Mathematics and Culture I

Research and Teaching in Mathematics: Conflict or Synthesis?- The Discovery and Application of Linear and Nonlinear Programming.- Italian Mathematics, Fascism and Racial Policy.- Mathematics and Facism. The Case of Berlin.- Mathematics and Culture in Russia.- Economists and Mathematics from 1494 to 1969 - Beyond the art of numeracy.- Who Said that a Mathematician Cannot Win the Nobel Prize?- From Space as Container to Space as Web.- Irrational Geometry.- Moebius Strip: From Art to Cinema.- A few Reflections on the Creation of "Moebius".- Some Organising Principles.- A Museum of Mathematics: How, Why and Where.- Pop maths all around the world.- The Mathemagical Mystery Tour: Maths in the Malls.- From Galilee to Galileo.- Mathematical Visualization and Online Experiments.- Prime Numbers and Cryptography.- Homage to Venice.- Essentiality of Mathematics for Bayesian Environmental Forecasting.- Venice-Maths.- Santa Margherita.- Mathematics & Cultures, Mathematics & Musics: a Model for Bronze Instruments.- Numbers in Asian Music.- Mathematics, Clinical Decisions and Public Health.- The Radon Transform and its Applications in Medicine.- Risk Analysis for Liver Surgery.

From the reviews:

"[...] The articles are written by scientists and by artists, musicians, film-makers and architects as well and can in general be followed easily by non-mathematicians. Therefore the book can be recommended for anyone who wants to look closer at the cultural importance of mathematics."

G.Kowol, Monatshefte für Mathematik 146, Issue 4, 2005

[...] The essays in Mathematics and Culture I, too numerous to survey here, show an even broader reach. Although some address predictable topics, e.g., mathematics and economics, technology and medicine, others make unique contributions concerning the impact of mathemaics on culture. [...]  Summing up: recommended for upper-division undergraduates through faculty."

D.V.Feldman, Choice, November 2004, Vol. 42, No. 3

"[...] Viele Beiträge geben Einsichten, die in der heute durchaus lebhaften Diskussion über Mathematik als kulturelle Errungenschaft nicht im Zentrum stehen, sodass dieser Band eine sehr willkommene Ergänzung darstellt."

F. Schweiger, Internationale Mathematische Nachrichten, 2004, Issue 197, 32-33

"That mathematics has a great impact on all aspects of society and vice versa, is obvious, but it is rarely seen that mathematicians lecture about social issues or that artists lecture about the impact of mathematics on their art. This book gives a cross section of all this. Each of the 27 contributions, grouped in 11 chapters are warmly recommended reading. ... In summary: a delight to be read by any mathematician ... . Buy it! Read it!

Adhemar Bultheel, Bulletin of the Belgian Mathematical Society, Vol. 12 (3), 2005

"This book stresses the strong links between mathematics and culture, as mathematics links theatre, literature, architecture, art, cinema, medicine but also dance, cartoon and music. The articles introduced here are meant to be interesting and amusing starting points toresearch the strong connection between scientific and literary culture."

Zentralblatt für Didaktik der Mathematik, Mai, 2004