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100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know About Maths and the Arts

100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know About Maths and the Arts

What can maths tell us about art and design?

Professor John D. Barrow has all the answers. In 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know About Maths and the Arts, he shows us that mathematics and the arts are not so far removed from each other. He takes us on a 100-step tour, guiding us through art forms as various as sculpture, literature, architecture and dance, and reveals what maths can tell us about the mysteries of the worlds of art and design.

We find out why diamonds sparkle, how many words Shakespeare knew and why the shower is the best place to sing. We discover why an egg is egg-shaped, why Charles Dickens crusaded against maths and how a soprano can shatter a wine glass without touching it...

Enlivening the everyday with a new way of looking at the world, this book will enrich your understanding of the maths and art that surround us in our day-to-day lives.

Reviews

  • We are invited to rethink how we see, or hear, the world around us, and to appreciate how simple maths can illuminate creativity

    Adrian Read, Independent

  • Maths and the arts are often thought to be poles apart, but this shows how intertwined they are and how numbers and calculations are vital to our everyday lives without us realising

    Gill Oliver, UK Press Syndication

  • This is an artistic feast

    Good Book Guide

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About the Author

John D. Barrow

John D. Barrow is Professor of Mathematical Sciences and Director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University, Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and formerly Professor of both Geometry and Astronomy at Gresham College, London. His previous books include The Book of Nothing, The Constants of Nature, The Infinite Book, Cosmic Imagery, the bestselling 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know, The Book of Universes, and, most recently, 100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know About Sport.

John D. Barrow

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