Groups and Symmetry: A Guide to Discovering Mathematics

Download or read book Groups and Symmetry: A Guide to Discovering Mathematics written by David W. Farmer and published by American Mathematical Soc.. This book was released on 1996 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mathematics is discovered by looking at examples, noticing patterns, making conjectures, and testing those conjectures. Once discovered, the final results get organized and put in textbooks. The details and the excitement of the discovery are lost. This book introduces the reader to the excitement of the original discovery. By means of a wide variety of tasks, readers are led to find interesting examples, notice patterns, devise rules to explain the patterns, and discover mathematics for themselves. The subject studied here is the mathematics behind the idea of symmetry, but the methods and ideas apply to all of mathematics. The only prerequisites are enthusiasm and a knowledge of basic high-school math. The book is only a guide. It will start you off in the right direction and bring you back if you stray too far. The excitement and the discovery are left to you.