Imagining Numbers: (Particularly the Square Root of Minus Fifteen)

by Barry Mazur (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2003

  $3.24

  This is a book about the imagination in general and about the mathematical imagination in particular. Barry Mazur considers the range of our imaginative experiences. When we read a line of poetry - The yellow of the tulip - what is it we experience in the mind's eye? And when we imagine a number, in particular an impossible number such as the square root of a negative quantity, what imaginative object might this bring to mind?

• Used

  Paperback
  2004

  $3.24

  The book shows how the art of mathematical imagining is not as mysterious as it seems. Drawing on a variety of artistic resources the author reveals how anyone can begin to visualize the enigmatic 'imaginary numbers' that first baffled mathematicians in the 16th century.