- Hardcover: 416 pages
- Publisher: Princeton University Press; 1 edition (Nov 10 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0691114293
- ISBN-13: 978-0691114293
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.2 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 739 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,703,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
Read for pleasure and instruction by the select laity who are not afraid of reading between the lines of equations.
(Philip J. Davis SIAM News )
One surprising example after another of how mathematics can be used to explain natural phenomena. And what examples!
(Steven Morics MAA Online )
One of the best contemporary texts on the subject, appealing to a very broad audience.
(Yuri V. Rogovchenko Zentralblatt Math (European Mathematical Society) )
John Adam's quest is a very simple one: to invite one to look around and observe the wonders of nature.
(Brian D. Sleeman Notices of the American Mathematical Association )
Reading this book progressively creates a course in mathematical modeling built around familiar, tangible, human-scale examples.
(Choice )
(Philip J. Davis SIAM News )
One surprising example after another of how mathematics can be used to explain natural phenomena. And what examples!
(Steven Morics MAA Online )
One of the best contemporary texts on the subject, appealing to a very broad audience.
(Yuri V. Rogovchenko Zentralblatt Math (European Mathematical Society) )
John Adam's quest is a very simple one: to invite one to look around and observe the wonders of nature.
(Brian D. Sleeman Notices of the American Mathematical Association )
Reading this book progressively creates a course in mathematical modeling built around familiar, tangible, human-scale examples.
(Choice )
Review
Have you wondered how rainbows or sand dunes form? Does it puzzle you why drying mud forms polygonally shaped cracks? Can you explain the patterns on a butterfly's wings or how birds fly? In this delightful book, John Adam invites us to question and to share his enthusiasm for developing mathematical models to explore a wide range of everyday natural phenomena. Mathematics in Nature can be used as a text on mathematical modeling or as a book to dip into and encourage us to observe and wonder at the beauty of nature. It has the potential of becoming a classic.
(Brian Sleeman, University of Leeds )
(Brian Sleeman, University of Leeds )
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
In recent years, as I have walked daily to and from work, I have started to train myself to observe the sky, the birds, butterflies, trees, and flowers, something I had not done previously in a conscious way (although I did watch out for fast-moving cars and unfriendly dogs). Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In recent years, as I have walked daily to and from work, I have started to train myself to observe the sky, the birds, butterflies, trees, and flowers, something I had not done previously in a conscious way (although I did watch out for fast-moving cars and unfriendly dogs). Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Seeing beauty through numbers,
By
This review is from: Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World (Hardcover)
For those of us who admire nature and see it as a product of processes both beautiful and rational, Adam's book is the perfect bedside long-termer for anyone more than casually interested in math or the intricate patterns in nature.This book is chock full of ponderous examples of mathematical simplicity and complexity in nature, and reading it I was constantly reading only one topic and then putting the book down for days to think about and tinker with the question myself. Good pictures, solid math (I prefer clean, modelistic equations to numerical approximations anyday), and a charming, conversational writing style make this book highly readable and highly inspiring in the way it makes you reexamine your perception of nature as unintegrated or inelegant. The very repetition of mathematical themes throughout nature - such as the omnipresent Golden Ration - proves otherwise. For me, this is staying on my "constantly referenced" shelf.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent,
By David (NJ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World (Hardcover)
I disagree strongly with the previous reviewer. The book is well presented, with some lovely photos, and is nicely produced and attractive. The actual content of the book is equally good. Some of the material is familiar, but the author always seems to take a good fresh look at these topics so I still enjoyed them. There was some new material too, which I particularly enjoyed. This is an excellent book, and I hope that the negative review on Amazon will not discourage potential readers from buying a copy.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
the biblical quotes are indeed quite annoying,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World (Hardcover)
In a book about mathematical biology, you would hope that you would get less than one biblical quote per chapter. This book does not satisfy. I have to agree with a previous reviewer that the biblical quotes in this book get increasingly annoying. They spoil what would be a nice introductory review.
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