Number 9: The Search for the Sigma Code

by Cecil Balmond (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $3.38

  Number 9 tells the story of Enjil, a boy mathematician who is challenged by a spirit to solve the riddle, 'What is the fixed point of the wind?' As Enjil searches for the answer, he and the reader embark on a journey through myth, legend and religion. Enjil's adventures lead readers to an appreciation of chaos theory, symmetry within asymmetry, classical ideas and modern impulses. Along the way Balmond redefines arithmetic for the lay person and opens the gateway to further discoveries.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1998

  $3.38

  In Nine Fixed Points in the Wind , internationally renowned structural engineer Cecil Balmond travels into a semi-mystical world to unlock a secret of numbers that has never been told. Through the eyes of Enjil, the boy mathematician, he re-examines the arithmetic of his childhood and discovers behind it a remarkable new mathematical structure that we can all appreciate -yet that will intrigue scientists and mathematicians. The worlds of Enjil and that of the reader travel in parallel. As Enjil is challenged by a spirit to solve the riddle, What is the fixed point of the wind? , the reader is introduced to strange coincidences in the world of numbers that appear to be predescribed in myth, legend and religion across the world's history. The key seems to be the number nine. On a journey of discovery, Enjil leads us deeper into an inner world in search of the solution. It describes a form - at first linear - then circular - until finally a beautifully spiralling mandala is revealed that links all the coincidences in a single structure and opens a gateway to discoveries beyond. Cecil Balmond is a man at the top of his profession making the most flamboyant ideas of the leading avant garde architects work. His research into form provokes new possibilities in architecture. Through his profession, he has gained a remarkable perception that is uniquely attuned to understanding the structures required within buildings at the cutting edge of contemporary architecture. Recently he chanced to rethink the arithmetic we all use. The results will delight all of us who remember struggling to learn our tables by rote. It is a new theorem of hidden numbers - but it is so simple.