| BIBLIOGRAPHY |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Counting sheep -- Counting goats -- All is number -- Elegant perfection -- Counting sand -- The emergence of nothing -- He who is ignorant -- All in the imagination -- The amazing mechanical mathematical universe -- The mystery of "maybe" -- Maxwell's mathematical hammer -- Infinity and beyond -- Twentieth-century mathematical mysteries -- Symmetry games -- Cargo cult science? |
| Summary |
Have you ever wondered what humans did before numbers existed? How they organized their lives, traded goods, or kept track of their treasures? What would your life be like without them? Numbers began as simple representations of everyday things, but mathematics rapidly took on a life of its own, occupying a parallel virtual world. In Are Numbers Real?, Brian Clegg explores the way that math has become more and more detached from reality, and yet despite this is driving the development of modern physics. From devising a new counting system based on goats, through the weird and wonderful mathematics of imaginary numbers and infinity, to the debate over whether mathematics has too much influence on the direction of science, this fascinating and accessible book opens the reader’s eyes to the hidden reality of the strange yet familiar entities that are numbers. |
| Subject |
Mathematics -- Popular works.
|
| Other title |
Uncanny relationship of mathematics and the physical world |
| ISBN |
9781250081049
|
|
1250081041
|
|
