Slashdot Mirror


Divine Proportions

David Halprin writes with a review of a new (and mighty odd sounding) mathematics book: "In my humble opinion, we have an unjustified polemic in the world of mathematics, yet again. My background is tertiary level mathematics and concomitant research in specialised areas, so when a friend e-mailed me the link to this book, I was so excited after reading the author's hype, that I ordered a pre-publication copy. My expectations have not been met, unfortunately, hence my analysis precipitated this review." Read on for Halprin's idiosyncractic take on Norman John Wildberger's Divine Proportions: Rational Trigonometry to Universal Geometry. Divine Proportions - Rational Trigonometry to Universal Geometry author Norman John Wildberger pages 300 publisher Wild Egg Pty Ltd rating 2 reviewer David Halprin ISBN summary Wilberger presents an ultimately disappointing vision of a new descriptive system for geometry.

There are various ways to approach Norman's so-called "Rational Trigonometry" and/or "Universal Geometry." I have examined it from various perspectives and it does not live up to Norman's claims, whichever standpoint, that I have taken.

DEFINITIONS

3 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Karma whoring by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 5, Informative

    Slashdotters vetted this before

  2. Some interesting comments about... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...the content of this book here. The core idea is sound and it looks like it has application to computer graphics.

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  3. Compensating for something? by Nereus · · Score: 4, Informative

    Using long words doesn't make you look any smarter in the same way driving a flashy car doesn't make your dick look any bigger.