Ajitabh Pandey's Soul & Syntax

Exploring systems, souls, and stories – one post at a time

Tag: mathematics

  • Fermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh

    Fermat's Last Theorem Book CoverFermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh is not a book which details out the proof. The actual proof manuscript by Andrew Wiles is 200 pages long and consists of beautiful blend of mathematical concepts with modern mathematics.

    Simon Singh has very beautifully explained the various approaches and attempts made to prove this theorem by mathematicians for over 350 years. She has step by step taken the reader to the times preceding the Fermat’s time, to the time of Pythagoras, wherein lies the roots of this theorem. In this process she has taken us through brief life, time and works of various mathematicians whose work proved valuable in order for Andrew Wiles to proof this theorem.

    The book is written in a very interesting and catching style and surprisingly does not include any complex mathematics. And hence a person with basic high school understanding of mathematics can understand and grasp the concepts in this book.

    A must read for any mathematics fan.

  • The Nothing That Is – A Natural History of Zero

    The Nothing That Is - A Natural History of Zero ImageI bought this book from Berkley during one of my visits to San Fransisco. Robert Kaplan has done some good amount of research and have tracked the evolution of some of the fundamental concepts on which modern science and mathematics is based. Zero, a number which itself does not means anything but together with other numbers means a lot. The history of zero has been tracked to ancient Indian number systems where it was called as “shoonya”. It is unfortunate that the invention of zero in India could not be effectively proved since ancient Indians believed in passing knowledge by means of oral lectures and through very concise and crisp Sanskrit versus across generations. The concept of written manuscripts in India came much later and that too most of it is now lost. However, Kaplan has proved that a very advanced level of mathematics existed in India much before all that was rediscovered by the west by quoting various references from the Budhist era which is few centuries BCE.

    The best part about this book is that any high school level student can easily read and understand it as it does not use any advanced mathematical concepts.