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Mathematics often seems incomprehensible, a melee of strange symbols thrown down on a page. But while formulae, theorems, and proofs can involve highly complex concepts, the math becomes transparent when viewed as part of a bigger picture. What Is a Number? provides that picture.Robert Tubbs examines how mathematical concepts like number, geometric truth, infinity, and proof have been employed by artists, theologians, philosophers, writers, and cosmologists from ancient times to the modern era. Looking at a broad range of topics -- from Pythagoras's exploration of the connection between harmonious sounds and mathematical ratios to the understanding of time in both Western and pre-Columbian thought -- Tubbs ties together seemingly disparate ideas to demonstrate the relationship between the sometimes elusive thought of artists and philosophers and the concrete logic of mathematicians. He complements his textual arguments with diagrams and illustrations. This historic and thematic study refutes the received wisdom that mathematical concepts are esoteric and divorced from other intellectual pursuits -- revealing them instead as dynamic and intrinsic to almost every human endeavor.

Logic, Symbolic and mathematical. --- Mathematics --- History. --- Philosophy.

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This handbook features essays written by both literary scholars and mathematicians that examine multiple facets of the connections between literature and mathematics. These connections range from mathematics and poetic meter to mathematics and modernism to mathematics as literature. Some chapters focus on a single author, such as mathematics and Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, or Charles Dickens, while others consider a mathematical topic common to two or more authors, such as squaring the circle, chaos theory, Newton’s calculus, or stochastic processes. With appeal for scholars and students in literature, mathematics, cultural history, and history of mathematics, this important volume aims to introduce the range, fertility, and complexity of the connections between mathematics, literature, and literary theory. Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via [link.springer.com/http://link.springer.com/].

Literature—Philosophy. --- Mathematics—Philosophy. --- History. --- Mathematics. --- Social sciences. --- Literary Theory. --- Philosophy of Mathematics. --- History of Science. --- History of Mathematical Sciences. --- Mathematics in the Humanities and Social Sciences. --- Behavioral sciences --- Human sciences --- Sciences, Social --- Social science --- Social studies --- Civilization --- Math --- Science --- Annals --- Auxiliary sciences of history --- Literature --- Mathematics --- Logic of mathematics --- Mathematics, Logic of --- Literature and philosophy --- Philosophy and literature --- Philosophy. --- Theory

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This handbook features essays written by both literary scholars and mathematicians that examine multiple facets of the connections between literature and mathematics. These connections range from mathematics and poetic meter to mathematics and modernism to mathematics as literature. Some chapters focus on a single author, such as mathematics and Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, or Charles Dickens, while others consider a mathematical topic common to two or more authors, such as squaring the circle, chaos theory, Newton’s calculus, or stochastic processes. With appeal for scholars and students in literature, mathematics, cultural history, and history of mathematics, this important volume aims to introduce the range, fertility, and complexity of the connections between mathematics, literature, and literary theory.

Philosophy --- Philosophy of science --- Social sciences (general) --- Sociology --- Pure sciences. Natural sciences (general) --- Mathematics --- Linguistics --- Literature --- History --- wetenschapsgeschiedenis --- sociologie --- geletterdheid --- filosofie --- geschiedenis --- literatuur --- sociale wetenschappen --- wetenschapsfilosofie --- wiskunde --- Mathematics in literature. --- Philosophy. --- History. --- History and criticism.