The Mind of the Mathematician

by Michael Fitzgerald, Ioan James

Overview

What makes mathematicians tick? How do their minds process formulas and concepts that, for most of the rest of the world’s population, remain mysterious and beyond comprehension? Is there a connection between mathematical creativity and mental illness?

In The Mind of the Mathematician, internationally famous mathematician Ioan James and accomplished psychiatrist Michael Fitzgerald look at the complex world of mathematics and the mind. Together they explore the behavior and personality traits that tend to fit the profile of a mathematician. They discuss mathematics and the arts, savants, gender and mathematical ability, and the impact of autism, personality disorders, and mood disorders.

These topics, together with a succinct analysis of some of the great mathematical personalities of the past three centuries, combine to form an eclectic and fascinating blend of story and scientific inquiry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801885877
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	07/16/2007
Pages:	196
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.82(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ioan James was Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University. He is the author of seven books and over one hundred research articles and an editor for the mathematical journal Topology.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction

Part I: Tour of the Literature

1. Mathematicians and Their World
2. Mathematical Ability
3. The Dynamics of Mathematical Creation

Part II: Twenty Mathematical Personalities

4. Lagrange, Gauss, Cauchy, and Dirichlet
5. Hamilton, Galois, Byron, and Riemann
6. Cantor, Kovalevskaya, Poincaré, and Hilbert
7. Hadamard, Hardy, Noether, and Ramanujan
8. Fisher, Wiener, Dirac, and Gödel
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

The authors' careful treatments are an especially welcome addition to a genre riddled with apocryphal anecdotes and shoddy scholarship.
—Donald O'Shea, Nature

A fine book, providing for agreeable and easy reading.
—Michael Otte, Mathematical Reviews

From the Publisher

The authors' careful treatments are an especially welcome addition to a genre riddled with apocryphal anecdotes and shoddy scholarship.

Nature - Donald O'Shea

A fine book, providing for agreeable and easy reading.

Mathematical Reviews - Michael Otte

A fine book, providing for agreeable and easy reading.

— Michael Otte

Mathematical Reviews

The authors' careful treatments are an especially welcome addition to a genre riddled with apocryphal anecdotes and shoddy scholarship.

— Donald O'Shea

Nature