Pi in the sky - John D. Barrow
Counting, thinking, and being
KORTE INHOUD
Whether one studies the farthest reaches of outer space or the inner space of elementary particles of matter, our understanding of the physical world is built on mathematics. But what exactly is mathematics? A game played on pieces of paper? A human invention? An austere religion? Part of the
mind of God? And equally important, why do we believe it can reveal to us the nature of the universe?
John D. Barrow explores these tantalizing questions in Pi in the Sky , a lively and illuminating study of the origins and nature of mathematics. His tour takes us from primitive counting to the latest scientific ideas about the physical world, from the notched animal bones of the
hunter-gatherers to the visions of Galileo and Descartes, and from the intricate mathematical systems of Egypt, Sumeria, and other early civilizations, to the work of such modern giants as Einstein, Kurt Godel, Alfred Tarski, and Bertrand Russell. We meet Pythagoras and his mystical "cult of
numbers" as well as an eighteenth-century Swiss mathematic...
mind of God? And equally important, why do we believe it can reveal to us the nature of the universe?
John D. Barrow explores these tantalizing questions in Pi in the Sky , a lively and illuminating study of the origins and nature of mathematics. His tour takes us from primitive counting to the latest scientific ideas about the physical world, from the notched animal bones of the
hunter-gatherers to the visions of Galileo and Descartes, and from the intricate mathematical systems of Egypt, Sumeria, and other early civilizations, to the work of such modern giants as Einstein, Kurt Godel, Alfred Tarski, and Bertrand Russell. We meet Pythagoras and his mystical "cult of
numbers" as well as an eighteenth-century Swiss mathematic...
