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Cover image of The Mind of the Mathematician
Cover image of The Mind of the Mathematician
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The Mind of the Mathematician

Michael Fitzgerald and Ioan James

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What makes mathematicians tick? How do their minds process formulas and concepts that, for most of the rest of the world’s population, remain mysterious and beyond comprehension? Is there a connection between mathematical creativity and mental illness?

In The Mind of the Mathematician, internationally famous mathematician Ioan James and accomplished psychiatrist Michael Fitzgerald look at the complex world of mathematics and the mind. Together they explore the behavior and personality traits that tend to fit the profile of a mathematician. They discuss mathematics and the arts, savants, gender...

What makes mathematicians tick? How do their minds process formulas and concepts that, for most of the rest of the world’s population, remain mysterious and beyond comprehension? Is there a connection between mathematical creativity and mental illness?

In The Mind of the Mathematician, internationally famous mathematician Ioan James and accomplished psychiatrist Michael Fitzgerald look at the complex world of mathematics and the mind. Together they explore the behavior and personality traits that tend to fit the profile of a mathematician. They discuss mathematics and the arts, savants, gender and mathematical ability, and the impact of autism, personality disorders, and mood disorders.

These topics, together with a succinct analysis of some of the great mathematical personalities of the past three centuries, combine to form an eclectic and fascinating blend of story and scientific inquiry.

Reviews

Reviews

The authors' careful treatments are an especially welcome addition to a genre riddled with apocryphal anecdotes and shoddy scholarship.

A fine book, providing for agreeable and easy reading.

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Book Details

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction

Part I: Tour of the Literature

1. Mathematicians and Their World
2. Mathematical Ability
3. The Dynamics of Mathematical Creation

Part II: Twenty Mathematical Personalities

4. Lagrange

Preface
Introduction

Part I: Tour of the Literature

1. Mathematicians and Their World
2. Mathematical Ability
3. The Dynamics of Mathematical Creation

Part II: Twenty Mathematical Personalities

4. Lagrange, Gauss, Cauchy, and Dirichlet
5. Hamilton, Galois, Byron, and Riemann
6. Cantor, Kovalevskaya, Poincaré, and Hilbert
7. Hadamard, Hardy, Noether, and Ramanujan
8. Fisher, Wiener, Dirac, and Gödel
References
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Ioan James

Ioan James was Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University. He is the author of seven books and over one hundred research articles and an editor for the mathematical journal Topology.
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