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Beautiful Geometry
by Eli Maor and Eugen Jost
Princeton University Press, 2014
Mathematicians sometimes compare well-constructed equations to works of art. To them, patterns in numbers hold a beauty at least equal to that found in any sonnet or sculpture. In this book, Maor, a math historian, teams with Jost, an artist, to reveal some of that mathematical majesty using jewel-like visualizations of classic geometric theorems. Often the pictures are actually puzzles to be solved, containing clues for perceptive readers to follow. Mixing equal parts math, history and philosophy, the authors begin with some basics—the Pythagorean theorem, the golden ratio, Fibonacci numbers, and so on—before expanding to introduce more baroque and contemporary theorems. The result is a book that stimulates the mind as well as the eye.
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