In the first edition of The Mathematical Tourist, renowned science journalist Ivars Peterson took readers on a tour through the sometimes bizarre, but always fascinating, landscape of modern mathematics. Now the journey continues in a new, updated edition that includes all the latest information on mathematical proofs, fractals, prime numbers, and chaos, as well as new material on: the relationship between mathematical knots and DNA, how computers based on quantum logic can significantly speed up the factoring of large composite numbers, the relationship between four-dimensional geometry and physical theories of the nature of matter, the application of cellular automata models to social questions and the peregrinations of virtual ants, and a novel mathematical model of quasicrystals based on decagon-shaped tiles. Peterson explores the central ideas behind the work of professional mathematicians - how and where their pieces of the mathematical puzzle fit in, the sources of their ideas, their fountains of inspiration, and the images that carry them from one discovery to another.
- ISBN10 0805071598
- ISBN13 9780805071597
- Publish Date 15 April 1998 (first published 1 August 1988)
- Publish Status Out of Stock
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Henry Holt & Company Inc
- Imprint Owl Books,U.S.
- Edition Updated ed.
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 266
- Language English