| Title:
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INDRA'S PEARLS
THE VISION OF FELIX KLEIN |
| By: |
David Mumford, Caroline Series, David Wright |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| List price:
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£80.00 |
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| ISBN 10: |
0521352533 |
| ISBN 13: |
9780521352536 |
| Publisher: |
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS |
| Pub. date: |
25 April, 2002 |
| Pages: |
418 |
| Description: |
This book tells the story of the first computer exploration of Klein's vision of infinitely repeated reflections, featuring extraordinary images. |
| Synopsis: |
Felix Klein, one of the great nineteenth-century geometers, discovered in mathematics an idea prefigured in Buddhist mythology: the heaven of Indra contained a net of pearls, each of which was reflected in its neighbour, so that the whole Universe was mirrored in each pearl. Klein studied infinitely repeated reflections and was led to forms with multiple coexisting symmetries. For a century, these images barely existed outside the imagination of mathematicians. However, in the 1980s, the authors embarked on the first computer exploration of Klein's vision, and in doing so found many further extraordinary images. Join the authors on the path from basic mathematical ideas to the simple algorithms that create the delicate fractal filigrees, most of which have never appeared in print before. Beginners can follow the step-by-step instructions for writing programs that generate the images. Others can see how the images relate to ideas at the forefront of research. |
| Illustrations: |
55 b/w illus. 150 colour illus. 75 exercises |
| Publication: |
UK |
| Imprint: |
Cambridge University Press |
| Returns: |
Returnable |