An Imaginary Tale

An Imaginary Tale

Author: Paul J. Nahin

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2010-02-22

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1400833892

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Today complex numbers have such widespread practical use--from electrical engineering to aeronautics--that few people would expect the story behind their derivation to be filled with adventure and enigma. In An Imaginary Tale, Paul Nahin tells the 2000-year-old history of one of mathematics' most elusive numbers, the square root of minus one, also known as i. He recreates the baffling mathematical problems that conjured it up, and the colorful characters who tried to solve them. In 1878, when two brothers stole a mathematical papyrus from the ancient Egyptian burial site in the Valley of Kings, they led scholars to the earliest known occurrence of the square root of a negative number. The papyrus offered a specific numerical example of how to calculate the volume of a truncated square pyramid, which implied the need for i. In the first century, the mathematician-engineer Heron of Alexandria encountered I in a separate project, but fudged the arithmetic; medieval mathematicians stumbled upon the concept while grappling with the meaning of negative numbers, but dismissed their square roots as nonsense. By the time of Descartes, a theoretical use for these elusive square roots--now called "imaginary numbers"--was suspected, but efforts to solve them led to intense, bitter debates. The notorious i finally won acceptance and was put to use in complex analysis and theoretical physics in Napoleonic times. Addressing readers with both a general and scholarly interest in mathematics, Nahin weaves into this narrative entertaining historical facts and mathematical discussions, including the application of complex numbers and functions to important problems, such as Kepler's laws of planetary motion and ac electrical circuits. This book can be read as an engaging history, almost a biography, of one of the most evasive and pervasive "numbers" in all of mathematics. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.


Book Synopsis An Imaginary Tale by : Paul J. Nahin

Download or read book An Imaginary Tale written by Paul J. Nahin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-02-22 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today complex numbers have such widespread practical use--from electrical engineering to aeronautics--that few people would expect the story behind their derivation to be filled with adventure and enigma. In An Imaginary Tale, Paul Nahin tells the 2000-year-old history of one of mathematics' most elusive numbers, the square root of minus one, also known as i. He recreates the baffling mathematical problems that conjured it up, and the colorful characters who tried to solve them. In 1878, when two brothers stole a mathematical papyrus from the ancient Egyptian burial site in the Valley of Kings, they led scholars to the earliest known occurrence of the square root of a negative number. The papyrus offered a specific numerical example of how to calculate the volume of a truncated square pyramid, which implied the need for i. In the first century, the mathematician-engineer Heron of Alexandria encountered I in a separate project, but fudged the arithmetic; medieval mathematicians stumbled upon the concept while grappling with the meaning of negative numbers, but dismissed their square roots as nonsense. By the time of Descartes, a theoretical use for these elusive square roots--now called "imaginary numbers"--was suspected, but efforts to solve them led to intense, bitter debates. The notorious i finally won acceptance and was put to use in complex analysis and theoretical physics in Napoleonic times. Addressing readers with both a general and scholarly interest in mathematics, Nahin weaves into this narrative entertaining historical facts and mathematical discussions, including the application of complex numbers and functions to important problems, such as Kepler's laws of planetary motion and ac electrical circuits. This book can be read as an engaging history, almost a biography, of one of the most evasive and pervasive "numbers" in all of mathematics. Some images inside the book are unavailable due to digital copyright restrictions.

Imaginary Menagerie

Imaginary Menagerie

Author: Julie Larios

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2008-04-01

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13: 0547540663

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Who is half gallop, half walk? Who can turn you to stone with one look? Whose voice do you hear in the splash on the shore? Centaurs, mermaids, and other curious creatures populate these wondrous poems and paintings, inspired by a mythological world full of imagination and mystery. Includes end notes about cultures and legends.


Book Synopsis Imaginary Menagerie by : Julie Larios

Download or read book Imaginary Menagerie written by Julie Larios and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2008-04-01 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who is half gallop, half walk? Who can turn you to stone with one look? Whose voice do you hear in the splash on the shore? Centaurs, mermaids, and other curious creatures populate these wondrous poems and paintings, inspired by a mythological world full of imagination and mystery. Includes end notes about cultures and legends.

