LEADER 04374nam 2200661 a 450 001 9910781570803321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-283-33990-0 010 $a9786613339904 010 $a1-4008-4151-8 024 7 $a10.1515/9781400841516 035 $a(CKB)2550000000065918 035 $a(EBL)804870 035 $a(OCoLC)769342158 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000643282 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11446624 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000643282 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10670094 035 $a(PQKB)11349518 035 $a(DE-B1597)447254 035 $a(OCoLC)1054875797 035 $a(OCoLC)979954397 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781400841516 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL804870 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10514785 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL333990 035 $a(OCoLC)774285469 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC804870 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000065918 100 $a20010501d2002 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe Zen of magic squares, circles, and stars$b[electronic resource] $ean exhibition of surprising structures across dimensions /$fClifford A. Pickover 205 $aCore Textbook 210 $aPrinceton, N.J. $cPrinceton University Press$dc2002 215 $a1 online resource (426 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-691-07041-5 311 $a0-691-11597-4 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $t Frontmatter -- $tContents -- $tPreface -- $tAcknowledgments -- $tIntroduction -- $tCHAPTER ONE. Magic Construction -- $tCHAPTER TWO. Classification -- $tCHAPTER THREE. Gallery 1: Squares, Cubes, and Tesseracts -- $tCHAPTER FOUR. Gallery 2: Circles and Spheres -- $tCHAPTER FIVE. Gallery 3: Stars, Hexagons, and Other Beauties -- $tSome Final Thoughts -- $tNotes -- $tIndex -- $tAbout the Author 330 $aHumanity's love affair with mathematics and mysticism reached a critical juncture, legend has it, on the back of a turtle in ancient China. As Clifford Pickover briefly recounts in this enthralling book, the most comprehensive in decades on magic squares, Emperor Yu was supposedly strolling along the Yellow River one day around 2200 B.C. when he spotted the creature: its shell had a series of dots within squares. To Yu's amazement, each row of squares contained fifteen dots, as did the columns and diagonals. When he added any two cells opposite along a line through the center square, like 2 and 8, he always arrived at 10. The turtle, unwitting inspirer of the ''Yu'' square, went on to a life of courtly comfort and fame. Pickover explains why Chinese emperors, Babylonian astrologer-priests, prehistoric cave people in France, and ancient Mayans of the Yucatan were convinced that magic squares--arrays filled with numbers or letters in certain arrangements--held the secret of the universe. Since the dawn of civilization, he writes, humans have invoked such patterns to ward off evil and bring good fortune. Yet who would have guessed that in the twenty-first century, mathematicians would be studying magic squares so immense and in so many dimensions that the objects defy ordinary human contemplation and visualization? Readers are treated to a colorful history of magic squares and similar structures, their construction, and classification along with a remarkable variety of newly discovered objects ranging from ornate inlaid magic cubes to hypercubes. Illustrated examples occur throughout, with some patterns from the author's own experiments. The tesseracts, circles, spheres, and stars that he presents perfectly convey the age-old devotion of the math-minded to this Zenlike quest. Number lovers, puzzle aficionados, and math enthusiasts will treasure this rich and lively encyclopedia of one of the few areas of mathematics where the contributions of even nonspecialists count. 606 $aMagic squares 606 $aMathematical recreations 615 0$aMagic squares. 615 0$aMathematical recreations. 676 $a511/.64 700 $aPickover$b Clifford A$021293 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910781570803321 996 $aThe Zen of magic squares, circles, and stars$93828787 997 $aUNINA