundamentals of Astrodynamics written by Roger R. Bate and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 1971-01-01 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teaching text developed by U.S. Air Force Academy and designed as a first course emphasizes the universal variable formulation. Develops the basic two-body and n-body equations of motion; orbit determination; classical orbital elements, coordinate transformations; differential correction; more. Includes specialized applications to lunar and interplanetary flight, example problems, exercises. 1971 edition.

Download or read book The History of Mathematical Tables written by Martin Campbell-Kelly and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2003-10-02 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The oldest known mathematical table was found in the ancient Sumerian city of Shuruppag in southern Iraq. Since then, tables have been an important feature of mathematical activity; table making and printed tabular matter are important precursors to modern computing and information processing. This book contains a series of articles summarising the technical, institutional and intellectual history of mathematical tables from earliest times until the late twentieth century. It covers mathematical tables (the most important computing aid for several hundred years until the 1960s), data tables (eg. Census tables), professional tables (eg. insurance tables), and spreadsheets - the most recent tabular innovation. The book is presented in a scholarly yet accessible way, making appropriate use of text boxes and illustrations. Each chapter has a frontispiece featuring a table along with a small illustration of the source where the table was first displayed. Most chapters have sidebars telling a short "story" or history relating to the chapter. The aim of this edited volume is to capture the history of tables through eleven chapters written by subject specialists. The contributors describe the various information processing techniques and artefacts whose unifying concept is "the mathematical table".

Download or read book Didactics of Mathematics as a Scientific Discipline written by Rolf Biehler and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-04-11 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Didactics of Mathematics as a Scientific Discipline describes the state of the art in a new branch of science. Starting from a general perspective on the didactics of mathematics, the 30 original contributions to the book, drawn from 10 different countries, go on to identify certain subdisciplines and suggest an overall structure or `topology' of the field. The book is divided into eight sections: (1) Preparing Mathematics for Students; (2) Teacher Education and Research on Teaching; (3) Interaction in the Classroom; (4) Technology and Mathematics Education; (5) Psychology of Mathematical Thinking; (6) Differential Didactics; (7) History and Epistemology of Mathematics and Mathematics Education; (8) Cultural Framing of Teaching and Learning Mathematics. Didactics of Mathematics as a Scientific Discipline is required reading for all researchers into the didactics of mathematics, and contains surveys and a variety of stimulating reflections which make it extremely useful for mathematics educators and teacher trainers interested in the theory of their practice. Future and practising teachers of mathematics will find much to interest them in relation to their daily work, especially as it relates to the teaching of different age groups and ability ranges. The book is also recommended to researchers in neighbouring disciplines, such as mathematics itself, general education, educational psychology and cognitive science.

Download or read book Weighing Imponderables and Other Quantitative Science Around 1800 written by J. L. Heilbron and published by University of California, Office for History of Science & Technology. This book was released on 1993 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Lost Enlightenment written by S. Frederick Starr and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 694 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The forgotten story of Central Asia's enlightenment—its rise, fall, and enduring legacy In this sweeping and richly illustrated history, S. Frederick Starr tells the fascinating but largely unknown story of Central Asia's medieval enlightenment through the eventful lives and astonishing accomplishments of its greatest minds—remarkable figures who built a bridge to the modern world. Because nearly all of these figures wrote in Arabic, they were long assumed to have been Arabs. In fact, they were from Central Asia—drawn from the Persianate and Turkic peoples of a region that today extends from Kazakhstan southward through Afghanistan, and from the easternmost province of Iran through Xinjiang, China. Lost Enlightenment recounts how, between the years 800 and 1200, Central Asia led the world in trade and economic development, the size and sophistication of its cities, the refinement of its arts, and, above all, in the advancement of knowledge in many fields. Central Asians achieved signal breakthroughs in astronomy, mathematics, geology, medicine, chemistry, music, social science, philosophy, and theology, among other subjects. They gave algebra its name, calculated the earth's diameter with unprecedented precision, wrote the books that later defined European medicine, and penned some of the world's greatest poetry. One scholar, working in Afghanistan, even predicted the existence of North and South America—five centuries before Columbus. Rarely in history has a more impressive group of polymaths appeared at one place and time. No wonder that their writings influenced European culture from the time of St. Thomas Aquinas down to the scientific revolution, and had a similarly deep impact in India and much of Asia. Lost Enlightenment chronicles this forgotten age of achievement, seeks to explain its rise, and explores the competing theories about the cause of its eventual demise. Informed by the latest scholarship yet written in a lively and accessible style, this is a book that will surprise general readers and specialists alike.