Imaginary Vol. 1

Imaginary Vol. 1

Author: Niiro Ikuhana

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2022-10-04

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 1638585563

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A gorgeously illustrated tale about childhood friends, unrequited love, and the power of imagination! Back when Tasuku was a kid, he harbored a secret: he was in love with his friend Maika. But Maika moved away for school before he could gather his courage and confess. Now, as adults, they’ve reconnected as friends, and being together brings back memories of their shared past. It was so easy to fantasize about wild things when they were children, but what has become of those fantasies now that they’ve grown up?


Book Synopsis Imaginary Vol. 1 by : Niiro Ikuhana

Download or read book Imaginary Vol. 1 written by Niiro Ikuhana and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2022-10-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gorgeously illustrated tale about childhood friends, unrequited love, and the power of imagination! Back when Tasuku was a kid, he harbored a secret: he was in love with his friend Maika. But Maika moved away for school before he could gather his courage and confess. Now, as adults, they’ve reconnected as friends, and being together brings back memories of their shared past. It was so easy to fantasize about wild things when they were children, but what has become of those fantasies now that they’ve grown up?

The Book on the Floor

The Book on the Floor

Author: WALTER GRASSKAMP

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 2016-12-10

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1606065017

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In 1954, the French writer, politician, and publisher André Malraux posed at home for a photographer from the magazine Paris Match, surrounded by pages from his forthcoming book Le musée imaginaire de la sculpture mondiale. The enchanting metaphor of the musée imaginaire (imaginary museum) was built upon that illustrated art book, and Malraux was one of its greatest champions. Drawing on a range of contemporary publications, he adopted images and responded to ideas. Indeed, Malraux’s book on the floor is a variation of photographer André Vigneau’s spectacular Encyclopédie photographique de l’art, published in five volumes from 1935 on—years before Malraux would enter this field. Both authors were engaged in juxtaposing artworks via photographs and publishing these photographs by the hundreds, but Malraux was the better sloganeer. Starting from a close examination of the photograph of Malraux in his salon, art historian Walter Grasskamp takes the reader back to the dawn of this genre of illustrated art book. He shows how it catalyzed the practice of comparing works of art on a global scale. He retraces the metaphor to earlier reproduction practices and highlights its ubiquity in contemporary art, ending with an homage to the other pioneer of the “museum without walls,” the unjustly forgotten Vigneau.


Book Synopsis The Book on the Floor by : WALTER GRASSKAMP

Download or read book The Book on the Floor written by WALTER GRASSKAMP and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2016-12-10 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1954, the French writer, politician, and publisher André Malraux posed at home for a photographer from the magazine Paris Match, surrounded by pages from his forthcoming book Le musée imaginaire de la sculpture mondiale. The enchanting metaphor of the musée imaginaire (imaginary museum) was built upon that illustrated art book, and Malraux was one of its greatest champions. Drawing on a range of contemporary publications, he adopted images and responded to ideas. Indeed, Malraux’s book on the floor is a variation of photographer André Vigneau’s spectacular Encyclopédie photographique de l’art, published in five volumes from 1935 on—years before Malraux would enter this field. Both authors were engaged in juxtaposing artworks via photographs and publishing these photographs by the hundreds, but Malraux was the better sloganeer. Starting from a close examination of the photograph of Malraux in his salon, art historian Walter Grasskamp takes the reader back to the dawn of this genre of illustrated art book. He shows how it catalyzed the practice of comparing works of art on a global scale. He retraces the metaphor to earlier reproduction practices and highlights its ubiquity in contemporary art, ending with an homage to the other pioneer of the “museum without walls,” the unjustly forgotten Vigneau.

My Imaginary Jesus

My Imaginary Jesus

Author: Matt Mikalatos

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Published: 2012-03-19

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1414370156

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Matt Mikalatos liked Jesus a lot. In fact, he couldn’t believe how much they had in common. They shared the same likes, dislikes, beliefs, and opinions. (Though Jesus did have better hair.) So imagine Matt’s astonishment when he finds out that the guy he knows as Jesus . . . isn’t. He’s an Imaginary Jesus: a comfortable, convenient imitation Matt has created in his own image. The real Jesus is still out there somewhere . . . and Matt is determined to find him. In this hilarious, fast-paced, sort-of-true story hailed as “Monty Python meets C. S. Lewis,” Matt embarks on an incredible chase to find the real Jesus and ask him the one question that his Imaginary Jesus has never been able to answer. It’s a wild spiritual adventure like nothing you’ve ever read before . . . and it might bring you face-to-face with an imposter in your own life. This new edition now contains a discussion guide, an interview with the author, and other bonus features! (Previously published as Imaginary Jesus.)


