Enlightening Symbols

Author : Joseph Mazur
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 309 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2016-12-06
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 9780691173375

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Enlightening Symbols by Joseph Mazur Pdf

An entertaining look at the origins of mathematical symbols While all of us regularly use basic math symbols such as those for plus, minus, and equals, few of us know that many of these symbols weren't available before the sixteenth century. What did mathematicians rely on for their work before then? And how did mathematical notations evolve into what we know today? In Enlightening Symbols, popular math writer Joseph Mazur explains the fascinating history behind the development of our mathematical notation system. He shows how symbols were used initially, how one symbol replaced another over time, and how written math was conveyed before and after symbols became widely adopted. Traversing mathematical history and the foundations of numerals in different cultures, Mazur looks at how historians have disagreed over the origins of the numerical system for the past two centuries. He follows the transfigurations of algebra from a rhetorical style to a symbolic one, demonstrating that most algebra before the sixteenth century was written in prose or in verse employing the written names of numerals. Mazur also investigates the subconscious and psychological effects that mathematical symbols have had on mathematical thought, moods, meaning, communication, and comprehension. He considers how these symbols influence us (through similarity, association, identity, resemblance, and repeated imagery), how they lead to new ideas by subconscious associations, how they make connections between experience and the unknown, and how they contribute to the communication of basic mathematics. From words to abbreviations to symbols, this book shows how math evolved to the familiar forms we use today.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Serindia Publications, Inc.
Page : 284 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Art
ISBN : 1932476032

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The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols by Anonim Pdf

Based on the author's previous publication The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, this handbook contains an array of symbols and motifs, accompanied by succinct explanations. It provides treatment of the essential Tibetan religious figures, themes and motifs, both secular and religious.

Author : Thomas Cleary
Publisher : Shambhala Publications
Page : 1656 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 1993-10-12
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780834824096

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The Flower Ornament Scripture by Thomas Cleary Pdf

Known in Chinese as Hua-yen and in Japanese as Kegon-kyo, the Avatamsaka Sutra, or Flower Ornament Scripture, is held in the highest regard and studied by Buddhists of all traditions. Through its structure and symbolism, as well as through its concisely stated principles, it conveys a vast range of Buddhist teachings. This one-volume edition contains Thomas Cleary's definitive translation of all thirty-nine books of the sutra, along with an introduction, a glossary, and Cleary's translation of Li Tongxuan's seventh-century guide to the final book, the Gandavyuha, "Entry into the Realm of Reality."

Author : Joseph Mazur
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 285 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2024-06-07
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1400898048

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Enlightening Symbols (eGalley) by Joseph Mazur Pdf

Author : Marilyn L. Kraft
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
Page : 564 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2015-04-02
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781503529922

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The Winged Serpent by Marilyn L. Kraft Pdf

My search for meaning uncovered a secret brain program in charge of moral development. A roadmap to enlightenment comes through the unique language of symbolism that has long been forsaken. This foreign tongue reveals the nature of divinity and truth of existence. It shows us who we really are, not who we think we are. A metaphoric component silently transforms a base consciousness to all-knowing awareness by converting power to love. Success in transforming an animal species to human status comes by attaching an integrated brain to a compassionate heart. Otherwise, life gets nasty as evidenced in bias, prejudice, bigotry, and profiling. Projections of how we feel about ourselves translate into how we treat others. Awakening to reality, after a long slumber in fantasy, is essential to raise our level of consciousness and our degree of self-awareness. A higher mental state is under construction. It needs our help to end the destruction and suffering our blindness causes. Blindness will be lifted by an involuntary change in vision.

Author : Alec Wilkinson
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 219 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2022-07-12
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781250168580

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A Divine Language by Alec Wilkinson Pdf

