Book Description:
What is mathematics about? Is there a mathematical universe glimpsed by a mathematical intuition? Or is mathematics an arbitrary game of symbols, with no inherent meaning, that somehow finds application to life on earth? Robert Knapp holds, on the contrary, that mathematics is about the world. His book develops and applies its alternative viewpoint, first, to elementary geometry and the number system and, then, to more advanced topics, such as topology and group representations. Its theme is that mathematics, however abstract, arises from and is shaped by requirements of indirect measurement. Eratosthenes, in 200 BC, demonstrated the power of indirect measurement when he estimated the circumference of the earth by measuring a shadow at noon, in Alexandria, on the day of the summer solstice. Establishing geometric relationships, solving equations, finding approximations, and, generally, discovering quantitative relationships are tools of indirect measurement: They are the core of mathematics, the drivers of its development, and the heart of its power to enhance our lives.
About the Author:
Robert Knapp earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University in 1972. He has published work on differential geometry and partial differential equations, and, after a year at the Insitute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, taught graduate and undergraduate mathematics at Purdue University. His study and appreciation of abstract mathematics began in high school and his conviction that mathematics, including abstract mathematics, is about the world began then, as well. Although he retired from the profession in the late 1970s, his study of the content, history and application of mathematics continues to this day. In recent years he has presented his unique perspectives on geometry and the number system in a series of lectures at Objectivist Summer Conferences organized by the Ayn Rand Institute. He has lived in the Philadelphia area for almost 30 years.
mathematics is about the world by Robert E Knapp 