Book Synopsis My Imaginary Jesus by : Matt Mikalatos

Download or read book My Imaginary Jesus written by Matt Mikalatos and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2012-03-19 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Matt Mikalatos liked Jesus a lot. In fact, he couldn’t believe how much they had in common. They shared the same likes, dislikes, beliefs, and opinions. (Though Jesus did have better hair.) So imagine Matt’s astonishment when he finds out that the guy he knows as Jesus . . . isn’t. He’s an Imaginary Jesus: a comfortable, convenient imitation Matt has created in his own image. The real Jesus is still out there somewhere . . . and Matt is determined to find him. In this hilarious, fast-paced, sort-of-true story hailed as “Monty Python meets C. S. Lewis,” Matt embarks on an incredible chase to find the real Jesus and ask him the one question that his Imaginary Jesus has never been able to answer. It’s a wild spiritual adventure like nothing you’ve ever read before . . . and it might bring you face-to-face with an imposter in your own life. This new edition now contains a discussion guide, an interview with the author, and other bonus features! (Previously published as Imaginary Jesus.)

Imaginary Animals

Imaginary Animals

Author: Boria Sax

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2013-11-15

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1780232136

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An extraordinary menagerie of fantastical and unreal beasts featuring hundreds of illustrations, from griffins to dog-men, mermaids, dragons, unicorns, and yetis. Fire-breathing dragons, beautiful mermaids, majestic unicorns, terrifying three-headed dogs—these fantastic creatures have long excited our imagination. Medieval authors placed them in the borders of manuscripts as markers of the boundaries of our understanding. Tales from around the world place these beasts in deserts, deep woods, remote islands, ocean depths, and alternate universes—just out of our reach. And in the sections on the apocalypse in the Bible, they proliferate as the end of time approaches, with horses with heads like lions, dragons, and serpents signaling the destruction of the world. Legends tell us that imaginary animals belong to a primordial time, before everything in the world had names, categories, and conceptual frameworks. In this book, Boria Sax digs into the stories of these fabulous beasts. He shows how, despite their liminal role, imaginary animals like griffins, dog-men, yetis, and more are socially constructed creatures, created through the same complex play of sensuality and imagination as real ones. Tracing the history of imaginary animals from Paleolithic art to their roles in stories such as Harry Potter and even the advent of robotic pets, he reveals that these extraordinary figures help us psychologically—as monsters, they give form to our amorphous fears, while as creatures of wonder, they embody our hopes. Their greatest service, Sax concludes, is to continually challenge our imaginations, directing us beyond the limitations of conventional beliefs and expectations. Featuring over 230 illustrations of a veritable menagerie of fantastical and unreal beasts, Imaginary Animals is a feast for the eyes and the imagination.


Book Synopsis Imaginary Animals by : Boria Sax

Download or read book Imaginary Animals written by Boria Sax and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2013-11-15 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary menagerie of fantastical and unreal beasts featuring hundreds of illustrations, from griffins to dog-men, mermaids, dragons, unicorns, and yetis. Fire-breathing dragons, beautiful mermaids, majestic unicorns, terrifying three-headed dogs—these fantastic creatures have long excited our imagination. Medieval authors placed them in the borders of manuscripts as markers of the boundaries of our understanding. Tales from around the world place these beasts in deserts, deep woods, remote islands, ocean depths, and alternate universes—just out of our reach. And in the sections on the apocalypse in the Bible, they proliferate as the end of time approaches, with horses with heads like lions, dragons, and serpents signaling the destruction of the world. Legends tell us that imaginary animals belong to a primordial time, before everything in the world had names, categories, and conceptual frameworks. In this book, Boria Sax digs into the stories of these fabulous beasts. He shows how, despite their liminal role, imaginary animals like griffins, dog-men, yetis, and more are socially constructed creatures, created through the same complex play of sensuality and imagination as real ones. Tracing the history of imaginary animals from Paleolithic art to their roles in stories such as Harry Potter and even the advent of robotic pets, he reveals that these extraordinary figures help us psychologically—as monsters, they give form to our amorphous fears, while as creatures of wonder, they embody our hopes. Their greatest service, Sax concludes, is to continually challenge our imaginations, directing us beyond the limitations of conventional beliefs and expectations. Featuring over 230 illustrations of a veritable menagerie of fantastical and unreal beasts, Imaginary Animals is a feast for the eyes and the imagination.

