Nature’s Numbers: The Unreal Reality Of Mathematics 1st Edition by Ian Stewart (PDF)

Description

It appears to us that the universe is structured in a deeply mathematical way. Falling bodies fall with predictable accelerations. Eclipses can be accurately forecast centuries in advance. Nuclear power plants generate electricity according to well-known formulas. But those examples are the tip of the iceberg. In Nature’s Numbers, Ian Stewart presents many more, each charming in its own way.. Stewart admirably captures compelling and accessible mathematical ideas along with the pleasure of thinking of them. He writes with clarity and precision. Those who enjoy this sort of thing will love this book.—Los Angeles Times

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Dr. Stewart has an amazing ability to clearly explain very complex phenomena and processes. I can’t wait to read more of his work.

⭐Mr. Stewart delivers an excellent insight into the role mathematics plays in the everyday world. Ever easy to understand, the author takes us on an exciting journey into the role math takes on in the places we may least expect. A truly enjoyable read for the non-mathematical and a must for the serious or amateur mathematician. Riveting from the onset, this book keeps your attention and wraps up in a climatic section on chaos theory with some remarkable insights in the epilogue.

⭐Interesting reading material for music and math enthusiasts.

⭐Best Book Evah!

⭐Nature’s numbers is a great attempt by Ian Stewart to introduce mathematics as an important subject to human life and also introduce some important and fundamental concepts of mathematics. The main target audience of this book is people with elementary or limited exposure to mathematical concepts. As a result, Ian Stewart tries to avoid all the abstract and complicated formulas and concepts, instead presenting materials in a story-telling style with somewhat elementary and easy-to-understand explanations.One of the main advantage of the book is that although being a relatively small book with less than 175 pages, it covers a variety of subjects, from how mathematics helped physicists like Kepler and Newton figure out the laws of physics to how gait analysis, a branch of biology, helped us understand animals better. The flow, though could be better, is quite coherent. Combined with an easy-to-understand way of presenting, it helps readers easily navigate through the materials presented without getting lost.However, the book could have been presented better if more graphs and diagrams had been included, as a picture means a thousand words. Sometimes having to go through multiple pages full of text makes readers tired. In addition, some places, like the first two chapters, could go into more details while the others, like the chapter about gait analysis, contained a little bit too much information.In a nutshell, Nature’s numbers is a good introductory book to mathematics. This book will be extremely valuable to anyone who wants to understand more about mathematics as well as the importance of mathematics to human life but is not used to advanced mathematical concepts and notations.

⭐I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this book. Ian Stewart showed me a whole new way to look at mathematics. He used examples for everything he discussed to make this an easy read for any reader. The idea of this “Morphomatics” was so intriguing. This was his idea to use bits and pieces of dynamical systems,chaos, symmetry breaking and others to better understand Nature’s numbers, shapes, behaviors, and more. Stewart leaves you interested in more, stating math is needed for most things and is pretty much a must for things to exist, and is part of the everyday aspect of life since the beginning. I would recommend this book for all math lovers and math haters, it is just a good fun read.

⭐I came across this book as I was looking for some books about math for my 6th grade homeschooled daughter. I opened it and was unable to put it down. This book is a simple look at the wonder of math in nature and everyday life. It really helps make math real to those of us who struggle with some mathematical concepts. And frankly, it was an entertaining read.

⭐Nature�s Numbers is an oddity in that it is a serious overview of mathematics that contains no serious mathematics�at least in the traditional formalized sense, in spite of the title�s play on �natural numbers�. There seem to be two reasons for this. The first is that Ian Stewart�s presumed audience is a non-technical one. In this regard, I would like to point out that it is always a tough editorial decision how much to dilute a book�s subject matter for an undefined readership. The impossible trick is to neither condescend to the readers nor to lose them as their metaphorical eyes grow translucent coverings. So, no demerits here: It�s a bit unfair for armchair critics to take potshots from any easy ambush position.Secondly, Stewart is genuinely interested in, and purposely pursues a mathematics that is about qualities rather than quantities. However, we do not learn of Stewart�s intent in the main body of the text. �Morphomatics� is discussed in the epilogue, but it is more fully explicated in Stewart�s next opus, Life�s Other Secret: The New Mathematics of the Living World. Indeed, as it covers most of the same material but without development, Nature�s Numbers seems to be a kind of long-form abstract for Life�s Other Secret.Thus, it is a valid question why a reader would go for Nature�s Numbers, when Life�s Other Secret says the same things and more (plus, in the discussion of �oscillators�, the debate is more up-to-date). So, in this review I am compelled to dock Stewart a star. This pains me, however, as I feel strongly that Stewart�s un-stereotypical writing style and sense of story should be broadly encouraged. Probably the culprit here is the publisher, as some other books in the (Science Masters) series suffer from the same �abstract-y� problem.Still, if you have no knowledge of what mathematics is all about in the real world and you thought you didn�t care, Nature�s Numbers could be the book for you.

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