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Mathematics and the Aesthetic

New Approaches to an Ancient Affinity

  • Book
  • © 2007

Overview

Editors:
  1. Nathalie Sinclair

    1. Faculty of Education A235 McArthur Hall, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. David Pimm

    1. Department of Mathematics D216 Wells Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  3. William Higginson

    1. Department of Secondary Education 341 Education South, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Focuses on affinities between mathematics and the arts
  • Articulates common strains between the mathematical and the aesthetic
  • Shows how the fundamentals are deeply related to human sense-making and learning
  • Offers new possibilities for mathematics education

Part of the book series: CMS Books in Mathematics (CMSBM)

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. A Historical Gaze at the Mathematical Aesthetic

    1. A Historical Gaze at the Mathematical Aesthetic

      • Nathalie Sinclair, David Pimm
      Pages 1-17

  3. The Mathematician’s Art

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-20
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    2. Aesthetics for the Working Mathematician

      • Jonathan M. Borwein
      Pages 21-40

    3. Beauty and Truth in Mathematics

      • Doris Schattschneider
      Pages 41-57

    4. Experiencing Meanings in Geometry

      • David W. Henderson, Daina Taimina
      Pages 58-83

  4. A Sense for Mathematics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 85-86
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    2. The Aesthetic Sensibilities of Mathematicians

      • Nathalie Sinclair
      Pages 87-104

    3. The Meaning of Pattern

      • Martin Schiralli
      Pages 105-125

    4. Mathematics, Aesthetics and Being Human

      • William Higginson
      Pages 126-142

  5. Mathematical Agency

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 143-143
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    2. Mechanism and Magic in the Psychology of Dynamic Geometry

      • R. Nicholas Jackiw
      Pages 145-159

    3. Drawing on the Image in Mathematics and Art

      • David Pimm
      Pages 160-190

    4. Sensible Objects

      • Dick Tahta
      Pages 191-222

    5. Aesthetics and the ‘Mathematical Mind’

      • David Pimm, Nathalie Sinclair
      Pages 223-254

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 255-288
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Keywords

About this book

A majority of the chapters in this book first saw the light of day as talks at a conference organised and held at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada in April 2001. This small, invitational meeting, tellingly entitled Beauty and the Mathematical Beast, brought together a range of academics int- ested in and committed to exploring connections between mathematics and aesthetics. The enthusiastic response of participants at this gathering enco- aged the presenters to expand upon their initial contributions and persuaded the organisers to recruit further chapters in order to bring a greater balance to the whole. The timing of this event was not arbitrary. The preceding decade had seen a resurgence in serious writing dealing with deeper relations between mathematics (and science) and ‘the beautiful’. In many ways, we the editors of this volume found these contributions to the literature were revisiting and drawing on themes that had been prominent over two thousand five h- dred years ago, in certain writings of the Pythagoreans. While not intending to offer a historical reappraisal of these ancient thinkers here, we have none the less chosen to invoke this profound interweaving of the mathematical and the aesthetic to which this reputedly secretive philosophical sect was ext- sively attuned. This book is divided into three sections comprising three chapters each, each with its own short introduction discussing the particular chapters within.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"The essays in this book represent diverse reflections on attempts to ground the aesthetics that operate within mathematical practice and to account for their origins. … Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates; faculty." (D. V. Feldman, CHOICE, Vol. 44 (11), July, 2007)

“Mathematics and the Aesthetic is a heavy book. I mean this in the literal sense: at 288 pages, it weighs 721 grams. … high-quality paper is matched by a sense of attention to detail throughout. The color pictures are … well presented; the text is easy to read. … Enter Sinclair, Pimm, and Higginson. … assembled a group of scholars with diverse academic credentials: philosophers, math educators, and (yes) research mathematicians. … Mathematics and the Aesthetic is a thoughtful collection of essays … .” (Annalisa Crannell, Notices of the AMS, Vol. 56 (2), February, 2010)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Education A235 McArthur Hall, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada

    Nathalie Sinclair

  • Department of Mathematics D216 Wells Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

    David Pimm

  • Department of Secondary Education 341 Education South, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    William Higginson

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Mathematics and the Aesthetic

  • Book Subtitle: New Approaches to an Ancient Affinity

  • Editors: Nathalie Sinclair, David Pimm, William Higginson

  • Series Title: CMS Books in Mathematics

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-38145-9

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag New York 2007

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-387-30526-4Published: 14 November 2006

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4419-2144-4Published: 23 November 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-0-387-38145-9Published: 28 December 2007

  • Series ISSN: 1613-5237

  • Series E-ISSN: 2197-4152

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 288

  • Number of Illustrations: 65 b/w illustrations, 13 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Mathematics, general

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