Imaginary People

Imaginary People

Author: David Pringle

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13:

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A new edition of the who's who of over 1,400 fictional characters whose names are sometimes so familiar it's difficult to remember they're imaginary. Included in the biographical parade is Ben Casey, Casper, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a compendium of high, low, and no brow at all, each exactly recorded with a snippet of biographical anecdote. The reference is as equally useful for scholarly work as it is for killing time in aimless pursuits of information. Distributed by Ashgate. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Book Synopsis Imaginary People by : David Pringle

Download or read book Imaginary People written by David Pringle and published by Ashgate Publishing. This book was released on 1996 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new edition of the who's who of over 1,400 fictional characters whose names are sometimes so familiar it's difficult to remember they're imaginary. Included in the biographical parade is Ben Casey, Casper, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a compendium of high, low, and no brow at all, each exactly recorded with a snippet of biographical anecdote. The reference is as equally useful for scholarly work as it is for killing time in aimless pursuits of information. Distributed by Ashgate. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Imaginary Fiends

Imaginary Fiends

Author: Tim Seeley

Publisher: Vertigo

Published: 2019-06-11

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 1779501552

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ÒPolly Peachpit.Ó Those were the words 10-year-old Brinke Calle said when she was found covered in her own blood by the woods in rural Cannon Falls. Her best friend, Melba, had just attempted to murder her because a spider girl named Polly Peachpit told her to. Since that day, Melba has spent seven years in a mental health facility. Tomorrow is her 18th birthday. Tomorrow sheÕll be transferred to a federal prison. Tomorrow her real sentence will begin. That is, until she receives a visit from FBI Agent Virgil Crockett. Crockett explains that there is another world beyond ours, where hungry, spectral aliens stalk the minds of the impressionable and weak. These things, called IMPs (Interdimensional Mental Parasites) feed on compliance. They convince hosts to do things for them, and the more they feed, the stronger they become. More IMPs stream into the world each day, invisible to everyone but his or her hosts.


Book Synopsis Imaginary Fiends by : Tim Seeley

Download or read book Imaginary Fiends written by Tim Seeley and published by Vertigo. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ÒPolly Peachpit.Ó Those were the words 10-year-old Brinke Calle said when she was found covered in her own blood by the woods in rural Cannon Falls. Her best friend, Melba, had just attempted to murder her because a spider girl named Polly Peachpit told her to. Since that day, Melba has spent seven years in a mental health facility. Tomorrow is her 18th birthday. Tomorrow sheÕll be transferred to a federal prison. Tomorrow her real sentence will begin. That is, until she receives a visit from FBI Agent Virgil Crockett. Crockett explains that there is another world beyond ours, where hungry, spectral aliens stalk the minds of the impressionable and weak. These things, called IMPs (Interdimensional Mental Parasites) feed on compliance. They convince hosts to do things for them, and the more they feed, the stronger they become. More IMPs stream into the world each day, invisible to everyone but his or her hosts.

