LEADER 04404nam 22006615 450 001 9910300556803321 005 20230905064701.0 010 $a3-319-71350-7 024 7 $a10.1007/978-3-319-71350-2 035 $a(CKB)4100000001795135 035 $a(DE-He213)978-3-319-71350-2 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC5217714 035 $a(PPN)223958077 035 $a(EXLCZ)994100000001795135 100 $a20180110d2018 u| 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurnn|008mamaa 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aClash of Symbols $eA ride through the riches of glyphs /$fby Stephen Webb 205 $a1st ed. 2018. 210 1$aCham :$cSpringer International Publishing :$cImprint: Springer,$d2018. 215 $a1 online resource (IX, 245 p. 45 illus.) 311 $a3-319-71349-3 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aIntroduction -- Character sketches -- Signs of the times -- Signs and wonders -- It?s Greek to me -- Meaningless marks on paper -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index. 330 $aFrom the ampersat and amerpsand, via smileys and runes to the ubiquitous presence of mathematical and other symbols in sciences and technology: both old and modern documents abound with many familiar as well as lesser known characters, symbols and other glyphs. Yet, who would be readily able to answer any question like: ?who chose ? to represent the ratio of a circle?s diameter to its circumference?? or ?what?s the reasoning behind having a ? key on my computer keyboard??  This book is precisely for those who have always asked themselves this sort of questions. So, here are the stories behind one hundred glyphs, the book being evenly divided into five parts, with each featuring 20 symbols. Part 1, called Character sketches, looks at some of the glyphs we use in writing. Part 2, called Signs of the times, discusses some glyphs used in pol­itics, religion, and other areas of everyday life. Some of these symbols are common; others are used only rarely. Some are modern inventions; others, which seem contemporary, can be traced back many hundreds of years. Part 3, called Signs and wonders, explores some of the symbols people have developed for use in describing the heavens. These are some of the most visually striking glyphs in the book, and many of them date back to ancient times. Nevertheless their use ? at least in professional arenas ? is diminishing. Part 4, called It?s Greek to me, examines some symbols used in various branches of science. A number of these symbols are employed routinely by professional scientists and are also familiar to the general public; others are no longer applied in a serious fashion by anyone ? but the reader might still meet them, from time to time, in older works. The final part of the book, Meaningless marks on paper, looks at some of the characters used in mathematics, the history of which one can easily appreciate with only a basic knowledge of mathematics. There are obviously countless others symbols. In recent years the computing industry has devel­oped Unicode and it currently contains more than 135 000 entries. This book would like to encourage the curious reader to take a stroll through Unicode, to meet many characters that will delight the eye and, researching their history, to gain some fascinating insights. 606 $aPhysics 606 $aAstronomy 606 $aMathematics 606 $aEngineering 606 $aArts 606 $aComputer science 606 $aPhysics and Astronomy 606 $aAstronomy, Cosmology and Space Sciences 606 $aMathematics 606 $aTechnology and Engineering 606 $aArts 606 $aComputer Science 615 0$aPhysics. 615 0$aAstronomy. 615 0$aMathematics. 615 0$aEngineering. 615 0$aArts. 615 0$aComputer science. 615 14$aPhysics and Astronomy. 615 24$aAstronomy, Cosmology and Space Sciences. 615 24$aMathematics. 615 24$aTechnology and Engineering. 615 24$aArts. 615 24$aComputer Science. 676 $a530 700 $aWebb$b Stephen$4aut$4http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/aut$062569 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910300556803321 996 $aClash of Symbols$92547350 997 $aUNINA