Ian Stewart
●
Oxford University Press
Symmetry: A Very Short Introduction
Pages
160Format
PaperbackRelease date
2013Publisher
Oxford University PressWeight
4 ozSize
6.7 x 0.4 x 4.3 "
Symmetry: A Very Short Introduction provides an introduction to the 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.
