Circles disturbed : the interplay of mathematics and narrative / edited by Apostolos Doxiadis and Barry Mazur.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Doxiadēs, Apostolos K., 1953-

Mazur, Barry.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mathematics--Language.

Mathematics.

Communication in mathematics.

Mathematics--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (593 p.)

Edition:

Core Textbook

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Circles Disturbed brings together important thinkers in mathematics, history, and philosophy to explore the relationship between mathematics and narrative. The book's title recalls the last words of the great Greek mathematician Archimedes before he was slain by a Roman soldier--"Don't disturb my circles"--words that seem to refer to two radically different concerns: that of the practical person living in the concrete world of reality, and that of the theoretician lost in a world of abstraction. Stories and theorems are, in a sense, the natural languages of these two worlds--stories representing the way we act and interact, and theorems giving us pure thought, distilled from the hustle and bustle of reality. Yet, though the voices of stories and theorems seem totally different, they share profound connections and similarities. A book unlike any other, Circles Disturbed delves into topics such as the way in which historical and biographical narratives shape our understanding of mathematics and mathematicians, the development of "myths of origins" in mathematics, the structure and importance of mathematical dreams, the role of storytelling in the formation of mathematical intuitions, the ways mathematics helps us organize the way we think about narrative structure, and much more. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Amir Alexander, David Corfield, Peter Galison, Timothy Gowers, Michael Harris, David Herman, Federica La Nave, G.E.R. Lloyd, Uri Margolin, Colin McLarty, Jan Christoph Meister, Arkady Plotnitsky, and Bernard Teissier.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. From Voyagers to Martyrs / Alexander, Amir

Chapter 2. Structure of Crystal, Bucket of Dust / Galison, Peter

Chapter 3. Deductive Narrative and the Epistemological Function of Belief in Mathematics / Nave, Federicala

Chapter 4. Hilbert on Theology and Its Discontents / Mclarty, Colin

Chapter 5. Do Androids Prove Theorems in Their Sleep? / Harris, Michael

Chapter 6. Visions, Dreams, and Mathematics / Mazur, Barry

Chapter 7. Vividness in Mathematics and Narrative / Gowers, Timothy

Chapter 8. Mathematics and Narrative / Teissier, Bernard

Chapter 9. Narrative and the Rationality of Mathematical Practice / Corfield, David

Chapter 10. A Streetcar Named (among Other Things) Proof / Doxiadis, Apostolos

Chapter 11. Mathematics and Narrative: An Aristotelian Perspective / Lloyd, G . E . R .

Chapter 12. Adventures of the Diagonal: Non-Euclidean Mathematics and Narrative / Plotnitsky, Arkady

Chapter 13. Formal Models in Narrative Analysis / Herman, David

Chapter 14. Mathematics and Narrative: A Narratological Perspective / Margolin, Uri

Chapter 15. Tales of Contingency, Contingencies of Telling / Meister, Jan Christoph

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613457042

9781283457040

1283457040

9781400842681

1400842689

OCLC:

775873004