Log24

Monday, September 24, 2018

Mathematics as Art

Filed under: General — m759 @ 8:45 am

[Revised throughout the day on Sept. 24, 2018.]

"Mathematics may be art, but to the general public it is
a black art, more akin to magic and mystery. This presents
a constant challenge to the mathematical community: to explain
how art fits into our subject and what we mean by beauty."

— Sir Michael Atiyah, quoted here on April 4, 2016

Atiyah's remarks today on the Riemann hypothesis, based on his earlier
remarks on "arithmetic physics" and α, the fine-structure constant,
seem to exemplify the "magic and mystery" approach.

From some previous Log24 posts —

AMS on 'mathematics, magic, and mystery,' April 2014

MAA on 'mathematics, magic, and mystery,' April 2014

Update of 6:06 PM ET the same day —

https://twitter.com/mpoessel/status/1044131977950109696 —

For related magic and mystery, see Log24 posts tagged on090405.

Friday, April 13, 2018

Mathmagic Land

Filed under: General — Tags: — m759 @ 5:45 pm

Continued from yesterday.

From Log24 on July 24, 2014 —

Later . . .

"Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?"

Manil Suri?

See also The Abacus Conundrum.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Death in Mathmagic Land

Filed under: General — Tags: , , — m759 @ 11:29 am

(Continued from May 14, 2014.)

See also consciousness growth and the previous post.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Death in Mathmagic Land

Filed under: General — Tags: , — m759 @ 3:28 pm

"It was our old friend Pythagoras who discovered
that the pentagram was full of mathematics."

— Narrator, "Donald in Mathmagic Land," Disney, 1959

… and it was Peter J. Cameron who discovered that
mathematics was full of pentagrams.

From Log24 on May 3:  Gray Space —

Robert J. Stewart (left) and a pentagram photo posted May 2
by Oslo artist Josefine Lyche. See also Lyche in this journal.

From Log24 on May 13:  An Artist's Memorial —

The death mentioned in the above May 13 post occurred on
May 12, the date of a scheduled Black Mass at Harvard.

Related material:

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Gray Space

Filed under: General,Geometry — Tags: — m759 @ 9:00 am

Or: Three Shades of Gray

(Continued from previous Gray Space posts.)

Cube subdivided into 8 subcubes by planes through the center

Click the above image for some related mathematics.

Those who prefer “magic” approaches to mathematics*
may consult the works of Robert J. Stewart and his
mentor William G. Gray.

Robert J. Stewart (left) and a pentagram photo posted yesterday evening
by Oslo artist Josefine Lyche. See also Lyche in this journal.

* See the April 2014 banners displayed at the websites
of the American Mathematical Society and of  the
Mathematical Association of America, as well as
a mathematician’s remarks linked to here last evening.

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