Life By the Numbers

Keith Devlin

Description

Why do leopards grow spots when tigers grow stripes? Is the universe round, square, or some other shape? How do the dimples in a golf ball give it greater lift? Is there such a thing as a public mood? If so, how can we accurately take its pulse?

Only one tool of the human mind has the power and versatility to answer so many questions about our world—mathematics. Far from a musty set of equations and proofs, mathematics is a vital and creative way of thinking and seeing. It is the most powerful means we have of exploring our world and how it works, from the darkest depths of the oceans to the faintest glimmers of far-away galaxies, and from the aerodynamics of figure-skating jumps to the shadows of the fourth dimension.

In this captivating companion to the landmark PBS series Life by the Numbers, acclaimed author Keith Devlin reveals the astonishing range of creative and powerful ways in which scientists, artists, athletes, medical researchers, and many others are using mathematics to explore our world and to enhance our lives.

On this exhilarating tour you will explore deep-sea volcanoes with oceanographer Dawn Wright, go behind the scenes of blockbuster movies with special-effects designer Doug Trumbull, and probe the strange lives of viruses with microbiologist Sylvia Spengler. Listen to astronomer Robert Kirshner describe how he is charting the curve of space; discover how biologist Mike Labarbara visualizes the way a Tyrannosaurus rex carried its massive frame; and, along with brain researcher Brad Hatfield, peer into the mind of an Olympic markswoman at the moment she takes a shot. Glimpse a future of wearable computers and silicon "butlers" with computer scientist Pattie Maes, and watch a lilac come to life on screen with "computer botanist" Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz.

Lavishly illustrated and beautifully written, Life by the Numbers brings mathematical exploration and invention to life through the stories of some of the most creative practitioners of the art. It imparts an appreciation of the ingenuity and the sheer fun of seeing our world through mathematical eyes.

Sujets

• Sciences et techniques
• General officer
• Mathematics
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 17 mars 1999
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780471672999
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Life by the Numbers

This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 1998 by John Wiley Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc.
Published simultaneously in Canada
Design by Howard Grossman
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 03923, [phone], fax [phone]. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 605 Third Avenue. New York, NY 10158-0012, [phone], fax [phone], E-Mail: PERMREQ @ WILEY.COM.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Devlin, Keith J.
Life by the numbers / Keith Devlin.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-471-32822-3
1. Mathematics-Popular works. 2. Life by the numbers (Television program) I. Title. QA93.D458 1998
510-dc21
97-41059
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
PREFACE

Chapter 1
THE INVISIBLE UNIVERSE

Chapter 2
SEEING IS BELIEVING

Chapter 3
PATTERNS OF NATURE

Chapter 4
THE NUMBERS GAME

Chapter 5
THE SHAPE OF THE WORLD

Chapter 6
CHANCES OF A LIFETIME

Chapter 7
A NEW AGE

Chapter 8
IT S AN M WORLD
FURTHER READING
CREDITS
INDEX
Preface
Based on the television series by the same name, this is a book about everyday life and the role played in everyday life by mathematics.
It is not a math book. It doesn t set out to show you how to do math. You won t learn much mathematics from this book, and you won t find any formulas or problems anywhere.
But you might well learn that mathematics is not at all what you thought it was. And you will definitely discover that there is hardly any aspect of your life in which mathematics does not play a significant-though generally hidden-part.
If you think that mathematics has little to do with your life, then this book is for you.
If you think that mathematics is just about numbers, then this book is for you.
If you think that mathematics was all worked out centuries ago, then this book is for you.
If you enjoyed the television series, then this book is for you. You will discover more about mathematics than it was possible to include in the series.
If you missed the television series, then this book is for you. Though based on the series, the book has been written to stand alone.
If you are curious about life-about sports, about entertainment, about art, about music, about gambling, about different kinds of professions, about computers, about animals, about deep sea exploration, about astronomy, about love and marriage, about well, practically anything under (or indeed beyond) the sun-then this book is for you.
As a consultant on the television series, I was involved in some of the work that found its way onto the television screen, as were a number of other series consultants. But the main credit for the series goes to its producers, David Elisco, Joe Seamans, Gina Cantazarite, Mary Rawson, and Randy Quinn. They are the ones who did most of the work in developing the initial themes, carrying out the research, locating the appropriate film stock, and recording the many hours of on-camera interviews. By making available to me the rough-cut tapes of the programs and the transcripts of all the original interviews, they made my work as author of this book far easier than would otherwise have been the case.
As anyone who has seen the television series will know, the series producers did a marvelous job of bringing onto the screen a fascinating group of individuals, from all walks of life. Viewing the tapes and reading the transcripts, I decided that, in writing this book, I would try as much as possible to let those individuals speak for themselves-and for mathematics.
Of course, books and television are different media, so there are ways in which the book and the series differ. To make it possible for people to use the book to supplement the series or vice versa, I organized the book in chapters corresponding to the episodes of the series, using the same titles for my chapters that the producers did for the episodes of the series. I added an introductory chapter to set the scene for the rest of the book and a brief concluding chapter. And I changed the order of the chapters a little from the order in which the series was broadcast to provide better continuity in book form. I was also able to bring out larger themes and connections between different topics than was possible in a television series. But for all that, it remains the book of the series.
While I was consulting on the television series, I was completing my book Goodbye, Descartes for John Wiley Sons. My editor on that book, Emily Loose, was eager all along for the two of us to work together on a new book to accompany the television series. For my part, I had found working with Emily such a positive experience that I was as eager as she to try to secure the book contract for Life by the Numbers, and work together a second time. I am delighted that she was successful, and I hope that our delight shines through in the pages of this book.
Keith Devlin
MORAGA, CALIFORNIA
OCTOBER 1997
Chapter 1

