内容简介

In "Love and Math," Berkeley professor Edward Frenkel shows that mathematics, far from occupying a specialist niche, goes to the heart of all matter and unites us across cultures, continents, and centuries. In this heartfelt and passionate book, Frenkel reveals a side of mathematics we've never seen, suffused with all the beauty and wonder of a work of art, appealing not only to the cerebral, but to the human and the spiritual.

"Love and Math" tells two intertwined stories: of amazing mathematics and of the journey of one young man learning and living it. Growing up in Russia, Frenkel was denied entrance to university to study mathematics because of discriminatory policies. Yet with the help of his mentors he circumvented the system to become one of the twenty-first century's leading mathematicians. He now works on one of the biggest ideas to come out of mathematics in the last 50 years: the Langlands Program, considered by many to be a Grand Unified Theory of Mathematics.

While most people are not blocked from studying mathematics, many see it as being impenetrable, or worse, irrelevant to their lives. At its core, "Love and Math" is a story about gaining entry to the previously inaccessible, which can enrich our lives and empower us to understand better the world and our place in it. It is an invitation to discover the wonders of the hidden universe of mathematics.

作者简介

Edward Frenkel (Russian: Эдвард Френкель, Edvard Frenkel'; born May 2, 1968) is a mathematician working in representation theory, algebraic geometry, and mathematical physics. He is a professor of mathematics at University of California, Berkeley.

Frenkel grew up in Kolomna, Russia to a family of Russian Jews. As a high school student he studied higher mathematics privately wit...

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精彩摘录

Thisisreallyaquestionaboutthenatureofmathematicalinsight.Theabilitytoseepatternsandconnectionsthatnoonehadseenbeforedoesnotcomeeasily.Itisusuallytheproductofmonths,ifnotyears,ofhardwork.Littlebylittle,theinklingofanewphenomenonoratheoryemerges,andatfirstyoudon’tbelieveityourself.Butthenyousay:“whatifit’strue?”Youtrytotesttheideabydoingsamplecalculations.Sometimesthesecalculationsarehard,andyouhavetonavigatethroughmountainsofheavyformulas.Theprobabilityofmakingamistakeisveryhigh,andifitdoesnotworkatfirst,youtrytoredoit,overandoveragain.Moreoftenthannot,attheendoftheday(oramonth,orayear),yourealizethatyourinitialideawaswrong,andyouhavetotrysome...

——引自第94页

MathematicalconceptspopulatetheKingdomofMathematics,justlikespeciesofanimalspopulatingtheAnimalKingdom:theyarelinkedtoeachother,formfamiliesandsubfamilies,andoftentwodifferentconceptsmateandproduceanoffspring.

——引自第108页