Download or read book The Story of Physics written by Lloyd Motz and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-11-21 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the development of physics from 2000 years ago to the experimental theories of the 20th century.

Download or read book Human Accomplishment written by Charles Murray and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 790 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping cultural survey reminiscent of Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence. "At irregular times and in scattered settings, human beings have achieved great things. Human Accomplishment is about those great things, falling in the domains known as the arts and sciences, and the people who did them.' So begins Charles Murray's unique account of human excellence, from the age of Homer to our own time. Employing techniques that historians have developed over the last century but that have rarely been applied to books written for the general public, Murray compiles inventories of the people who have been essential to the stories of literature, music, art, philosophy, and the sciences—a total of 4,002 men and women from around the world, ranked according to their eminence. The heart of Human Accomplishment is a series of enthralling descriptive chapters: on the giants in the arts and what sets them apart from the merely great; on the differences between great achievement in the arts and in the sciences; on the meta-inventions, 14 crucial leaps in human capacity to create great art and science; and on the patterns and trajectories of accomplishment across time and geography. Straightforwardly and undogmatically, Charles Murray takes on some controversial questions. Why has accomplishment been so concentrated in Europe? Among men? Since 1400? He presents evidence that the rate of great accomplishment has been declining in the last century, asks what it means, and offers a rich framework for thinking about the conditions under which the human spirit has expressed itself most gloriously. Eye-opening and humbling, Human Accomplishment is a fascinating work that describes what humans at their best can achieve, provides tools for exploring its wellsprings, and celebrates the continuing common quest of humans everywhere to discover truths, create beauty, and apprehend the good.

Download or read book Mathematical Analysis I written by Vladimir A. Zorich and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2004-01-22 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work by Zorich on Mathematical Analysis constitutes a thorough first course in real analysis, leading from the most elementary facts about real numbers to such advanced topics as differential forms on manifolds, asymptotic methods, Fourier, Laplace, and Legendre transforms, and elliptic functions.

Download or read book Creators of Mathematical and Computational Sciences written by Ravi P Agarwal and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-11 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ​The book records the essential discoveries of mathematical and computational scientists in chronological order, following the birth of ideas on the basis of prior ideas ad infinitum. The authors document the winding path of mathematical scholarship throughout history, and most importantly, the thought process of each individual that resulted in the mastery of their subject. The book implicitly addresses the nature and character of every scientist as one tries to understand their visible actions in both adverse and congenial environments. The authors hope that this will enable the reader to understand their mode of thinking, and perhaps even to emulate their virtues in life.

Download or read book The Teaching of Geometry written by David Eugene Smith and published by . This book was released on 1911 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book In Pursuit of the Unknown written by Ian Stewart and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The seventeen equations that form the basis for life as we know it. Most people are familiar with history's great equations: Newton's Law of Gravity, for instance, or Einstein's theory of relativity. But the way these mathematical breakthroughs have contributed to human progress is seldom appreciated. In In Pursuit of the Unknown, celebrated mathematician Ian Stewart untangles the roots of our most important mathematical statements to show that equations have long been a driving force behind nearly every aspect of our lives. Using seventeen of our most crucial equations -- including the Wave Equation that allowed engineers to measure a building's response to earthquakes, saving countless lives, and the Black-Scholes model, used by bankers to track the price of financial derivatives over time -- Stewart illustrates that many of the advances we now take for granted were made possible by mathematical discoveries. An approachable, lively, and informative guide to the mathematical building blocks of modern life, In Pursuit of the Unknown is a penetrating exploration of how we have also used equations to make sense of, and in turn influence, our world.

Download or read book Complex Analysis written by Theodore W. Gamelin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to complex analysis for students with some knowledge of complex numbers from high school. It contains sixteen chapters, the first eleven of which are aimed at an upper division undergraduate audience. The remaining five chapters are designed to complete the coverage of all background necessary for passing PhD qualifying exams in complex analysis. Topics studied include Julia sets and the Mandelbrot set, Dirichlet series and the prime number theorem, and the uniformization theorem for Riemann surfaces, with emphasis placed on the three geometries: spherical, euclidean, and hyperbolic. Throughout, exercises range from the very simple to the challenging. The book is based on lectures given by the author at several universities, including UCLA, Brown University, La Plata, Buenos Aires, and the Universidad Autonomo de Valencia, Spain.