Jose Carillo's Forum

READINGS IN LANGUAGE

This section features links to interesting, instructive, or thought-provoking readings about the English language and related disciplines. The selections could be anywhere from light and humorous to serious and scholarly, and they range widely from the reading, writing, listening, and speaking disciplines to the teaching and learning of English.

The story of humanity’s ascent is told in 17 mathematical equations

In his new book In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World (Basic Books, 342 pages), Ian Stewart, mathematics professor at the University of Warwick and a veteran mathematics popularizer, takes the reader on a quick tour of the history of scientific thought from ancient Greece to quantum mechanics. In clear prose understandable to non-mathematicians, Stewart explains such groundbreaking equations as Albert Einstein’s E=mc2, Euler’s formula, and Fourier transform by focusing on their everyday applications instead of their esoteric mathematics.

17 Equations

Stewart says in the book: “The power of equations lies in the philosophically difficult correspondence between mathematics, a collective creation of human minds, and an external physical reality. Equations model deep patterns in the outside world. By learning to value equations, and to read the stories they tell, we can uncover vital features of the world around us… This is the story of the ascent of humanity, told in 17 equations.”

In “How 17 Equations Changed the World,” a review of Stewart’s book in the April 16, 2012 issue of the Brain Pickings website, Maria Popova says: “Far from being a mere math primer or trivia aid, In Pursuit of the Unknown is an essential piece of modern literacy, wrapped in an articulate argument for why this kind of knowledge should be precisely that.”

Read Maria Popova’s review of Ian Stewart’s 17 Equations That Changed the World in the Brain Pickings website now!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ian Nicholas Stewart (born September 24, 1945) is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the Christopher Zeeman Medal, awarded jointly by the London Mathematical Society (LMS) and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) for his work on promoting mathematics. He is well known for his popular expositions of mathematics and his contributions to catastrophe theory.

ANOTHER INTERESTING READING:
In “Why fiction is good for you,” an article that came out in the April 29, 2012 issue of the Boston.com Article Collections, Jonathan Gottschall reports that new research in psychology and broad-based literary analysis shows that fiction does mold us, and that the more deeply we are cast under a story’s spell, the more potent its influence. “In fact,” he says, “fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to make us rubbery and easy to shape.”

Read Jonathan Gottschall’s “Why fiction is good for you” in the Boston.com website now!

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