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "Wilkinson has accomplished something more moving and original, braiding his stumbling attempts to get better at math with his deepening awareness that there’s an entire universe of understanding that will, in some fundamental sense, forever lie outside his reach." —Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times "There is almost no writer I admire as much as I do Alec Wilkinson. His work has enduring brilliance and humanity.” —Susan Orlean, author of The Library Book A spirited, metaphysical exploration into math's deepest mysteries and conundrums at the crux of middle age. Decades after struggling to understand math as a boy, Alec Wilkinson decides to embark on a journey to learn it as a middle-aged man. What begins as a personal challenge—and it's challenging—soon transforms into something greater than a belabored effort to learn math. Despite his incompetence, Wilkinson encounters a universe of unexpected mysteries in his pursuit of mathematical knowledge and quickly becomes fascinated; soon, his exercise in personal growth (and torture) morphs into an intellectually expansive exploration. In A Divine Language, Wilkinson, a contributor to The New Yorker for over forty years, journeys into the heart of the divine aspect of mathematics—its mysteries, challenges, and revelations—since antiquity. As he submits himself to the lure of deep mathematics, he takes the reader through his investigations into the subject’s big questions—number theory and the creation of numbers, the debate over math’s human or otherworldly origins, problems and equations that remain unsolved after centuries, the conundrum of prime numbers. Writing with warm humor and sharp observation as he traverses practical math’s endless frustrations and rewards, Wilkinson provides an awe-inspiring account of an adventure from a land of strange sights. Part memoir, part metaphysical travel book, and part journey in self-improvement, A Divine Language is one man’s second attempt at understanding the numbers in front of him, and the world beyond.

Author : Rev. John-Brian Paprock
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 234 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Religions
ISBN : 9781105366208

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Workbook for Interfaith Ambassadors by Rev. John-Brian Paprock Pdf

Author : Robyn Arianrhod
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 474 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2024-05-30
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 9780226821108

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Vector by Robyn Arianrhod Pdf

"The stars of the latest book by award-winning science writer and mathematician Robyn Arianrhod are unlikely celebrities--vectors and tensors. If you took a high school physics course, the word "vector" might remind you of the mathematics needed to determine forces on an amusement park ride, say; or of cross products, a special kind of multiplication using a bespoke table and a right-hand rule. You might also remember the introductory definition of a vector as a quantity that has magnitude and (this is the key) direction. Velocity--for example, 25 miles per hour northwest--is a vector; speed, such as 25 miles per hour, is not. Put another way, a velocity vector in space contains not one number, but three-a measurement of speed along each of three dimensions. It sounds simple, in hindsight--yet, as Arianrhod shows in this intriguing story, the idea of a single symbol expressing several things at once is a sophisticated one, millennia in the making. Vectors are examples of an even more sophisticated idea, the tensor. And it's not just space that vectors and tensors can represent, but information, too. Which means that whenever you use a search engine, say, or AI bot, computer graphics, or a host of other digital applications, vectors and tensors are there somewhere in the software. As for physics, there's much more to it than velocities and simple forces! Arianrhod shows how the discovery of vectors and tensors enabled physicists and mathematicians to think brand new thoughts-such as Maxwell did when he ushered in the wireless electromagnetic age, and Einstein when he predicted the curving of four-dimensional space-time and the existence of gravitational waves. Quantum theory, too, makes fine use of these ideas. In other words, vectors and tensors have been critical not only to the way we see our universe, but also to the invention of Wi-Fi, GPS, micro-technology, and so much else that we take for granted today. In exploring the history and significance of vectors and tensors-and introducing the fascinating people who gave them to us--Arianrhod takes readers on an extraordinary, five-thousand-year journey through the human imagination. A celebration of an idea, Vector shows the genius required to imagine the world in new dimensions-and how a clever mathematical construct can direct the future of discovery"--

Author : Heinrich Zimmer
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2018-04-03
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780691212012

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Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization by Heinrich Zimmer Pdf

A landmark work that demystifies the rich tradition of Indian art, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization analyzes key motifs found in legend, myth, and folklore taken directly from the Sanskrit. It provides a comprehensive introduction to visual thinking and picture reading in Indian art and thought. Ultimately, the book shows that profound Hindu and Buddhist intuitions on the riddles of life and death are universally recognizable.

Author : Heinrich Robert Zimmer
Publisher : Motilal Banarsidass Publishe
Page : 266 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : Hindu art
ISBN : 8120807510

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Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization by Heinrich Robert Zimmer Pdf

This book interprets for the Western mind the key motifs of India`a legends myth, and folklore, taken directly from the sanskrit, and illustrated with seventy plates of Indian art. It is primarily an introduction to image thinking and picture reading in Indian art and thought and it seeks to make the profound Hindu and Buddhist intuitions of the riddles of life and death recongnizable not merely as Oriental but as universal elements.