Control of the Imaginary

Control of the Imaginary

Author: Luiz Costa Lima

Publisher: U of Minnesota Press

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0816615632

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Control of the Imaginary was first published in 1989. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. In Control of the Imaginary Luiz Costa Lima explains how the distinction between truth and fiction emerged at the beginning of modern times and why, upon its emergence, fiction fell under suspicion. Costa Lima not only describes the continuous relationship between Western notions of reason and subjectivity over a broad time-frame—the Renaissance to the first decade of the twentieth century—but he uses this occasion to reexamine the literary traditions of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, and Germany. The book reconstructs the dominant frames in the European tradition between the Middle Ages and the nineteenth century from the perspective of a Latin American who sees the culture of his native Brazil haunted by unresolved questions from the Northern Hemisphere. Costa Lima manages to synthesize positions from philosophy, anthropology, sociology, psychology, linguistics, and history without separating the theoretical discussion from his historical reconstructions. The first chapter situates the problem and grounds the emergent distinction between truth and fiction in a very close analysis of one of the first European historians, Fernao Lopes, who sets the tone for the condemnation of fiction in the name of the truth of history and the potential for individual interpretation. Costa Lima pursues these notions through the aesthetic debates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the writings of the French historian Michelet. He also devotes an illuminating chapter to the invention of the strictures imposed on fiction.


Book Synopsis Control of the Imaginary by : Luiz Costa Lima

Download or read book Control of the Imaginary written by Luiz Costa Lima and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 1988 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Control of the Imaginary was first published in 1989. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. In Control of the Imaginary Luiz Costa Lima explains how the distinction between truth and fiction emerged at the beginning of modern times and why, upon its emergence, fiction fell under suspicion. Costa Lima not only describes the continuous relationship between Western notions of reason and subjectivity over a broad time-frame—the Renaissance to the first decade of the twentieth century—but he uses this occasion to reexamine the literary traditions of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, and Germany. The book reconstructs the dominant frames in the European tradition between the Middle Ages and the nineteenth century from the perspective of a Latin American who sees the culture of his native Brazil haunted by unresolved questions from the Northern Hemisphere. Costa Lima manages to synthesize positions from philosophy, anthropology, sociology, psychology, linguistics, and history without separating the theoretical discussion from his historical reconstructions. The first chapter situates the problem and grounds the emergent distinction between truth and fiction in a very close analysis of one of the first European historians, Fernao Lopes, who sets the tone for the condemnation of fiction in the name of the truth of history and the potential for individual interpretation. Costa Lima pursues these notions through the aesthetic debates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the writings of the French historian Michelet. He also devotes an illuminating chapter to the invention of the strictures imposed on fiction.

Imaginary Cities

Imaginary Cities

Author: Darran Anderson

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2017-04-06

Total Pages: 573

ISBN-13: 022647030X

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How can we understand the infinite variety of cities? Darran Anderson seems to exhaust all possibilities in this work of creative nonfiction. Drawing inspiration from Marco Polo and Italo Calvino, Anderson shows that we have much to learn about ourselves by looking not only at the cities we have built, but also at the cities we have imagined. Anderson draws on literature (Gustav Meyrink, Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek, and James Joyce), but he also looks at architectural writings and works by the likes of Bruno Taut and Walter Gropius, Medieval travel memoirs from the Middle East, mid-twentieth-century comic books, Star Trek, mythical lands such as Cockaigne, and the works of Claude Debussy. Anderson sees the visionary architecture dreamed up by architects, artists, philosophers, writers, and citizens as wedded to the egalitarian sense that cities are for everyone. He proves that we must not be locked into the structures that exclude ordinary citizens--that cities evolve and that we can have input. As he says: "If a city can be imagined into being, it can be re-imagined as well.”


Book Synopsis Imaginary Cities by : Darran Anderson

Download or read book Imaginary Cities written by Darran Anderson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-04-06 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can we understand the infinite variety of cities? Darran Anderson seems to exhaust all possibilities in this work of creative nonfiction. Drawing inspiration from Marco Polo and Italo Calvino, Anderson shows that we have much to learn about ourselves by looking not only at the cities we have built, but also at the cities we have imagined. Anderson draws on literature (Gustav Meyrink, Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek, and James Joyce), but he also looks at architectural writings and works by the likes of Bruno Taut and Walter Gropius, Medieval travel memoirs from the Middle East, mid-twentieth-century comic books, Star Trek, mythical lands such as Cockaigne, and the works of Claude Debussy. Anderson sees the visionary architecture dreamed up by architects, artists, philosophers, writers, and citizens as wedded to the egalitarian sense that cities are for everyone. He proves that we must not be locked into the structures that exclude ordinary citizens--that cities evolve and that we can have input. As he says: "If a city can be imagined into being, it can be re-imagined as well.”