A Geometrical Picture Book

by Burkard Polster

How do you convey to your students, colleagues and friends some of the beauty of the kind of mathematics you are obsessed with? If you are a mathematician interested in finite or topological geometry and combinatorial designs, you could start by showing them some of the (400+) pictures in the "picture book". Pictures are what this book is all about; original pictures of everybody's favorite geometries such as configurations, projective planes and spaces, circle planes, generalized polygons, mathematical biplanes and other designs which capture much of the beauty, construction principles, particularities, substructures and interconnections of these geometries. The level of the text is suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Even if you are a mathematician who just wants some interesting reading you will enjoy the author's very original and comprehensive guided tour of small finite geometries and geometries on surfaces This guided tour includes lots of sterograms of the spatial models, games and puzzles and instructions on how to construct your own pictures and build some of the spatial models yourself.

Genres: Mathematics

291 pages, Hardcover

First published May 29, 1998

About the author

Burkard Polster is a maths lecturer, and Monash University's resident Mathemagician, mathematical juggler, origami expert, bubble-master, shoelace charmer, and Count von Count impersonator. When he is not doing fun mathematics he has fun investigating perfect mathematical universes.

from http://www.mav.vic.edu.au/public-lect...

Reviews

[Lyle Blosser · Rating 1 out of 5]

Definitely not for the general public; I was rather disappointed to find out that this book is more suitable for college students than the average non-mathematician. From page one, I found the text to be rather specialized and beyond that commonly in use by the casual reader. The author quite obviously has enthusiasm for the subject matter and provided copious amounts of diagrams and images, but it wasn't enough, sadly.

[Amy Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite math book of all time. :)

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good, simple introduction to configurations in finite geometry, with many pictures. Highly recommended.