THE INVISIBLE UNIVERSE

For many people the mere mention of the word mathematics conjures up memories of complicated rules and dry arithmetic drills. But the truth is that mathematics as it is practiced by a remarkable range of people-from undersea explorers to special-effects designers-is creative, fun, full of vitality, and, above all, about life.

The patterns of mathematics are found all around us, from the smallest particles to the farthest reaches of the universe, as in the symmetrical rings of this supernova explosion.
The erules and the procedures learned in school are merely the tools you need to do real mathematics. Mathematics-real mathematics-is about trying to understand ourselves and the world we live in. Mathematicians take their inspiration from a surprising range of sources-questions about the origin of the universe, sports, or even children s stories. They use mathematics to investigate things that the eye cannot see, from the ocean deeps to the interiors of the stars. They develop methods to help in the fight against killer viruses, and they let us look inside the human mind. They use mathematics to map out our world and the cosmos, to help us to understand how trees and flowers grow, and to create new worlds-for entertainment and for exploration.
This book is not about the often dull and tedious mechanical aspects of mathematics. It s about the exciting things that can be done with mathematics. It s about things that we take for granted that would never exist without mathematics. It s about life. It s about trying to find answers to questions so simple that only a child would ask them.
When I m walking in the woods, I find it quite difficult not to look at a fern or the bark of a tree and wonder how it was formed-why is it like that?
JAMES MURRAY
mathematician
HOW DOES THE LEOPARD GET ITS SPOTS?
For James Murray, it all began in the 1960s, when he was reading his daughter a bedtime story: How the Leopard Got Its Spots, by Rudyard Kipling. In the story, an Ethiopian tribesman touches five fingers, drawn close together, all over the back of a leopard, and wherever his five fingers touch they leave five little spots in a cluster. Forever after, this beautiful arrangement of spots became the leopard s distinctive marking.
Murray s daughter loved the story. There was just one thing she wanted to know: How does the leopard really get its spots? Murray did not have the answer, but he told her he would find out. As a mathematician at the University of Oxford in England, he knew plenty of top-class biologists. He would ask one of them.

The five fingers marking of the leopard can be seen on the back of this leopard lounging in a tree.
Great coaching and good intentions are not worth anything unless the goal is correct. The mathematical analysis is like turning on a light in a dark room.
KATHY CASEY
U.S. Olympic figure skating coach
He did just that. But to his surprise, none of them could answer his question. They knew that any coloration of an animal s coat is caused by a chemical called melanin, which is produced by cells just beneath the surface of the skin. It s the same chemical that makes fair-skinned people develop a tan when they are exposed to the sun. But why spots? Science did not have an explanation. As Murray discovered, no one knew how the leopard gets its spots. Or how the tiger gets its stripes. Or the zebra.
His curiosity aroused, Murray decided to try to find out for himself. It took him over twenty years. Today he has drafted his own, scientific version of Kipling s bedtime story, written in the language of mathematics.
HOW DO SKATERS PERFORM A TRIPLE AXEL?
Shelby Lyons and Damon Allen are two young skaters who share the same dream: they both want to win gold medals in the Olympic Games. Working with them at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, coach Kathy Casey is trying to help them achieve their dream. To do that, she has to figure out how to make the 200 bones, 600 muscles, and almost 100 joints of the human body work together to defy gra