The Best Writing on Mathematics 2020

Published by Princeton University Press 2020

The Best Writing on Mathematics 2020

Edited by: Mircea Pitici

Volume 13 in the series The Best Writing on Mathematics

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691213651

Overview
Contents

About this book

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. Featuring promising new voices alongside some of the foremost names in the field, The Best Writing on Mathematics 2020 makes available to a wide audience many articles not easily found anywhere else—and you don’t need to be a mathematician to enjoy them. These writings offer surprising insights into the nature, meaning, and practice of mathematics today. They delve into the history, philosophy, teaching, and everyday aspects of math, and take readers behind the scenes of today’s hottest mathematical debates.

Here, Steven Strogatz reveals how calculus drives advances in virology, Paul Thagard argues that the power of mathematics stems from its combination of realistic and fictional qualities, and Erica Klarreich describes how Hao Huang used the combinatorics of cube nodes to solve a longstanding problem in computer science. In other essays, John Baez tells how he discovered the irresistible attractions of algebraic geometry, Mark Colyvan compares the radically different explanatory practices of mathematics and science, and Boris Odehnal reviews some surprising properties of multidimensional geometries. And there’s much, much more.

In addition to presenting the year’s most memorable writings on mathematics, this must-have anthology includes a bibliography of other notable writings and an introduction by the editor.

This book belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in where math has taken us—and where it is headed.

Author / Editor information

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

Reviews

"This is a great book for those wishing to dip their toes into the wider currents of thought in the wide and varied range of ideas and concepts being explored in and through mathematics."---Simon Cocking, Irish Tech News

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Mircea Pitici Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Outsmarting a Virus with Math Steven Strogatz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Uncertainty Peter J. Denning and Ted G. Lewis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
The Inescapable Casino Bruce M. Boghosian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Resolving the Fuel Economy Singularity Stan Wagon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
The Median Voter Theorem: Why Politicians Move to the Center Jørgen Veisdal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
The Math That Takes Newton into the Quantum World John Baez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
Decades- Old Computer Science Conjecture Solved in Two Pages Erica Klarreich Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
The Three- Body Problem Richard Montgomery Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	61
The Intrigues and Delights of Kleinian and Quasi- Fuchsian Limit Sets Chris King Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
Mathematical Treasures from Sid Sackson Jim Henle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	92
The Amazing Math Inside the Rubik’s Cube Dave Linkletter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
What Is a Hyperbolic 3- Manifold? Colin Adams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Higher Dimensional Geometries: What Are They Good For? Boris Odehnal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
Who Mourns the Tenth Heegner Number? James Propp Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
On Your Mark, Get Set, Multiply Patrick Honner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
1994, The Year Calculus Was Born Ben Orlin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Gauss’s Computation of the Easter Date Donald Teets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
Mathematical Knowledge and Reality Paul Thagard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	172
The Ins and Outs of Mathematical Explanation Mark Colyvan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Statistical Intervals, Not Statistical Significance Gerald J. Hahn, Necip Doganaksoy and William Q. Meeker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Notable Writings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Credits Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227

Language: English
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Pages
- Main content: 264
Illustrations
- Other: 16 color + 91 b/w illus + 1 table.
Keywords: math; mathematics; essays; articles; papers; stories; magazines; journals; collection; pieces; virus; epidemiology; selection

eBook

Published: November 24, 2020
ISBN: 9780691213651