Product Description

Why do many flowers have five or eight petals, but very few six or seven? Why do snowflakes have sixfold symmetry? Why do tigers have stripes but leopards have spots? Mathematics is to nature as Sherlock Holmes is to evidence. Mathematics can look at a single snowflake and deduce the atomic geometry of its crystals; it can start with a violin string and uncover the existence of radio waves. And mathematics still has the power to open our eyes to new and unsuspected regularities - the secret structure of a cloud or the hidden rhythms of the weather. There are patterns in the world we are now seeing for the first time - patterns at the frontier of science, yet patterns so simple that anybody can see them once they know where to look.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101229 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

About the Author
Ian Stewart is Professor of Mathematics and Director of the Mathematics Awareness Centre at the University of Warwick. He was awarded the 1995 Michael Faraday Medal by the Royal Society for his significant contribution to the public understanding of science.

Customer Reviews

Well written but a bit basic
I thought this book was well written and structured, and communicated it's ideas clearly, concisely and engagingly. However, it was a bit basic compared to, for example, The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, which goes into far more detail about how mathematical discoveries were made, including narratives and diagrams of key experiments.

Perfect if you want a high level overview, not so good if you're looking for a more challenging read.

Very thought provoking!
You need to be into Mathematics to read this. It is good for Teachers with a Maths background but the second half of the book does get 'heavy'. However there are some good sections that will change the way you think about mathematics and its connections with the world we live in.