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The Beauty of Numbers in Nature: Mathematical patterns and principles from the natural world
From a zebra's stripes to a spider's web, from sand dunes to snowflakes, nature is full of patterns underlaid by mathematical principles. In The Beauty of Numbers in Nature, Ian Stewart shows how life forms from the principles of mathematics. Each chapter in The Beauty of Numbers in Nature explores a different kind of patterning system and its mathematical underpinnings. In doing do, the book also uncovers some universal patterns -- both in nature and made by humans -- from the basic geometry of ancient Greece to the complexities of fractals.
Stewart draws on a wide range of sources to examine the mathematics of patterns: the Pythagoreans' obsession with numbers as the philosophical basis of the universe; a great mathematician who wondered about how a violin makes music; a clerk in a patent office who realized that space and time can get mixed together; a maverick mathematician who questioned why nature spurns such regular geometric shapes as spheres and cylinders in favor of jagged lightning bolts, asymmetrically branching trees, and the uneven terrain of mountainsides.
The book begins with a simple and often-asked question about the shape and individual uniqueness of snowflakes. How can such a strange mixture of regularity and irregularity exist in a tiny bit of frozen water? By the end of the book, readers will have learned that mathematical patterns can come in many guises, some of which don't resemble patterns at all.
Stewart draws on a wide range of sources to examine the mathematics of patterns: the Pythagoreans' obsession with numbers as the philosophical basis of the universe; a great mathematician who wondered about how a violin makes music; a clerk in a patent office who realized that space and time can get mixed together; a maverick mathematician who questioned why nature spurns such regular geometric shapes as spheres and cylinders in favor of jagged lightning bolts, asymmetrically branching trees, and the uneven terrain of mountainsides.
The book begins with a simple and often-asked question about the shape and individual uniqueness of snowflakes. How can such a strange mixture of regularity and irregularity exist in a tiny bit of frozen water? By the end of the book, readers will have learned that mathematical patterns can come in many guises, some of which don't resemble patterns at all.
224 pages, Paperback
Published April 6, 2017
13 people are currently reading
427 people want to read
About the author
Ian Stewart
263 books743 followersIan Nicholas Stewart is an Emeritus Professor and Digital Media Fellow in the Mathematics Department at Warwick University, with special responsibility for public awareness of mathematics and science. He is best known for his popular science writing on mathematical themes.
--from the author's website
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.
--from the author's website
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See other authors with similar names.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 18, 2018
That beauty and math are interrelated was not something that occurred to me, but this book helped me to see that relationship. I will admit that it took me a long time to complete the book, and for a long time I was not at all sure where Stewart was going in the book as we explored math, geometry, physics and the universe - all to consider the shape of a snowflake. But he does tie it all together in the end. Stewart is not enamored with a Creator or spirituality as I am. I confess my old brain had a hard time remembering the various scientific and math terms he uses continually. But in the end I really liked the book, its scope, its tenets and its conclusions. It is a fascinating universe.
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August 20, 2021Reading this book alongside another book, " The Secret Network of Nature" by Peter Wohlleben. Both books are about the amazing yet un-noticed linkages in the world that we live in.
While the book by Wohlleben is story telling thus easier to read, this book by Ian Stewart, has loads of facts to digest. "Beauty of Numbers in Nature" is more of a reference book as there are terms, definitions and historical linkages that I had to stop and check their meanings before proceeding.
Though filled with lots of theories and formulae, the book gives understanding to very practical questions like, "What is the best fit to pack round oranges into a box? (Hint - learn from bees and honeycombs).
But came away rewarded with a fresh admiration for why the double rainbow has colours in opposite direction. Centipedes and millipedes are "pedes" but they walk differently and at different speeds.
One Dimensional symmetry, Mirror symmetry , Rotational symmetry - read about the patterns in DNA, the dynamic pattens in microscopic cells to the spatial patterns in the celestials where our sun takes 240 million light years to revolve around the centre of our galaxy. Then come back on earth and uncover why a raindrop that hits a puddle creates a crown shaped pattern.
So many amazing networks - each pattern worthy of a wonderful TV documentary - and then the grand theme of the book- look at a snow fake, see the symmetry and scale that up to behold the stars . Alas - there is no snow where I live but there are the starry skies to admire.
Both books are good information for readers to think about biological solutions for our climate change ravaged world .
While the book by Wohlleben is story telling thus easier to read, this book by Ian Stewart, has loads of facts to digest. "Beauty of Numbers in Nature" is more of a reference book as there are terms, definitions and historical linkages that I had to stop and check their meanings before proceeding.
Though filled with lots of theories and formulae, the book gives understanding to very practical questions like, "What is the best fit to pack round oranges into a box? (Hint - learn from bees and honeycombs).
But came away rewarded with a fresh admiration for why the double rainbow has colours in opposite direction. Centipedes and millipedes are "pedes" but they walk differently and at different speeds.
One Dimensional symmetry, Mirror symmetry , Rotational symmetry - read about the patterns in DNA, the dynamic pattens in microscopic cells to the spatial patterns in the celestials where our sun takes 240 million light years to revolve around the centre of our galaxy. Then come back on earth and uncover why a raindrop that hits a puddle creates a crown shaped pattern.
So many amazing networks - each pattern worthy of a wonderful TV documentary - and then the grand theme of the book- look at a snow fake, see the symmetry and scale that up to behold the stars . Alas - there is no snow where I live but there are the starry skies to admire.
Both books are good information for readers to think about biological solutions for our climate change ravaged world .
October 22, 2024
The book is a great reminder for how beautiful and fascinating the world around us is. The descriptions are super easy to follow and the book contains many high quality figures and pictures. It’s a great book for a coffee table: you don’t have to read it in one go, and you can jump back and forth in whatever way you want to.
January 4, 2023
Lots of interesting facts and pictures, but the author is not a good writer so sometimes difficult to follow and too dry. Quite bitty in that each theme takes up on average 2 pages - would be a good book to leave in a posh waiting room.
August 7, 2018
This is like a textbook so it took me 5ever to finish. Dry but also interesting? Lots of cool pictures but not nearly as many cool pictures as another, similar book I've read on this topic.
May 4, 2020
Lovely book but slightly heavy on the science
July 16, 2021
I couldn’t finish this book. Got about half way through in two months. Then gave up. It is way too dry, way too scientific, way beyond me.
October 21, 2023
More nature than numbers, which is good if you're not overly math-minded. Interesting nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews