In the book “Nature’s Numbers,” Ian Stewart presents many more, each charming in its own way.

In Stewart’s view, mathematics is the search for patterns in nature. Mathematics, he says, “is a more
or less systematic way of digging out the rules and structures that lie behind some observed pattern or
regularity.” He also tells us that one “function of mathematics is to organize the underlying patterns
and regularities in the most satisfying way.”

Mathematical truths are independent of the human mind and human aesthetics.
Stewart devotes one delightful chapter to explaining how the mathematics underlying the acoustics of
a Stradivarius violin is the same as the mathematics underlying television.
Stewart is able to write about mathematics for general readers. He can make tricky ideas simple, and
he explains the math of it with aplomb. He also has a talent for coming up with comparisons that
make things clear.

“If all the matter in the universe were turned into paper, and a zero could be inscribed on every
electron, there wouldn’t be enough of them to hold a tiny fraction of the necessary zeros,” Stewart
writes.

Stewart doesn’t have much use for the distinction between pure and applied mathematics, arguing
that when you scratch the distinction a little bit, it disappears.
Furthermore, he says, even if you have only the most pragmatic goals, you still need dreamers as
well as practical thinkers.

But as to the deeper questions that mathematics poses--why is physics so mathematical?--all Stewart
can do--all anyone can do--is point them out. If there are answers, they are unknown.
Still, he does offer his best guess about what the answers would look like.
That there are patterns in nature seems incontrovertible. There are numerical patterns, geometric
patterns, patterns of movement and, Stewart notes, even patterns in chaos, fractals and complexity,
which have only recently been discovered. He gives copious examples of each.
“Mathematics is to nature as Sherlock Holmes is to evidence,” Stewart says.
Just as the great detective was able to tease a coherent story from seemingly unrelated facts, so
mathematicians are able to deduce the underlying patterns from the facts that nature leaves around.

“Nature is, in its own subtle way, simple,” he says.

“However, those simplicities do not present themselves to us directly. Instead, nature leaves clues for
the mathematical detectives to puzzle over.”

In this thin book, Stewart admirably captures compelling and accessible mathematical ideas along
with the pleasure of thinking about them. He writes with clarity and precision.
Those who enjoy this sort of thing will love this book.
Ian Stewart’s books have really caught my attention nowadays. After reading his book, "Nature’s
Numbers" I foresee the nature from a mathematician’s POV.

The book starts off with an introduction of nature and patterns. Patterns of form and Patterns of
movement are so widespread in the nature that it is difficult not to observe them. Ripples in the pond,
movement of horses, even the stripes on Zebra tiger, everything all happen based on a pattern.
Patterns possess beauty as well as utility. If one were to study the patterns, it would be the best thing
to leverage those patterns in our daily life applications. When such a complicated creature like
Nature can work with a pattern, it is certain that Pattern would work for a less complex purpose
driven application.
Patterns are basically numerical patterns, geometric patterns, and movement (translation, rotation,
reflection) patterns. A mathematician’s instinct is to structure the process of understanding by
seeking generalities that cut across various sub divisions.A lot of physics proceeded with out the any
major advances in the mathematical world. For 200 years, calculus was in a different position. It was
being used with great success in Physics But the mathematicians were really concerned about what it
really meant. Thus there is a fundamental difference in the way of thinking of a mathematician. They
tend to ask WHY rather than HOW. HOW related questions are left to domain experts, be it
physicists , chemists, scientists etc Mathematicians concentrate on WHY and that opens a whole set
of areas for people to work on HOWs. For example snail develops a spiral shell, mathematician will
be interested in the ways a spiral is formed whereas how the snail makes the shell is matter of
genetics / chemistry.
Is Mathematics about numbers, real , complex , functions, transformations, proofs, theorems etc..No ,
Math is about story telling. If you can take a natural phenomenon / application and can a tell an
effective story using some tools, that is what Math is all about
There is a chapter titled "From Violins to Videos", which is a beautiful summarization of the events
starting from the purposeless study of 1d strings on a violin to a very practical device tv. A lot of
physicists and mathematicians played a role in cracking the 1d wave equation of a violin string. jean
le rond d’alemert , euler, bernoulli all were instrumental in bringing about the solution for 1d waves.
This was extended to the vibrations of the surface of the drum which is a 2d. Finally it showed up in
the areas of Electricity and Magnetism. Michael Faraday and subsequently Maxwell came up with
electromagnetic forces which was a giant leap in the advancement of scientific understanding.
Visible electromagnetic waves with different frequencies produce different colors.
The book also deals with the pattern of movement. One complete chapter is dedicated to gait analysis
where trot, pace, bound, walk, rotary, gallop, traverse gallop and canter is analyzed.
Chapter 8 titled – "Do Dice Play God ?" is my favorite chapter of the book. It starts off by
introducing a concept called phase space which is nothing but a solution space that is obtained based
on the initial conditions. The chapter’s main theme is that random movements at the microscopic
level can result in deterministic movements at the macroscopic level. Also simple cause results in
complex effects. One superb example that’s given to justify the theme is the half life period. One can
never say that at an instant a particular atom will disintegrate or not, but one can always calculate
half life period of an elements. So, one knows the half life of an elements, with out knowing which
half will disintegrate..Its like the famous ad saying, I know my marketing ad budget gets me results
but I do not know which half.
The last chapter is collection of 3 case studies – One , water from a tap , Two , a simulated artificial
ecology example, and the final one is that of petals in various flowers. Each of the case studies is a
gem that goes on tell that mathematical complexity results in simple patterns and it is well worth
understanding mathematical complexity, for it is such study that creates a better understanding of
nature’s patterns.
Mathematics has the power to open our eyes to new and unsuspected regularities in nature - the
secret structure of a cloud or the hidden rhythms of the weather. This book aims to equip the reader
with a mathematician's eye, changing the way we view the world.
Stewart's goal in Nature's Numbers is to equip the reader with a mathematician's eye for a sightseeing
trip through the mathematical universe. The interrelations of nature's patterns, structures, and
processes form the underlying theme of the book. Nobody doubts that nature provides numerous
examples of beautiful shapes and symmetries. Stewart argues, full circle, (read more)
Defining mathematics as a system of thought for recognizing and exploiting patterns, Scientific
American math columnist Stewart takes readers on an exciting, lucid voyage of discovery as he
investigates patterns of form, number, shape and movement in the world around us. Thus, math is
present in everything we do and everywhere we are. Even without the existence of mathematics, none
of the reasons would be feasible. Understanding mathematics and finding logical solutions will enable us
to mentally prepare for actual problems. Without arithmetic in our lives, we have no idea what will
happen, so I find it impossible to envisage my existence without it.

