Stuff
Adobe DRM
Product Details
Simon & Schuster, September 2005
eBook, 368 pages
ISBN-10: 0743274628
ISBN-13: 9780743274623
Description
What do Bach's compositions, Rubik's Cube, the way we choose our mates, and the physics of subatomic particles have in common? All are governed by the laws of symmetry, which elegantly unify scientific and artistic principles. Yet the mathematical language of symmetry-known as group theory-did not emerge from the study of symmetry at all, but from an equation that couldn't be solved.
For thousands of years mathematicians solved progressively more difficult algebraic equations, until they encountered the quintic equation, which resisted solution for three centuries. Working independently, two great prodigies ultimately proved that the quintic cannot be solved by a simple formula. These geniuses, a Norwegian named Niels Henrik Abel and a romantic Frenchman named Évariste Galois, both died tragically young. Their incredible labor, however, produced the origins of group theory.
The first extensive, popular account of the mathematics of symmetry and order, The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved is told not through abstract formulas but in a beautifully written and dramatic account of the lives and work of some of the greatest and most intriguing mathematicians in history.
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Table of Contents"Mario Livio tells the story of symmetry with insight and literary skill, producing a highly readable and illuminating book."
-- Sir Michael Atiyah, Fields Medalist 1966, and Abel Prize in Mathematics Laureate 2004
"Mario Livio tells a gripping tale of humanity's discovery of the language of symmetry, with its colorful, romantic characters and dramatic historical incident. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how the apparently remote concerns of pure mathematics can lead to deep and practical insights into the natural world."
-- Ian Stewart, author of Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos and professor of mathematics, University of Warwick, UK
"Mario Livio has done a marvelous job combining the gripping human saga of the lives of two mathematical geniuses who died young with the key mathematical ideas of symmetry and structure. He explains important mathematical concepts with both clarity and precision, making them understandable to every reader. This is one of the best books about mathematics I have ever read."
-- Amir D. Aczel, author of Chance: A Guide to Gambling, Love, the Stock Market, and Just About Everything Else and Fermat's Last Theorem: Unlocking the Secret of an Ancient Mathematical Problem
Haaretz, January 7, 2010
...to watch the proceedings on a video screen. What brought all these people out of the house? Prof. Mario Livio had come to the campus, and if anyone from the anthropology department (in the adjacent Naftali Building) happened to be in the ...
Mario Livio's Books
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Is God a Mathematician?Why does mathematics so perfectly explain the physical world -- and more than that, why does it so accurately predict the physical world?Read More
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