The Wonder Book of Geometry

Download or read book The Wonder Book of Geometry written by David Acheson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-22 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can we be sure that Pythagoras's theorem is really true? Why is the 'angle in a semicircle' always 90 degrees? And how can tangents help determine the speed of a bullet? David Acheson takes the reader on a highly illustrated tour through the history of geometry, from ancient Greece to the present day. He emphasizes throughout elegant deduction and practical applications, and argues that geometry can offer the quickest route to the whole spirit of mathematics at its best. Along the way, we encounter the quirky and the unexpected, meet the great personalities involved, and uncover some of the loveliest surprises in mathematics.