In "Nature's Numbers," Ian Stewart presents many more, each charming in its way. He shows, for
example, how the oscillations of fireflies follow the same mathematical rules as the gates of horses.
"Nature's numbers," he says, are "the deep mathematical regularities that can be detected in natural
forms". In Stewart's view, mathematics is the search for patterns in nature. Mathematics, he says, "is a
more or less systematic way of digging out the rules and structures that lie behind some observed
pattern or regularity". He also tells us that one "function of mathematics is to organize the underlying
patterns and regularities most satisfyingly". "The most satisfying way"? Mathematical truths are
independent of the human mind and human aesthetics. Stewart devotes one delightful chapter to
explaining how the mathematics underlying the acoustics of a Stradivarius violin is the same as the
mathematics underlying television. If you stop to think about it, that is a stunning idea. What's the
connection between violins and television? And those mathematical rules that seem to be embedded in
reality - where do they come from? He can make tricky ideas simple, and he explains the math of them
with aplomb. He also has a talent for coming up with comparisons that make things clear. At one point
in the book, for example, he discusses an extremely large number: "Written in full," he writes, "it would
go 10000... How big is that, exactly? "If all the matter in the universe were turned into paper, and a zero
could be inscribed on every electron, there would not be enough of them to hold a tiny fraction of the
necessary zeros," Stewart writes. Now that is a big number. Stewart does not have much use for the
distinction between pure and applied mathematics, arguing that when you scratch the distinction a little
bit, it disappears. In any case, he says, even if you have only the most pragmatic goals, you still need
dreamers as well as practical thinkers. Directed research alone cannot solve all of the problems we want
to be solved. Sometimes a new approach has to come from where you were not looking."The really
important breakthroughs are always unpredictable," he writes." It is their very unpredictability that
makes them important: They change our world in ways we did not see coming". But as to the deeper
questions that mathematics poses - why is physics so mathematical? - all Stewart can do - all anyone can
do - is point them out. Still, he does offer his best guess about what the answers would look like. That
there are patterns in nature seems incontrovertible. There are numerical patterns, geometric patterns,
patterns of movement and, Stewart notes, even patterns in chaos, fractals, and complexity, which have
only recently been discovered. He gives copious examples of each."Mathematics is to nature as Sherlock
Holmes is to evidence," Stewart says. Just as the great detective was able to tease a coherent story from
seemingly unrelated facts, so mathematicians can deduce the underlying patterns from the facts that
nature leaves around."Nature is, in its subtle way, simple," he says."However, those simplicities do not
present themselves to us directly. Instead, nature leaves clues for the mathematical detectives to puzzle
over". As with many human endeavors, the thrill is probably more in the search than in achieving the
goal (though the goal is important, too). In this thin book, Stewart admirably captures compelling and
accessible mathematical ideas along with the pleasure of thinking about them. After reading his book, "
Letters to a Young Mathematician", I gulped "Nature's Numbers". The book is all about seeing nature
from a mathematician's POV. The book starts off with an introduction of nature and patterns. Patterns
of form and Patterns of movement are so widespread in the nature that it is difficult not to observe
them. Ripples in the pond, Stripes on Zebra tiger, movement of horses, elephants, mammals all happen
based on a pattern. If one were to study the patterns, it would be the best thing to leverage those
patterns in our daily life applications. When such a complicated creature like Nature can work with a
pattern, it is certain that Pattern would work for a less complex purpose driven application. A
mathematician's instinct is to structure the process of understanding by seeking generalities that cut
across various sub divisions. A lot of physics proceeded with out the any major advances in the
mathematical world. Thus there is a fundamental difference in the way of thinking of a mathematician.
HOW related questions are left to domain experts, be it physicists , chemists, scientists etc
Mathematicians concentrate on WHY and that opens a whole set of areas for people to work on HOWs.
For example snail develops a spiral shell, mathematician will be interested in the ways a spiral is formed
whereas how the snail makes the shell is matter of genetics / chemistry. If you can take a natural
phenomenon / application and can a tell an effective story using some tools, that is what Math is all
about There is a chapter titled "From Violins to Videos", which is a beautiful summarization of the
events starting from the purposeless study of 1d strings on a violin to a very practical device tv. A lot of
physicists and mathematicians played a role in cracking the 1d wave equation of a violin string.jean le
rond d'alemert , euler, bernoulli all were instrumental in bringing about the solution for 1d waves. This
was extended to the vibrations of the surface of the drum which is a 2d. Finally it showed up in the areas
of Electricity and Magnetism. Michael Faraday and subsequently Maxwell came up with electromagnetic
forces which was a giant leap in the advancement of scientific understanding. The book also deals with
the pattern of movement. Chapter 8 titled "Do Dice Play God ?" is my favorite chapter of the book. It
starts off by introducing a concept called phase space which is nothing but a solution space that is
obtained based on the initial conditions. The chapter's main theme is that random movements at the
microscopic level can result in deterministic movements at the macroscopic level. One superb example
that's given to justify the theme is the half life period. One can never say that at an instant a particular
atom will disintegrate or not, but one can always calculate half life period of an elements. So, one knows
the half life of an elements, with out knowing which half will disintegrate.. The last chapter is collection
of 3 case studies One , water from a tap , Two , a simulated artificial ecology example, and the final one
is that of petals in various flowers. Each of the case studies is a gem that goes on tell that mathematical
complexity results in simple patterns and it is well worth understanding mathematical complexity , for it
is such study that creates a better understanding of nature's patterns. Mathematics has the power to
open our eyes to new and unsuspected regularities in nature - the secret structure of a cloud or the
hidden rhythms of the weather. This book aims to equip the reader with a mathematician's eye,
changing the way we view the world. Stewart's goal in Nature's Numbers is to equip the reader with a
mathematician's eye for a sightseeing trip through the mathematical universe. The interrelations of
nature's patterns, structures, and processes form the underlying theme of the book. Stewart argues, full
circle, Defining mathematics as a system of thought for recognizing and exploiting patterns, Scientific
American math columnist Stewart takes readers on an exciting, lucid voyage of discovery as he
investigates patterns of form, number, shape and movement in the world around us. His examples range
from water dripping slowly from a tap to the symmetries of molecules.