Why Do We Pay Pure Mathematicians?

A cartoonish version of the mathematical profession, via my friend Monica.

Why Do We Pay Pure Mathematicians? | Math with Bad Drawings.

▶ Math gold medalist talks about the art of math

Video of the day.  A short lecture on the beauty of math from a talented high school student.

▶ Math gold medalist talks about the art of math – YouTube.

Math Is Beautiful, But Is It Art?

Is beauty in the air? The topic seems to be hitting many major newspapers and magazines these days.  Here is the latest contribution in Scientific American.

Math Is Beautiful, But Is It Art? | SA Visual, Scientific American Blog Network.

‘The Art of the Equation’: Mathematical Formulas on Exhibit | Dartmouth Now

An art exhibit for any of you who are near New Haven, CT.  Do you think there is beauty in an equation?

‘The Art of the Equation’: Mathematical Formulas on Exhibit | Dartmouth Now.

The story of Bounded Gaps, from the New Yorker

“What Zhang did was sensational,” he said. “His work is a masterpiece. When you talk of number theory, a lot of the beauty is the machinery. Zhang somehow completely understood the situation, even though he was working alone. That’s how he surprised. He just amazingly pushed further some of the arguments in these papers.”

via Solving an Unsolvable Math Problem – The New Yorker.

New Scientist article disclaimer

Hi, whoever you are visiting this site, especially if you just came from reading my article in the New Scientist. I just want to say for the record that I did not have any say in the title.  Was disappointed actually when I read it online because I never would make the claim that the Math Drive (an idea I tentatively suggest in my article) IS LIKE the Sex Drive.  I do not have evidence for such a claim.  Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.  We would need to research that question.

Nonetheless if you have made it this far, you are very welcome to peruse this site, an eclectic collection of links and references related to mathematical beauty.

Welcome!

-Manya

Breitenbach on Mathematical Beauty for Kant

Does Kant allow for Beauty and Mathematics?  Here is a argument that by grounding mathematical beauty in a “shared awareness of the imaginative process that leads to mathematical knowledge”, rather than “intellectual insight into particular properties of mathematical objects” that one can re-think Kant in a way that allows for such beauty. (Angela Breitenbach.)

Breitenbach_BeautyProofs – breitenbach-beautyproofs.pdf.