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Books in this series will attract the general mathematically-interested reader with broad coverage of biographies, history, popular works and books of general interest.

  • General Editors: Gerald L. Alexanderson, Santa Clara University, California

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2 results in Spectrum

Flatland
  • An Edition with Notes and Commentary
  • Edwin A. Abbott, William F. Lindgren, Thomas F. Banchoff
  • Published online:
    05 August 2013
    Print publication:
    27 November 2009
  • Flatland, Edwin Abbott's story of a two-dimensional universe, as told by one of its inhabitants who is introduced to the mysteries of three-dimensional space, has enjoyed an enduring popularity from the time of its publication in 1884. This fully annotated edition enables the modern-day reader to understand and appreciate the many 'dimensions' of this classic satire. Mathematical notes and illustrations enhance the usefulness of Flatland as an elementary introduction to higher-dimensional geometry. Historical notes show connections to late-Victorian England and to classical Greece. Citations from Abbott's other writings as well as the works of Plato and Aristotle serve to interpret the text. Commentary on language and literary style includes numerous definitions of obscure words. An appendix gives a comprehensive account of the life and work of Flatland's remarkable author.

Proofs and Confirmations
  • The Story of the Alternating-Sign Matrix Conjecture
  • David M. Bressoud
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    13 August 1999
  • This is an introduction to recent developments in algebraic combinatorics and an illustration of how research in mathematics actually progresses. The author recounts the story of the search for and discovery of a proof of a formula conjectured in the late 1970s: the number of n x n alternating sign matrices, objects that generalize permutation matrices. While apparent that the conjecture must be true, the proof was elusive. Researchers became drawn to this problem, making connections to aspects of invariant theory, to symmetric functions, to hypergeometric and basic hypergeometric series, and, finally, to the six-vertex model of statistical mechanics. All these threads are brought together in Zeilberger's 1996 proof of the original conjecture. The book is accessible to anyone with a knowledge of linear algebra. Students will learn what mathematicians actually do in an interesting and new area of mathematics, and even researchers in combinatorics will find something new here.