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In Code: A Mathematical Journey |  |
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In Code: A Mathematical Journey | |
IN CODE is a heartwarming story that will have readers cheering Sarah on. Originally published in England and cowritten with her mathematician father, David Flannery, IN CODE is "a wonderfully moving story about the thrill of the mathematical chase" (Nature) and "a paean to intellectual adventure" (Times Educational Supplement). A memoir in mathematics, it is all about how a girl next door, nurtured by her family, moved from the simple math puzzles that were the staple of dinnertime conversation to prime numbers, the Sieve of Eratosthenes, Fermat's Little Theorem, googols-and finally into her breathtaking algorithm. Parallel with each step is a modest girl's own self-discovery-her values, her burning curiosity, the joy of persistence, and, above all, her love for her family.
作者简介 SARAH FLANNERY is now a student at Cambridge University. DAVID FLANNERY, Sarah's father, lectures on mathematics at Ireland's Cork Institute of Technology.
文摘 4 Dad's Evening Class
God made the natural numbers, all the rest is the work of Man.
-leopold kronecker
These were the first words that my father wrote on the board-a bit alarmingly, in German-on the evening of my first class at the Cork Institute of Technology, where he lectures in mathematics. He explained that Kronecker was a German mathematician who lived in the nineteenth century. Little did I know the role that the natural numbers (1, 2, 3, and so on . . .) would play in my life over the next two years.
Although, as I have already said, my father had often taught or helped with my school mathematics at home, this was the first time I had ever attended a formal lecture of his and seen him present work in an organized way to a group of people. This unusual evening class had come about as a result of a conversation he and I had the previous summer, which started something like, "Now that you have decided to do transition year, I must do some math with you." He continued, "I'd like to show you how some beautiful but reasonably elementary mathematics is applied, stuff that you wouldn't ordinarily come across in school."
Not knowing exactly what he had in mind, but not wishing to be collared and dragged to the kitchen blackboard at random times, I replied, "Dad, whatever you do, do something structured!" He promised to think carefully about the most effective but gentle way to give me a realistic glimpse into the mathematical world. Conscious of how much he would have appreciated it had someone done this for him thirty years ago, he felt obliged now to offer me the benefit of his
mathematical knowledge. "Of course, only if you are genuinely interested-I wouldn't force it on you."
Of course he wouldn't! But I was interested. So this is how the evening class was conceived, and this is how I was to be introduced to many wonderful mathematical ideas-accessible ideas I might never otherwise have encountered unless I chose to pursue mathematics
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