1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910785778703321

Autore

Lockhart Paul

Titolo

Measurement [[electronic resource] /] / Paul Lockhart

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, Mass., : Harvard University Press, c2012

ISBN

0-674-07117-4

0-674-06734-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (407 p. ) : ill

Disciplina

516

Soggetti

Geometry

Mathematical notation

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- CONTENTS -- REALITY AND IMAGINATION -- ON PROBLEMS -- PART ONE. SIZE AND SHAPE -- PART TWO. TIME AND SPACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INDEX

Sommario/riassunto

For seven years, Paul Lockhart's A Mathematician's Lament enjoyed a samizdat-style popularity in the mathematics underground, before demand prompted its 2009 publication to even wider applause and debate. An impassioned critique of K-12 mathematics education, it outlined how we shortchange students by introducing them to math the wrong way. Here Lockhart offers the positive side of the math education story by showing us how math should be done. Measurement offers a permanent solution to math phobia by introducing us to mathematics as an artful way of thinking and living. In conversational prose that conveys his passion for the subject, Lockhart makes mathematics accessible without oversimplifying. He makes no more attempt to hide the challenge of mathematics than he does to shield us from its beautiful intensity. Favoring plain English and pictures over jargon and formulas, he succeeds in making complex ideas about the mathematics of shape and motion intuitive and graspable. His elegant discussion of mathematical reasoning and themes in classical geometry offers proof of his conviction that mathematics illuminates art as much as science. Lockhart leads us into a universe where beautiful designs and patterns float through our minds and do surprising, miraculous



things. As we turn our thoughts to symmetry, circles, cylinders, and cones, we begin to see that almost anyone can "do the math" in a way that brings emotional and aesthetic rewards. Measurement is an invitation to summon curiosity, courage, and creativity in order to experience firsthand the playful excitement of mathematical work.