A Passion for Mathematics
Chapter One
Numbers,
History, Society,
and People
In which we encounter religious mathematicians, mad mathematicians,
famous mathematicians, mathematical savants, quirky questions, fun
trivia, brief biographies, mathematical gods, historical oddities, numbers and
society, gossip, the history of mathematical notation, the genesis of numbers,
and "What if?" questions.
(?) Ancient counting. Let's
start the book with a question.
What is the earliest evidence
we have of humans
counting? If this question is
too difficult, can you guess
whether the evidence is
before or after 10,000 B.C.-and
what the evidence might
be? (See Answer 1.1.)
* * *
(") Mathematics and beauty.
I've collected mathematical
quotations since my teenage
years. Here's a favorite:
"Mathematics, rightly
viewed, possesses not only
truth, but supreme beauty-a
beauty cold and austere,
like that of sculpture"
(Bertrand Russell, Mysticism
and Logic, 1918).
(!) The symbols of mathematics.
Mathematical notation
shapes humanity's ability to
efficiently contemplate mathematics.
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