What Stewart does, as he does with the other 16 equations, formulas and mathematical ideas, is to give the historical development of logarithms, describes how they function, describe how they are useful and describes their various important applications in our daily lives. But the way these mathematical breakthroughs have contributed to human progress is seldom appreciated.

By measuring one initial length very carefully, and many angles, the locations of the corners of the triangle, and hence any interesting features within them, can be calculated. If you were a mathlete or have even the slightest interest in figures, Ian Stewart can bring the subject alive for you. The equation you see was derived by Erwin Schrodinger in 1927, building off of the work of physicists like Werner Heisenberg. It breathes life into the equations by giving them purpose and historical context which has inspired me to keep learning and has vastly improved my understanding of them. Euler's formula states that, as long as your polyhedron is somewhat well behaved, if you add the vertices and faces together, and subtract the edges, you will always get 2.Surveying began to take off in 1533 when the Dutch mapmaker Gemma Frisius explained how to use trigonometry to produce accurate maps, in Libellus de Locorum Describendorum Ratione (‘Booklet Concerning a Way of Describing Places’). Importance: Logarithms were revolutionary, making calculation faster and more accurate for engineers and astronomers.

Solving the resulting equations tells us how the planets orbit the Sun, or how to design a trajectory for a space probe.Ian Stewart stellt hier 17 mathematische Formeln, ihren jeweiligen historischen Hintergrund, das Teilgebiet der Mathematik, aus dem sie entstanden oder das sie begründeten, ihre (mathematische) Bedeutung und die naturwissenschaftlichen, technologischen, gesellschaftlichen oder politischen Implikationen vor. Pythagoras, for example, works very well on a two-dimensional plane - not so well on a curved surface. As we will see, however, modern physics relies on a quantum mechanical explanation of electromagnetism

He explained that anyone can "appreciate the beauty and importance of equations without knowing how to solve them . Importance: Helped in the development of chaos theory, which has completely changed our understanding of the way that natural systems work. My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.Some of the explanations are quite complex, especially where Stewart is exploring the most recent applications of older ideas. One further point about this book: I have felt for some time that there is a real need for students (from middle school, high school, and college) not only to learn mathematics, but to learn how it is useful and relevant in their lives. These equations have had a remarkable impact on our lives and our understanding of the universe so it is great that someone is willing to sit down and explain them to us in a way that is not too abstract and technical.

Ian does justice covering 17 of the greatest mathematical equations responsible for mankind's progress. Fortunately, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to appreciate the poetry and beauty of a good, significant equation.Nonostante a tratti sia stato un libro di non facile lettura, ogni capitolo ha offerto qualcosa di coinvolgente; i temi trattati variano dal mondo microscopico a quello macro, dal punto di vista della matematica e spiegando i fenomeni con la stessa. In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World is a 2012 nonfiction book by British mathematician Ian Stewart FRS CMath FIMA, published by Basic Books. Word of the method spread across Europe, reaching the ears of the Danish nobleman and astronomer Tycho Brahe.