Author(s): Mircea Pitici
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 412
Foreword: Recreational Mathematics Xi
Introduction XVii
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What Is Mathematics For? 1
A Tisket, a Tasket, an Apollonian Gasket 13
The Quest for God's Number 27
Meta-morphism: From Graduate Student to Networked Mathematician 35
One, Two, Many: Individuality and Collectivity in Mathematics 43
Reflections on the Decline of Mathematical Tables 51
Under-Represented Then Over-Represented: A Memoir of Jews in American Mathematics 55
Did Over-Reliance on Mathematical Models for Risk Assessment Create the Financial Crisis? 67
Fill in the Blanks: Using Math to Turn Lo-Res Datasets into Hi-Res Samples 75
The Great Principles of Computing 82
Computer Generation of Ribbed Sculptures 93
Lorenz System Offers Manifold Possibilities for Art 115
The Mathematical Side of M. C. Escher 121
Celebrating Mathematics in Stone and Bronze 150
Mathematics Education: Theory, Practice, and Memories over 50 Years 169
Thinking and Comprehending in the Mathematics Classroom 188
Teaching Research: Encouraning Discoveries 203
Reflections of an Accidental Theorist 219
The Conjoint Origin of Proof and Theoretical Physics 236
What Makes Mathematics Mathematics? 257
What Anti-realism in Philosophy of Mathematics Must Offer 286
Seeing Numbers 312
Autism and Mathematical Talent 330
How Much Math is Too Much Math? 336
Hidden Dimensions 347
Playing with Matches 356
Notable Texts 367
Contributors 371
Acknowledgments 379
Credits 381
