Hidden Harmonies
The Lives and Times of the Pythagorean Theorem
-
- £10.99
-
- £10.99
Publisher Description
A squared plus b squared equals c squared. It
sounds simple, doesn't it? Yet this familiar expression is a gateway
into the riotous garden of mathematics, and sends us on a journey of
exploration in the company of two inspired guides, acclaimed authors
Robert and Ellen Kaplan. With wit, verve, and clarity, they trace the
life of the Pythagorean theorem, from ancient Babylon to the present,
visiting along the way Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, President
James Garfield, and the Freemasons-not to mention the elusive Pythagoras
himself, who almost certainly did not make the statement that bears his
name.
How can a theorem have more than one proof? Why does this one have
more than two hundred-or is it four thousand? The Pythagorean theorem
has even more applications than proofs: Ancient Egyptians used it for
surveying property lines, and today astronomers call on it to measure
the distance between stars. Its generalizations are stunning-the theorem
works even with shapes on the sides that aren't squares, and not just
in two dimensions, but any number you like, up to infinity. And perhaps
its most intriguing feature of all, this tidy expression opened the door
to the world of irrational numbers, an untidy discovery that deeply
troubled Pythagoras's disciples.
Like the authors' bestselling The Nothing That Is and Chances Are . . .-hailed as "erudite and witty," "magnificent," and "exhilarating"-Hidden Harmonies makes the excitement of mathematics palpable.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The Kaplans (Out of the Labyrinth) collaborate for a fourth time on this historical and mathematical examination of the Pythagorean Theorem (a2+b2=c2). Going well beyond the typical school treatment of the subject, the Kaplans use proofs and diagrams to demonstrate that "the Pythagorean Theorem...holds even when the most art nouveau shapes flourish on a right triangle's hypotenuse, along with shapes similar to it on the legs. They can, if you wish, be as lacy as your great-grandmother's antimacassars, so long as they have areas." People throughout the ages, from Leonardo da Vinci to President James A. Garfield, have found multiple methods for constructing proofs of this famous and useful theorem, and the Kaplans provide many of them along with background information and context. The Kaplans are wonderfully chatty hosts "The begottens and begets of mathematics never end not because of some dry combinatorial play, but because curiosity always seeks to justify the peculiar, and imagination to shape a deeper unity" often asking questions to inspire thinking. Some readers may wish for a more direct approach, but the Kaplans combine math history and theory with humor, compelling tidbits, and helpful equations (along with an analysis of tangrams) to create an entertaining and stimulating book for the mathematically inclined. Illus.
