Symmetry: A Very Short Introduction
Symmetry: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Ian Stewart
English | July 12, 2013 | ISBN: 0199651981 | True EPUB | 144 pages | 19.4 MB
English | July 12, 2013 | ISBN: 0199651981 | True EPUB | 144 pages | 19.4 MB
In the 1800s mathematicians introduced a formal theory of symmetry: group theory. Now a branch of abstract algebra, this subject first arose in the theory of equations. Symmetry is an immensely important concept in mathematics and throughout the sciences, and its applications range across the entire subject. Symmetry governs the structure of crystals, innumerable types of pattern formation, how systems change their state as parameters vary; and fundamental physics is
governed by symmetries in the laws of nature.
It is highly visual, with applications that include animal markings, locomotion, evolutionary biology, elastic buckling, waves, the shape of the Earth, and the form of galaxies. In this Very Short Introduction, Ian Stewart demonstrates its deep implications, and shows how it plays a major role in the current search to unify relativity and quantum theory.