Author : Robert C. Neville
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 350 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 1996-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0791427412

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The Truth of Broken Symbols by Robert C. Neville Pdf

This book provides a cross-cultural analysis of how religious symbols function from a theological and philosophical perspective. Showing how religious symbols can be true in various qualified senses, Neville presents a theory of religious symbolism in the American pragmatic tradition extending and elaborating Tillich's claim that religious symbols participate in the divine realities to which they refer and yet must be broken in order not to be idolatrous or demonic. The Truth of Broken Symbols offers a theory of religious symbolism treating reference, meaning, and interpretation, and discussing different functions of religious symbols in theological, practical, and devotional contexts. It shows that religious symbols are to be properly understood as true or false and that symbol-systems such as myths, theologies, or liturgical symbols are to be used to engage divine realities while internally exhibiting semiotic structures of reference, meaning, and interpretation.

Author : William P. Berlinghoff,Fernando Q. Gouvêa
Publisher : American Mathematical Soc.
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2021-04-29
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781470464561

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Math through the Ages: A Gentle History for Teachers and Others Expanded Second Edition by William P. Berlinghoff,Fernando Q. Gouvêa Pdf

Where did math come from? Who thought up all those algebra symbols, and why? What is the story behind π π? … negative numbers? … the metric system? … quadratic equations? … sine and cosine? … logs? The 30 independent historical sketches in Math through the Ages answer these questions and many others in an informal, easygoing style that is accessible to teachers, students, and anyone who is curious about the history of mathematical ideas. Each sketch includes Questions and Projects to help you learn more about its topic and to see how the main ideas fit into the bigger picture of history. The 30 short stories are preceded by a 58-page bird's-eye overview of the entire panorama of mathematical history, a whirlwind tour of the most important people, events, and trends that shaped the mathematics we know today. “What to Read Next” and reading suggestions after each sketch provide starting points for readers who want to learn more. This book is ideal for a broad spectrum of audiences, including students in history of mathematics courses at the late high school or early college level, pre-service and in-service teachers, and anyone who just wants to know a little more about the origins of mathematics.

Author : P. E. Wickel
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2015-04-04
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781312127630

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Enlighten Day by P. E. Wickel Pdf

The uneventful life of a young woman is suddenly turned upside down by a most unusual proposal that quickly turns into a journey of discovery, desperation, danger, love, and to the far reaches of space. A science-fiction tale of interplanetary and interstellar travel intertwined in a delightful love story and fast-paced adventure that also touches on evolution, religion, intelligent design and other thought-provoking subjects.

Author : Sangharakshita
Publisher : Windhorse Publications
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2014-05-13
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781909314344

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Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment by Sangharakshita Pdf

In the White Lotus Sutra, bursting with symbols, imagery and myths, we meet the Buddha as a story-teller. This sutra tells the greatest of all stories, that of human life and human potential. This great story takes the cosmos as its stage and all sentient beings as its players. This delightfully illustrated commentary on one of the most influential, revered and well-loved Buddhist scriptures brings these stories vividly to life and shows how they relate to our own spiritual quest.

Author : Matilde Marcolli
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 390 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2020-05-26
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 9780262358323

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Lumen Naturae by Matilde Marcolli Pdf

Exploring common themes in modern art, mathematics, and science, including the concept of space, the notion of randomness, and the shape of the cosmos. This is a book about art—and a book about mathematics and physics. In Lumen Naturae (the title refers to a purely immanent, non-supernatural form of enlightenment), mathematical physicist Matilde Marcolli explores common themes in modern art and modern science—the concept of space, the notion of randomness, the shape of the cosmos, and other puzzles of the universe—while mapping convergences with the work of such artists as Paul Cezanne, Mark Rothko, Sol LeWitt, and Lee Krasner. Her account, focusing on questions she has investigated in her own scientific work, is illustrated by more than two hundred color images of artworks by modern and contemporary artists. Thus Marcolli finds in still life paintings broad and deep philosophical reflections on space and time, and connects notions of space in mathematics to works by Paul Klee, Salvador Dalí, and others. She considers the relation of entropy and art and how notions of entropy have been expressed by such artists as Hans Arp and Fernand Léger; and traces the evolution of randomness as a mode of artistic expression. She analyzes the relation between graphical illustration and scientific text, and offers her own watercolor-decorated mathematical notebooks. Throughout, she balances discussions of science with explorations of art, using one to inform the other. (She employs some formal notation, which can easily be skipped by general readers.) Marcolli is not simply explaining art to scientists and science to artists; she charts unexpected interdependencies that illuminate the universe.