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"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
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We live in a universe of patterns. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
We live in a universe of patterns. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
12 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Math is better than you thought
11 July 2000
Format:Paperback
This book is a hint that math can be both fun and useful. Understandable even to the non-mathematical reader, it tells in an entertaining style what mathematics is about and what it is good for. It shows how math helped us understand nature and our world in general, how it was used in mankind's most important inventions and developments; how it threaded through our history and what can we expect in the future. Both enlightening and enjoyable reading.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
A mathematician with his head on straight
22 July 2001
Format:Paperback
Nature's Numbers is a valuable resource and, I think, a new doorway of scientific philosophy. (I think some reviewers didn't like this because they expected more, but as I said, its a doorway to a field, and by no means a complete study in itself) From the very beginning, it is promised to the reader that a new pair of glasses, a mathematicians, will be provided to look at your life in the universe a bit differently. Ian Stewart attempts to grasp the mathematical hypostasis of the natural macrocosm. Objectively, simplicity still likely underlies all external phenomena, however a outward branching tree of complexity translates this core into our manifested world, appearing fairly simple again as the laws which govern the cosmos. However, in Stewart's universe, mere laws and equations do not suffice. He strives for a new field of mathematics that is intertwined with natural science. It is obvious, as he shows from the science of flowers, dripping water, etc., that math determines the observed phenomena of science. Even in apparently haphazard systems, the source remains as deterministic principles by nonlinear dynamics. (This is what you should know as chaos theory) And the shibboleth of "the butterfly effect" is an epitome of the need to comprehend the governing mathematics of systems. Take biological adaption and evolution for example. Some biologists believe that DNA and genetics is the sole shaper of organisms. This does not appear to be fully adequate alone, because then we would in turn need to explain why biology followed symmetries and patterns. But as he notes on pp. 137 "Maybe evolution started with the mathematical patterns that occurred naturally, and fine-tuned them by natural selection." By opening our horizons of our attempts to comprehend the universe fully in our quest for absolute knowledge of nature's numbers, the final sentence in Stewarts work admirably states the scientist's philosophy with the same type of mere simplicity that Mother Nature holds at her core, "We may never get there. But it will be fun trying." Gotta love that.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Quantity vs. Quality
29 Jan 2003
Format:Paperback
Natures Numbers is an oddity in that it is a serious overview of mathematics that contains no serious mathematicsat least in the traditional formalized sense, in spite of the titles play on natural numbers. There seem to be two reasons for this. The first is that Ian Stewarts 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 books 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: Its 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 Stewarts intent in the main body of the text. Morphomatics is discussed in the epilogue, but it is more fully explicated in Stewarts next opus, Lifes Other Secret: The New Mathematics of the Living World. Indeed, as it covers most of the same material but without development, Natures Numbers seems to be a kind of long-form abstract for Lifes Other Secret.
Thus, it is a valid question why a reader would go for Natures Numbers, when Lifes 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 Stewarts 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 didnt care, Natures Numbers could be the book for you.
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