Beautiful Geometry

An exquisite visual celebration of the 2,500-year history of geometry If you've ever thought that mathematics and art don't mix, this stunning visual history of geometry will change your mind. As much a work of art as a book about mathematics, Beautiful Geometry presents more than sixty exquisite color plates illustrating a wide range of geometric patterns and theorems, accompanied by brief accounts of the fascinating history and people behind each. With artwork by Swiss artist Eugen Jost and text by math historian Eli Maor, this unique celebration of geometry covers numerous subjects, from straightedge-and-compass constructions to intriguing configurations involving infinity. The result is a delightful and informative illustrated tour through the 2,500-year-old history of one of the most important branches of mathematics.

Is there a secret visual language all around us? What's so special about the shape of the Great Pyramid? Why is there something so sixy about circles? How many ways can you tile the plane? Lavishly illustrated by the author, this enchanting small introduction to one of the oldest and most widely-used ancient traditions on Earth will forever change the way you look at a triangle, arch, window, fabric repeat, ceramic pattern, graphic design, painting, spiral or flower. WOODEN BOOKS are small but packed with information. "e;Fascinating"e; FINANCIAL TIMES. "e;Beautiful"e; LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. "e;Rich and Artful"e; THE LANCET. "e;Genuinely mind-expanding"e; FORTEAN TIMES. "e;Excellent"e; NEW SCIENTIST. "e;Stunning"e; NEW YORK TIMES. Small books, big ideas.

Euclid was a mathematician from the Greek city of Alexandria who lived during the 4th and 3rd century B.C. and is often referred to as the "father of geometry." Within his foundational treatise "Elements," Euclid presents the results of earlier mathematicians and includes many of his own theories in a systematic, concise book that utilized a brief set of axioms and meticulous proofs to solidify his deductions. In addition to its easily referenced geometry, "Elements" also includes number theory and other mathematical considerations. For centuries, this work was a primary textbook of mathematics, containing the only framework for geometry known by mathematicians until the development of "non-Euclidian" geometry in the late 19th century. The extent to which Euclid's "Elements" is of his own original authorship or borrowed from previous scholars is unknown, however despite this fact it was his collation of these basic mathematical principles for which most of the world would come to the study of geometry. Today, Euclid's "Elements" is acknowledged as one of the most influential mathematical texts in history. This volume includes all thirteen books of Euclid's "Elements," is printed on premium acid-free paper, and follows the translation of Thomas Heath.

Absorbing essays demonstrate the charms of mathematics. Stimulating and thought-provoking treatment of geometry's crucial role in a wide range of mathematical applications, for students and mathematicians.

Projective geometry is one of the most fundamental and at the same time most beautiful branches of geometry. It can be considered the common foundation of many other geometric disciplines like Euclidean geometry, hyperbolic and elliptic geometry or even relativistic space-time geometry. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to this fascinating field and its applications. In particular, it explains how metric concepts may be best understood in projective terms. One of the major themes that appears throughout this book is the beauty of the interplay between geometry, algebra and combinatorics. This book can especially be used as a guide that explains how geometric objects and operations may be most elegantly expressed in algebraic terms, making it a valuable resource for mathematicians, as well as for computer scientists and physicists. The book is based on the author’s experience in implementing geometric software and includes hundreds of high-quality illustrations.

The book is an innovative modern exposition of geometry, or rather, of geometries; it is the first textbook in which Felix Klein's Erlangen Program (the action of transformation groups) is systematically used as the basis for defining various geometries. The course of study presented is dedicated to the proposition that all geometries are created equal--although some, of course, remain more equal than others. The author concentrates on several of the more distinguished and beautiful ones, which include what he terms ``toy geometries'', the geometries of Platonic bodies, discrete geometries, and classical continuous geometries. The text is based on first-year semester course lectures delivered at the Independent University of Moscow in 2003 and 2006. It is by no means a formal algebraic or analytic treatment of geometric topics, but rather, a highly visual exposition containing upwards of 200 illustrations. The reader is expected to possess a familiarity with elementary Euclidean geometry, albeit those lacking this knowledge may refer to a compendium in Chapter 0. Per the author's predilection, the book contains very little regarding the axiomatic approach to geometry (save for a single chapter on the history of non-Euclidean geometry), but two Appendices provide a detailed treatment of Euclid's and Hilbert's axiomatics. Perhaps the most important aspect of this course is the problems, which appear at the end of each chapter and are supplemented with answers at the conclusion of the text. By analyzing and solving these problems, the reader will become capable of thinking and working geometrically, much more so than by simply learning the theory. Ultimately, the author makes the distinction between concrete mathematical objects called ``geometries'' and the singular ``geometry'', which he understands as a way of thinking about mathematics. Although the book does not address branches of mathematics and mathematical physics such as Riemannian and Kahler manifolds or, say, differentiable manifolds and conformal field theories, the ideology of category language and transformation groups on which the book is based prepares the reader for the study of, and eventually, research in these important and rapidly developing areas of contemporary mathematics.

The book "Lunda Geometry" explains how the mathematical concepts of mirror curves and Lunda-designs were discovered in the context of the author's research of 'sona', illustrations traditionally made in the sand by Cokwe storytellers from eastern Angola (a region called Lunda) and neighboring regions of Congo and Zambia. Examples of mirror curves from several cultures are presented. Lunda-designs are aesthetically attractive and display interesting symmetry properties. Examples of Lunda-patterns and Lunda-polyominoes are presented. Some generalizations of the concept of Lunda-design are discussed, like hexagonal Lunda-designs, Lunda-k-designs, Lunda-fractals, and circular Lunda-designs. Lunda-designs of Celtic knot designs are constructed.Several chapters were published in journals like 'Computers & Graphics' (Oxford), 'Visual Mathematics' (Belgrade), and 'Mathematics in School' (UK).