The Best Writing on Mathematics 2021
The year’s finest mathematical writing from around the world

This annual anthology brings together the year’s finest mathematics writing from around the world—and you don’t need to be a mathematician to enjoy the pieces collected here. These essays—from leading names and fresh new voices—delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday aspects of math, offering surprising insights into its nature, meaning, and practice, and taking readers behind the scenes of today’s hottest mathematical debates.

Here, Viktor Blåsjö gives a brief history of “lockdown mathematics”; Yelda Nasifoglu decodes the politics of a seventeenth-century play in which the characters are geometric shapes; and Andrew Lewis-Pye explains the basic algorithmic rules and computational procedures behind cryptocurrencies. In other essays, Terence Tao candidly recalls the adventures and misadventures of growing up to become a leading mathematician; Natalie Wolchover shows how old math gives new clues about whether time really flows; and David Hand discusses the problem of “dark data”—information that is missing or ignored. And there is much, much more.

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The Best Writing on Mathematics 2021
The year’s finest mathematical writing from around the world

This annual anthology brings together the year’s finest mathematics writing from around the world—and you don’t need to be a mathematician to enjoy the pieces collected here. These essays—from leading names and fresh new voices—delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday aspects of math, offering surprising insights into its nature, meaning, and practice, and taking readers behind the scenes of today’s hottest mathematical debates.

Here, Viktor Blåsjö gives a brief history of “lockdown mathematics”; Yelda Nasifoglu decodes the politics of a seventeenth-century play in which the characters are geometric shapes; and Andrew Lewis-Pye explains the basic algorithmic rules and computational procedures behind cryptocurrencies. In other essays, Terence Tao candidly recalls the adventures and misadventures of growing up to become a leading mathematician; Natalie Wolchover shows how old math gives new clues about whether time really flows; and David Hand discusses the problem of “dark data”—information that is missing or ignored. And there is much, much more.

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The Best Writing on Mathematics 2021

The Best Writing on Mathematics 2021

by Mircea Pitici
The Best Writing on Mathematics 2021

The Best Writing on Mathematics 2021

by Mircea Pitici

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Overview

The year’s finest mathematical writing from around the world

This annual anthology brings together the year’s finest mathematics writing from around the world—and you don’t need to be a mathematician to enjoy the pieces collected here. These essays—from leading names and fresh new voices—delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday aspects of math, offering surprising insights into its nature, meaning, and practice, and taking readers behind the scenes of today’s hottest mathematical debates.

Here, Viktor Blåsjö gives a brief history of “lockdown mathematics”; Yelda Nasifoglu decodes the politics of a seventeenth-century play in which the characters are geometric shapes; and Andrew Lewis-Pye explains the basic algorithmic rules and computational procedures behind cryptocurrencies. In other essays, Terence Tao candidly recalls the adventures and misadventures of growing up to become a leading mathematician; Natalie Wolchover shows how old math gives new clues about whether time really flows; and David Hand discusses the problem of “dark data”—information that is missing or ignored. And there is much, much more.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691225708
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 07/19/2022
Series: The Best Writing on Mathematics , #19
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Mircea Pitici teaches mathematics at Syracuse University and has edited The Best Writing on Mathematics since 2010. Twitter @MPitici

Table of Contents

Color insert follows page 240

Introduction Mircea Pitici xi

Lockdown Mathematics: A Historical Perspective Viktor Blåsjö 1

Cryptocurrencies: Protocols for Consensus Andrew Lewis-Pye 9

Logical Accidents and the Problem of the Inside Corner Michael C. Duddy 29

Cosmatesque Design and Complex Analysis Steve Pomerantz 49

Nullstellenfont Ben Logsdon Anya Michaelsen Ralph Morrison 56

Hyperbolic Flowers Maria Trnkova 64

Embodied Geometry in Early Modern Theatre Yelda Nasifoglu 77

Modeling Dynamical Systems for 3D Printing Stephen K. Lucas Evelyn Sander Laura Taalman 82

Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry of Geology Joshua Sokol 108

Bouncing Balls and Quantum Computing Don Monroe 120

Landmark Computer Science Proof Cascades through Physics and Math Kevin Hartnett 125

Dark Data David J. Hand 136

Analysis in an Imperfect World Michael Wallace 142

A Headache-Causing Problem J. H. Conway M. S. Paterson U. S. S. R. Moscow 155

A Zeroth Power Is Often a Logarithm Yearning to Be Free Sanjoy Mahajan 163

The Bicycle Paradox Stan Wagon 168

Tricolor Pyramids Jacob Siehler 174

Does Time Really Flow? New Clues Come from a Century-Old Approach to Math Natalie Wolchover 183

The Role of History in the Study of Mathematics Harold M. Edwards 193

"All of These Political Questions": Anticommunism, Racism, and the Origin of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society Michael J. Barany 201

Reasoning as a Mathematical Habit of Mind Mike Askew 212

Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics-How Are We Doing? Roger Howe 225

Tips for Undergraduate Research Supervisors Stephan Ramon Garcia 232

"The Infinite Is the Chasm in Which Our Thoughts Are Lost": Reflections on Sophie Germain's Essays Adam Glesser Bogdan D. Suceava Mihaela B.Vâjiac 243

Who Owns the Theorem? Melvyn B. Nathanson 255

A Close Call: How a Near Failure Propelled Me to Succeed Terence Tao 258

Contributors 263

Notable Writings 273

Acknowledgments 283

Credits 285

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for previous editions:

“A variety of thoroughly accessible works that tie abstract math to the real world. . . . Gives readers an entertaining look at the odd, the amusing, and the utilitarian without requiring any more than a readerly curiosity.”—Publishers Weekly

“Wonderful. . . . Cannot be recommended highly enough!”—Robert Schaefer, New York Journal of Books

“A wonderful and varied bouquet of texts. . . . I highly recommend this book.”—Stephen Buckley, Irish Mathematical Society Bulletin

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