The Best Writing on Mathematics 2011 / / ed. by Mircea Pitici.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Anderson, Heather,; Budd, Chris J.,; Campbell-Kelly, Martin,; Cipra, Barry A.,; Denning, Peter J.,; Dudley, Underwood,; Dyson, Freeman,; Eastaway, Rob,; Ellenberg, Jordan,; Ferguson, Claire,; Ferguson, Helaman,; Fisher, Douglas,; Freiberger, Marianne,; Frey, Nancy,; Grol, van Rik,; Hacking, Ian,; Hamlin, James,; Hand, David J.,; Havel, Ivan M.,; Hersh, Reuben,; Jahnke, Hans Niels,; James, Ioan,; Klarreich, Erica,; Mackenzie, Dana,; Mason, John,; Nathanson, Melvyn B.,; Pitici, Mircea,; Schoenfeld, Alan H.,; Schultz, Andrew,; Su, Francis Edward,; Séquin, Carlo H.,; Ye, Feng,
• TeilnehmendeR: Dyson, Freeman.
• HerausgeberIn: Pitici, Mircea,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2011]; ©2012
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Edition: Course Book
• Language: English
• Series: The Best Writing on Mathematics ; 2
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (416 p.) :; 68 halftones. 12 line illus.

This anthology brings together the year's finest mathematics writing from around the world. Featuring promising new voices alongside some of the foremost names in the field, The Best Writing on Mathematics 2011 makes available to a wide audience many articles not easily found anywhere else--and you don't need to be a mathematician to enjoy them. These writings offer surprising insights into the nature, meaning, and practice of mathematics today. They delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday occurrences of math, and take readers behind the scenes of today's hottest mathematical debates. Here Ian Hacking discusses the salient features that distinguish mathematics from other disciplines of the mind; Doris Schattschneider identifies some of the mathematical inspirations of M. C. Escher's art; Jordan Ellenberg describes compressed sensing, a mathematical field that is reshaping the way people use large sets of data; Erica Klarreich reports on the use of algorithms in the job market for doctors; and much, much more. In addition to presenting the year's most memorable writings on mathematics, this must-have anthology includes a foreword by esteemed physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson. This book belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in where math has taken us--and where it is headed.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword: Recreational Mathematics -- Introduction -- What is Mathematics For? -- A Tisket, a Tasket, an Apollonian Gasket -- The Quest for God’s Number -- Meta-morphism: From Graduate Student to Networked Mathematician -- One, Two, Many: Individuality and Collectivity in Mathematics -- Reflections on the Decline of Mathematical Tables -- Under-Represented Then Over-Represented: -- Did Over-Reliance on Mathematical Models for Risk Assessment Create the Financial Crisis? -- Fill in the Blanks: -- The Great Principles of Computing -- Computer Generation of Ribbed Sculptures -- Lorenz System Offers Manifold Possibilities for Art -- Celebrating Mathematics in Stone and Bronze -- Mathematics Education -- Thinking and Comprehending in the Mathematics Classroom -- Teaching Research: Encouraging Discoveries -- Reflections of an Accidental Theorist -- The Conjoint Origin of Proof and Theoretical Physics -- What Makes Mathematics Mathematics? -- What Anti-realism in Philosophy of Mathematics Must Offer -- Seeing Numbers -- Autism and Mathematical Talent -- How Much Math is Too Much Math? -- Hidden Dimensions -- Playing with Matches -- Notable Texts -- Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Credits