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Serge A. Lang
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The Beauty of Doing Mathematics: Three Public Dialogues 1985th Edition

by Serge Lang (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2 ratings
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If someone told you that mathematics is quite beautiful, you might be surprised. But you should know that some people do mathematics all their lives, and create mathematics, just as a composer creates music. Usually, every time a mathematician solves a problem, this gives rise to many oth­ ers, new and just as beautiful as the one which was solved. Of course, often these problems are quite difficult, and as in other disciplines can be understood only by those who have studied the subject with some depth, and know the subject well. In 1981, Jean Brette, who is responsible for the Mathematics Section of the Palais de la Decouverte (Science Museum) in Paris, invited me to give a conference at the Palais. I had never given such a conference before, to a non-mathematical public. Here was a challenge: could I communicate to such a Saturday afternoon audience what it means to do mathematics, and why one does mathematics? By "mathematics" I mean pure mathematics. This doesn't mean that pure math is better than other types of math, but I and a number of others do pure mathematics, and it's about them that I am now concerned. Math has a bad reputation, stemming from the most elementary levels. The word is in fact used in many different contexts. First, I had to explain briefly these possible contexts, and the one with which I wanted to deal.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0387961496
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0387961491
  3. Edition
    1985th
  4. Publisher
    Springer
  5. Publication date
    September 4, 1985
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.1 x 0.33 x 9.25 inches
  8. Print length
    144 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This book contains the faithful transcriptions of these three mathematical dialogues. Lang's foal was to communicate something of the true nature and beauty of mathematical thought and, as one can see from the enthusiasm of audience, he was quite successful. The three topics (Prime Numbers, Diophantine Equations, and Great Problems in the Geometry of Space) are covered in lively and informal style.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Springer; 1985th edition (September 4, 1985)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0387961496
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0387961491
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 0.33 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 2 ratings

About the author

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Serge A. Lang

Serge A. Lang

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Serge Lang (French: [lɑ̃ɡ]; May 19, 1927 – September 12, 2005) was a French-born American mathematician. He is known for his work in number theory and for his mathematics textbooks, including the influential Algebra. He was a member of the Bourbaki group.

Lang was born in Paris in 1927, and moved with his family to California as a teenager, where he graduated in 1943 from Beverly Hills High School. He subsequently graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 1946, and received a doctorate from Princeton University in 1951. He held faculty positions at the University of Chicago and Columbia University (from 1955, leaving in 1971 in a dispute). At the time of his death he was professor emeritus of mathematics at Yale University.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Bogdan Oporowski at English Wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
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2 global ratings

Top review from the United States

true1987
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but not great...
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2001
This is another book from the famous Yale math professor, Serge Lang. However, this isn't a textbook - it's a collection of 3 dialogues Lang gave in Paris in the 80s.
Certainly the discussions are very interesting. The interactions between Lang and the audience, comprimising mostly 'ordinary' people but also high-school and college students, set this book apart from a textbook. Lang does a fairly good job at covering the material (relating to primes, Diophantine equations, and a bit of geometry/topology) and explaining it to the non-mathematically-inclined. Of course, with this come problems - Lang only skims over the material and much of what he says is not supported by proof.
If you would like an interesting read, I would recommend this book. However, if you would actually like to learn something about Goldbach's conjecture or elliptic curves, (first and second dialogues, respectively) a textbook or book dedicated to the subject is a much better source. To compare it to an everyday situation: if you had a conversation with friends, and taped and transcribed it - reading it certainly may be interesting, but not very informative.
However, if you like material like this - I suggest you also search for "Martin Gardner" here on amazon.com; he's an excellent author for those not deeply involved with math (and even those who are).
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なおのも
5.0 out of 5 stars 数学講義
Reviewed in Japan on August 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
生の講義を聴きに行ったような気分になれる良書です。
多様体に興味が持てました。
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