Mathematics and the Aesthetic: New Approaches to an Ancient Affinity Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2007 Edition

From the reviews:

“The essays in this book represent diverse reflections on attempts to ground the aesthetics that operate within mathematical practice and to account for their origins. … Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates; faculty.” (D. V. Feldman, CHOICE, Vol. 44 (11), July, 2007)

“Mathematics and the Aesthetic is a heavy book. I mean this in the literal sense: at 288 pages, it weighs 721 grams. … high-quality paper is matched by a sense of attention to detail throughout. The color pictures are … well presented; the text is easy to read. … Enter Sinclair, Pimm, and Higginson. … assembled a group of scholars with diverse academic credentials: philosophers, math educators, and (yes) research mathematicians. … Mathematics and the Aesthetic is a thoughtful collection of essays … .” (Annalisa Crannell, Notices of the AMS, Vol. 56 (2), February, 2010)

The essays in this book explore the ancient affinity between the mathematical and the aesthetic, focusing on the fundamental connections between these two modes of reasoning and communicating. From historical, philosophical and psychological perspectives, with particular attention to certain mathematical areas such as geometry and analysis, the authors examine the ways in which the aesthetic is ever present in mathematical thinking and contributes to the growth and value of mathematical knowledge.

This book includes the following essays:

• A Historical Gaze at the Mathematical Aesthetic, by Nathalie Sinclair and David Pimm

• Aesthetics for the Working Mathematician, by Jonathan M. Borwein

• Beauty and Truth in Mathematics, by Doris Schattschneider

• Experiencing Meanings in Geometry, by David W. Henderson and Daina Taimina

• The Aesthetic Sensibilities of Mathematicians, by Nathalie Sinclair

• The Meaning of Pattern, by Martin Schiralli

• Mathematics, Aesthetics and Being Human, by William Higginson

• Mechanism and Magic in the Psychology of Dynamic Geometry, by R. Nicholas Jackiw

• Drawing on the Image in Mathematics and Art, by David Pimm

• Sensible Objects, by Dick Tahta

• Aesthetics and the ‘Mathematical Mind’, by David Pimm and Nathalie Sinclair