Seventeen Equations that Changed the World

Product Information

In turn, all of these equations paved the way for major developments in mathematics, science, philosophy, and technology. And it takes an exceptional mathematician to be able to communicate that enthusiasm without boring the pants off you. Each chapter is a focused look at a specific equation, the circumstances of its discovery, and the wider ramifications of its existence. An interesting idea, but I found the book to be so badly written that it didn't really hold my attention. A logarithm for a particular base tells you what power you need to raise that base to to get a number.

Overall, I'm glad to have read it and it taught me some new things and reminded me of some things I learned in the past. If Ian Stewart had published this book pre-2003, maybe I wouldn't have skipped so many lectures after booze-induced somnolence. History: Imaginary numbers were originally posited by famed gambler/mathematician Girolamo Cardano, then expanded by Rafael Bombelli and John Wallis. He gives a fascinating explanation of how Newton's laws, when extended to three-body problems, are still used by NASA to calculate the best route from Earth to Mars and have laid the basis for chaos theory.

Importance: Logarithms were revolutionary, making calculation faster and more accurate for engineers and astronomers. Importance: Helped understand electromagnetic waves, helping to create most modern electrical and electronic technology. This is not a "book full of maths", and each chapter is largely a textual exploration around the subject starring the featured equation, explaining what it means, and what it led to. In In Pursuit of the Unknown, celebrated mathematician Ian Stewart untangles the roots of our most important mathematical statements to show that equations have long been a driving force behind nearly every aspect of our lives.

Und es ist so schön geschrieben, dass ich mir von Stewart gerne auch Dinge erklären lasse, die ich schon kenne. An example of the first kind of equation is Pythagoras’s theorem, which is “an equation expressed in the language of geometry. They encode information about the real world; they express properties of the universe that could in principle have been very different. In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World is an elegant argument for why equations matter. There's not enough detail to interest people studying maths or physics at university, but it becomes too obscure in a number of places for the general reader.Dabei schafft Stewart es jedoch wunderbar, sowohl kleinere Details zu erklären, die für das Verständnis der Formel wichtig sind, als auch sie in das größere Bild einzubetten. Algunas partes requieren una lectura atenta y disciplinada y otras requerirán echar una mirada a capítulos precedentes para refrescar las nociones, ya que muchas ecuaciones se construyen a partir de ideas y conceptos ya presentados a los que el autor no vuelve. The section on the Schrodinger equation, for example, is presented in such a way that it's almost impossible to understand what he's on about, throwing around terms like the Hamiltonian and eigenfunctions without ever giving enough information to follow the description of what is happening. I had read a description of calculus in another book recently, and this time I think I almost got it. Since nowadays you can do an A level in Physics without studying calculus it seems that this book can only be aimed at undergraduate students or people who have studied these interesting areas.